from The History of Hendricks County (Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen & Co., 1914)--pages 818-820
Although the biography of the substantial citizen which is here presented is only the plain story of a farmer, yet it contains many incidents which will be interesting to the general public and especially to the many descendants of the honored subject. While James S. Dodds has been a resident of Hendricks County only a very short time, nevertheless his interests have been closely identified with this county and with the town of North Salem, where he has been doing much of his business for a long time.
James S. Dodds wa born in Garrett County, Kentucky, on January 17, 1845, and is now living a retired life in North Salem, Hendricks County, Indiana, having moved there in the fall of 1913. He is the son of Samuel and Margaret E. (Ramsey) Dodds, both of whom were natives of Kentucky and who came to Putnam County, Indiana, when he was a child of five years, and located in Jackson Township, where his father bought a farm and spent the remainder of his life.
James S. Dodds grew to manhood on his father's farm and when he was eighteen years of age he enlisted, in July, 1863, in Company I, One hundred Fifteenth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, for service in the Union Army. His company was attached to the Army of the Cumberland, under General Wilcox, and performed guard duty along the Cumberland River in Tennessee during all his service. Upon his discharge in February, 1864, he returned to his father's farm in Putnam County, where he remained until his marriage, which occurred in 1867, when he was united to Lizzie Case, a native of Putnam County and the daughter of Joseph and Louisa A. (Perkins) Case. She died in 1875, leaving one daughter, Ida G., who married John Wilson and whose death occurred in September, 1903. In March, 1880, Mr. Dodds married Sarah E. Rust, a native of Kentucky and the daughter of Matthew and Eliza Ann (Troutman) Rust. She came with her parents to Jackson Township, Putnam County, Indiana, when she was six years of age and lived there until her marriage. To this second marriage were born three children, Iva C., the wife of Frank Robbins, a farmer of Montgomery County, and they have four children, Verlie, Nina, Marie Ruby and Irene; Eliza E. is the wifie of Lona Page, a farmer of Putnam County, who has one daughter, Lottie; Vela V., the wife of Elza Page, who is a brother of Eliza's husband and a farmer of Putnam County, and he and his wife are the parents of two children living, James J. and Hazel, one of their children dying in infancy.
Mr. Dodds began farming on rented land in 1867, at the time of his first marriage, and six years later bought forty acres of land in his home township, where he lived until he moved to North Salem in 1913. Being a man of thrifty and frugal habits and assisted by an economical wife, he was able to add to his farm from time to time until he is now the owner of one hundred and thirty-four acres of fine farming land in Jackson Township, Putnam County. He has been a life-long farmer and early learned the secrets of successful agriculture. He raises all the crops common to this locality and has also given a due share of time and attention to the raising and breeding of live stock, in the handling of which he has met with splendid success. He is a practical, methodical man in all he does and his efforts have been rewarded by a due meed of success.
Mr. Dodds has been a member of the Baptist Church at North Salem for many years, and is now serving as trustee and deacon in that denomination. He was a member of the building committee which repaired the old church at North Salem, making it modern in every way. An interesting incident in Mr. Dodds' career was his short career in Indianapolis. In 1873 he moved to Indianapolis, believing that he was able to live a life more suited to his liking in the city, but the panic of that year swept over the country and within a very few months he was back on the home farm again and never left it until he moved to North Salem last year. He has hosts of friends in North Salem and in the township in which he lived for so many years in Putnam County. While he has been successful in his private affairs, he has also interested himself in the welfare of the community, and there is no one in the town of his residence who enjoys a greater degree of respect and esteem than does Mr. Dodds.