RICHARD DOTSON (1752-1847) and his Descendants 

By James Milburn Dotson (1923-2006) and Barr Wilson (1905 - 2000)

Published in 1992 - Download the Book at the Bottom of this Page

PREFACE by Jim Dotson: 

In 1985, I became interested in genealogy and started tracing my Dotson ancestral line. This research led back to my native Ritchie County, West Virginia and the adjoining counties of Doddridge, Tyler and Wood. It also led to a correspondence with Barr Wilson who had lived all of his life at Toll Gate, Ritchie County, and who had published a book on his Wilson ancestors and associated familes; one of these associated families was “Dotson”. Subsequently, in corroboration with Bertha Dotson Sellers, he wrote a separate Dotson family history Richard Dotson (1752-1847) which is the precursor of this book. His typed manuscript, completed in 1983, was distributed to the local libraries in the Ritchie-Doddridge County area, and generously loaned for copying to interested descendants of Richard Dotson such as myself. This family history was the first to recognize Richard Dotson as the sole progenitor of all the Dotsons living in the Ritchie-Doddridge area in the early 19th century. Much of the information in this family history came from his own personal knowledge of Dotson descendants still living in the Ritchie-Doddridge area, plus contributions from individual families; additional information was derived from local county public records—marriages, deeds, court records— plus census data up through 1850. Most of the information (and some misinformation) about Richard Dotson’s ancestors came from a Mrs. Hazel Seevers Beck, a descendant of Richard Dotson, who had sent it to Bertha Dotson Sellers.  In 1988, I agreed with Barr to research, and publish as co-author, a major revisionto this family history. My principal contributions were to include (a) additional family information uncovered during my search of land records for the book Dotson Land Grants (1804-1865) published by me in 1988, (b) later census information, that is, post 1850; and (c) the results of research at many genealogical libraries, looking for Richard Dotson’s parents and ancestors. 

The result is this book containing 346 pages of text divided into eighteen chapters, the last fourteen of which are devoted to each of Richard Dotson’s known children. The book also includes five appendices, and an ‘every name’ index to the chaptered text; this index contains some 7000 name entries, with about 25% being Dotson. 

In addition to his 1983 Richard Dotson (1752-1847) providing the nucleus of this publication, Barr has continued to contribute his more recently acquired information; he has also reviewed the draft of each chapter going into this revised edition. 

While the resulting book represents a major increase in the published information about Richard Dotson and his descendants, it is by no means the final word. It should be considered a progress report representing the current status of knowledge about Richard Dotson, his descendants, and his ancestors. Hopefully it will provide the background and motivation for some of his descendants to continue research in these areas, particularly that of his ancestors. Our goal of finding Richard’s parents was not achieved; however, some promising leads are contained in the first chapter.

Acknowledgments 

Many sources of information were used in the preparation of this book and gratefully acknowledged. Library sources included the family history libraries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Oakland, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah; Sutro Library in San Francisco, Californa; the West Virginia Archives and History Library, Cultural Center, Charleston; the Virginia State Library and Archives, Richmond, Virginia; the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Library in Washington, DC. Public record type information was obtained at the County Clerk offices of Doddridge County at West Union, and Ritchie County at Harrisville, West Virginia; Frederick County at Winchester, and Shenandoah County at Woodstock, Virginia; Federal Population Census information was copied at the National Archives, San Bruno, California.

Several Dotson descendants have contributed valuable information on their own family lines, and have reviewed drafts of their respective sections in the book; these sections, to which they have contributed, are identified in the text; Helen L. Simmons, Margaret Buoncristiana, Viola Wadsworth, Emolene and Armour Lynch, Art Dotson, Ruth Allen Stanley, and Linda Worden. 

Publication of this book would not have been possible without the help and support of my wife Irma McGinnis Dotson, who got me interested in genealogy in the first place. Her contributions to the research for, and editing of this book, are gratefully acknowledged.

Permission was granted to me by Jim Dotson to reproduce this book both by reprinting and also on the internet in order to further research about Richard Dotson and his descendants.

The entire book with photos can be downloaded below.