John T. Dodd & Sons records

Collection

Identifier: MS-0106

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains five ledgers covering the history of John T. Dodd & Sons Undertakers. The first ledger is for John T.’s carpenter business it shows various building jobs but also numerous requests for coffins including from slaveowners for their slaves. The later ledgers show how the business moving away from carpentry and more to undertaking with fewer building jobs entered and more entries regarding the detail on the types of coffins made.

Dates

Creation: 1845-1936

Access restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Publication rights

Copyright has not been assigned to Washington College. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Washington College as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Biographical Information

John T. Dodd (1813-1874) was born in Kent County to Thomas and Ann Dodd. He worked as a carpenter, builder, and lumber inspector. He married Mary Jane Denning (1815-1894) in 1835, together they had three children Augusta Matilda (1840- ), Thomas Stephen (1836-1866), and John N. (1846-1913). Thomas was also a carpenter and helped with the family business, he married Sarah A. Lambert and had three children, Dr. Henry L. (1865-1953) who served as a coroner for Kent County, Thomas S., Jr. (1860-1935) who served as sheriff, and Charles Lambert (1863-1935). As carpenters a frequently request item was coffins. As things went on John T. and Thomas became undertakers for Kent County. Two years after the death of Thomas his brother John N. became the successor to John T. & Sons undertakers. Upon John’s death Thomas’ son Charles took over the business.