David took me down a road today named after our family. We were in search of an old school house - Dodson School to be exact. We did not find it. We ended up on a gravel road with a gate that kept us from getting to our destination. We did, however, find an old cemetery. The Dodson/Emerson Cemetery. They misspelled the name (perhaps we can get that fixed).
We discovered some graves, of our family, back to the 1700s!!!!!!!!!
So we arrived at this grown up area in Graves County. Nothing but brush and trees. You could barely see into some of the forested areas. The mosquitoes were everywhere - tics crawling - hot, about 87 degrees and humid! It was like stepping back in time once we got in there. These old gravestones that have been untouched for who knows how many years. At first we could not find anything. We looked and looked. There was just so much brush. Finally David spotted a couple of tombstones. These were the Emerson’s. We are still working on how they are connected to the Dodson family. After finding the Emerson Tombstones we started looking for the Dodson’s.
I finally climbed up in a tree stand, that someone had built for deer hunting, and looked around the forest. Nothing. It was just too grown up. We decided to go back to the car and look at the map. We looked in one last place, while swatting mosquitoes and sweating, we found an area that was grown up and over with brush and weeds - about four-five feet high. We spotted a grave and then another. One was sticking up like a monument - about four feet high or so.
We climbed our way through the brush and made it to the first stone - DODSON was written on it. We found what we were looking for. Then we found a few more. We decided to go back to the car to get some brush clippers. We clipped for awhile - about an hour. Finally cleaned everything up and you could see all of the tombstones. At the end of the day we were still missing a few. We will have to go back!
I am going to have to ask Tony if he can help us find out if the old Dodson Schoolhouse is still on the property (photo below of fields). I am going to have to get some of my family to go out there as well!
Photos from today
Dodson Road - the road that leads to the Dodson School House.
This is the land where the school is/was located. Our family used to own this land in Graves County.
The sign for the cemetery
Elizabeth Dodson - December 12, 1825 - 1898
Elizabeth Dodson - December 12, 1825 - 1898
Four Dodson Tombstones lined up
George W. Martin - Died 1888
Albert Emerson Died January 1888
Emerson Grave Stone - we are unsure, at this point, of who the Emerson’s are. They are buried in front of
the Dodson’s. David is working on that subject.
Irwin E. Emerson Born July 28, 1878 and Died February 2, 1907
Emerson Graves
Asa Dodson - 1780-1855
Asa Dodson
Nancy Wolverton 1782-1850
Nancy Wolverton
Thomas Dodson - 1918-1892
May 31st, 2008
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Well, never a dull moment. That is for sure. We went to visit the farm this morning. We took Tyler with us (my nephew). David and I spent an hour or so digging out an old "clothes line" pole. My mother wanted it saved (before they start to excavate. So we dug it out. It was my grandmothers. I think it was about 4 feet deep into the ground. It took a bit of work. :) We got it though!
We then marked off the Oak Tree to make sure the excavators stay away from it. Otherwise they are going to start clearing out the old dead trees and brush. The current plan is to behin on Monday. We are supposed to meet them up there bright and early. We shall see!
We then headed back to Mayfield. Everyone had to take showers. I found six ticks on me - one of them bit me. The other ones were just crawling. I have never seen so many ticks. Just horrible this year. Even when I lived on the farm I don’t recall there being this many. Have to watch those critters. I would imagine that I have picked about 20 of them off of me over the past few weeks. Three bites. I try to catch them early - and spray with the "anti" bug spray. Doesn’t seem to always work.
We went to an auction these evening. Tried to buy some apartments. They went too high though and we walked away. Maybe next time.
Looks like some severe weather in the coming days. A bit iffy at this point - will keep watching the situation. There is a risk on both Friday and Saturday.
May 30th, 2008
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David found this for me…
www.combatweather.org/forum/shwmessage.aspx
Way toooooo cool!
Some comments from that thread…
"SSgt Robert A. Dodson was originally from Kentucky, where he finished high school and one year at Murray State College,. He was working in Chicago, IL, until he enlisted at Jefferson Barracks, MO on 8 Sep 1941. He trained as a weather observer and went overseas on 6 Apr 44, returned to the US on 21 July 45 and was discharged on 22 Sep 45 at Camp Atterbury, IN. He was hospitalized for jump related injuries for 39 days from sometime in July - Aug 44. The record says sprained knee. We haven’t found anything else, so far on when he went to weather school, joined the 21 Wx Sq, etc., but will let you know if anything turns up.
The 21 WS history for 1945 shows he was awarded a Bronze Star for his D-Day service; we have requested a copy of the official order to verify it. His other decorations are listed as the Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign medal with 4 bronze service stars for the Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns, American Defense Service Medal, Purple Heart, and Distinguished Unit Citation. While it not listed on his discharge, he would have also rated the WW II Victory Medal.
From what we do have, it doesn’t appear he went to any parachute qualification course, just a one day orientation prior to jumping on 5/6 June 44. It would be interesting to find out if he was awarded jump wings with the bronze star denoting a combat jump.
more on link above…
Apparently Robert also appears on several television shows (The Weather Channel recreation of the events) and books. We are trying to recover some of that information.
May 29th, 2008
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Wow - my Great Uncle is a war hero AND a WEATHERMAN!!!
http://www.bragg.army.mil/www-wx/dodson.htm
Staff Sergeant Robert A. Dodson enlisted in the Army in August 1941 and trained as a weather observer at New Orleans Army Bomber Base in September 1941. In April 1944, Sergeant Dodson was assigned to the 21st Weather Squadron in Ascot, England and a month later he volunteered jump school training. As his paperwork was being processed, the jump school was shut down in preparation for "D-Day". Undaunted, Sergeant Dodson and his commanding officer convinced the 82nd Airborne Division, located at Manchester, England, to make room for one more soldier. Sergeant Dodson became a member of an Air Support Party from Ninth Air Force attached to Headquarters, 82nd Airborne Division, which consisted of an Officer in Charge, five communications men who acted as forward air controllers, a driver, and a weather observer, equipped with a half-track and a "veep" (radio equipped jeep). Sergeant Dodson received a minimum of mock-up training before making his first and only jump.
At 0230hrs on 6 June 1944, Sergeant Dodson jumped with Force "A" of the 82nd Airborne Division commanded by Brigadier General James M. Gavin. The sky was moonlit and practically clear when he landed about a mile northeast of St. Mere Eglise, France in a field where cattle were grazing. One other man had landed in the same field with him and the two of them set out at once toward the head of the stick, in spite of a knee injury Sergeant Dodson sustained during the jump. As they proceeded they picked up eight other members of their outfit one at a time. Things were progressing according to schedule and they had yet to make contact with the enemy. They found three injured men along the way, gave them first aid, and continued on. Along the way they recovered their equipment which they unpacked, selected a VHF radio, and camouflaged the rest of the equipment in a hedgerow before finally linking up with the command post which had relocated to St. Mere Eglise.
The Germans counterattacked, and during thirty-six hours all members of the Air Support Party acted as riflemen. When the siege was lifted, Sergeant Dodson began his weather observing duties. Each hour he sent by radio the present weather, wind direction and speed, visibility, ceiling and cloud heights, temperature, and dew point. For the last elements he was equipped with a shielded psychrometer and psychometric tables, while all other elements were determined visually. This work continued until 21 June, when Sergeant Dodson was evacuated to the hospital at Bouteville for treatment on the knee he injured during the jump. He later returned to his unit, which returned to England when it was relieved on 13 July. Sergeant Dodson, who made his first trip to France during the war with a parachute as a weather observer with the 82nd Airborne Division, returned to France with the headquarters of Ninth Air Force and the 21st Weather Squadron, serving out the rest of the war as chief dispatcher at the motor pool. He left the service in September 1945.
Sergeant Dodson’s military decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign medal with 4 bronze service stars (for the Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns), American Defense Service Medal, and Distinguished Unit Citation. The Air Weather Service recognized Sergeant Dodson’s World War II service in July 1987 by naming its Specialized Support Award in his honor.
My Great Uncle Bob
May 28th, 2008
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I discovered, this past weekend, that my Great Uncle is a war hero! So much so that the military has an award named after him!!! I am so proud! He parachuted into Normandy to set up weather instruments. There was also a special on The Weather Channel that featured him in a recreation of that day. NOW I know where I must have gotten my love for weather!!!!
14.2.5.1. Dodson Award (Outstanding Airman). This award honors Staff Sergeant Robert A.
Dodson who on 6 June 1944, after parachuting behind German lines at Normandy, set up an
observing site to supplement the weather database for the Allied D-Day invasion forces. This
award recognizes individual leadership and excellence by an Airman performing duty in an Air
Force weather unit that conducts Aerospace Weather Operations.
More information her
http://www.defendamerica.mil/profiles/jun2004/pr061804b.html
May 28th, 2008
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Daddy, mother, and myself went up to Massac County on Sunday for a family get-together. It ended up that it was moved to Kentucky! So we made our way back down the interstate and into the Benton area. We all had a great time. My Aunt Jeno was there - it has been a long time since she has seen me. I was a little kid to be exact! It was nice that she was able to see my mother again. She has talked about it and mother has talked about it for YEARS. So now they were able to get back together. They talked for a long time. I think she had a great time. My dad had a nice time as well - everyone caught up on the latest stories.
I had fun. It was nice to learn a few "war" stories from some of my family members. Still looking into my Great Uncle Robert Dodson. Apparently he was involved with meteorology when he was in the armed services. Will have to find out a bit more!
My dad and Uncle Larry
Nancy (my dad’s sister - Aunt Jeno and my mother
May 27th, 2008
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It has been raining on and off all day. Several very heavy thunderstorms in Massac County. We went up to the farm today to do some measurements. POURED on us on the way and then once we left. It was fun to watch the thunderstorms to the south. We sat up there for awhile. It was peaceful.
May 27th, 2008
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When we are a child there are so many things that we don’t realize. We have not received our "wisdom" that comes with growing older. I have learned over the years that there are some things we are just not supposed to learn until "later". Moments will come, in our life, when we learn something about ourselves or someone else. In that moment we have a realization that "oh THAT is why that happened" or "OHHHH now I understand why my mother used to do that" - or "that is why my teachers taught me that".
We usually receive these "moments of realization" in the most uneventful times. They usually occur while talking with a family member, learning about something from your past or your families past, with the appreciation of receiving something once lost. Perhaps a truth, a story lost, or a new understanding.
I have had a lot of those moments over the last few years. Perhaps I am becoming a "little" more wise as I grow a little bit older. Now I understand why people say to others that "he or she is wise beyond their years". I don’t think I was ever wise beyond my years….sometimes I wish I was! I look back on moments in my life and say "well, I wish I would have figured that out a long time ago".
There is wisdom in being unwise, however. If we know too much too soon then there is not a learning process involved. We learn from experience. Experience brings wisdom. Knowing everything up front would simply make us a computer - programmed to know how to respond to certain situations. We would have never felt or experienced the emotions of a situation or circumstance. Thus we would never fully experience the human element. That which makes us real.
Wisdom comes from experience and experience comes from being inexperienced until the day you learn something new. Then you gain both wisdom and experience. :) You can not have one without the other. It is a process for our human minds - it is a process for those around us. A learning process of sorts.
One thing I have learned over the past few years is that there are truely very few things that are "important" in life. We could probably all count them together…
Family
Friends
Family
Friends
I can’t think of anything else right now? Can you? Okay, perhaps being happy. I would say that is important. Happiness is so umm what is the word? Elusive in a slippery kind of way. Happiness tends to be something abstract. Something that is not tangible. A "feeling" perhaps? Is it a state of being? I don’t know. I have recently found happiness on the farm. Is that the right word? For everyone following this blog you will know that I have extremely excited about moving to the farm. There is a peace that comes over me when I stand on that hill and look over the horizons in all directions. I can’t explain it - some things in life can’t be explained. Nor should be explained. They just are.
I have come to realize more and more that it doesn’t matter what other people think about you. What matters is what you think, what your family thinks, and what your friends think. I say it is important - it is important only in the sense that you care about your friends and they care about you. Everyone will always have an opinion - one way or another. We don’t all have to agree on everything.
Am I rambling in this post? I just wanted to say that I have learned more and more that family and friends should be the center of everything in your life. Nothing else matters. Okay, things "matter". It MATTERS that you pay your light bill, make a good grade on the mid-term, feed the dog (family in herself), wash your hair and brush your teeth. Yes, these things do matter. BUT what REALLY matters is that someone tells you "I love you before you go to bed" - "calls you to tell you that your favorite show is on teleivision (just in case you are online and missing it), sings you happy birthday once a year, text messages you the words "hugs" from time to time when they enter your mind, emails you a photo that you think might inspire them, and I could go on, but you get the point.
At the end of the day very few things really matter in life. Family and friends - each other. That is what matters.
So this whole rant was simply to say "life is short - enjoy what you have - follow your dreams and pursue that which makes you happy". Everything else comes second.
Beau
May 27th, 2008
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So we headed off, with David (David is visiting from Canada), to Elizabethtown, Kentucky. There was an arrowhead show this weekend. Joey collects arrowheads. It was a large show - prob more than a 100 tables - full of arrowheads! I think we all had a nice time. It was actually my first show. I know they have them in Massac County, Illinois as well. I will have to watch the Metropolis Planet for the next show.
I did homework on the way to the show. Kept me busy!
Here are some photos from the day.
LOTS AND LOTS OF ARROWHEADS!!
Joey at the show - looking at arrowheads
Joey at the archaeological show in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
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Then, after the show, we drove several hours back to Kentucky Lake. We decided to go see the Elk and Buffalo.
Unfortunately, this is about all we saw during the "Elk and Buffalo" hunt.
May 24th, 2008
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