Excerpt from Short Sketch of the Services of Major-General Grenville Mellen Dodge Major General Grenville Mellen Dodge, whose career of great usefulness in services of a national character covering more than a half century, has attained the age of 76 years, yet is still a factor in the active affairs of life. Few men have been for so long a time in the public eye and the life record of none has been more varied in character, more for reaching or valuable in its effects. Constant in honor, fearless in conduct and stainless in reputation, General Dodge has long been accorded classification with the most distinguished citizens of the Empire Country. While his business interests have covered a wide scope, extending into all parts of the Union, he has during the greater part of his life maintained his home in Council Bluffs and among his friends and neighbors those who know his personal character aside from his public connections - he is accorded the warmest friendship and highest esteem. A native of Massachusetts, General Dodge was born in Danvers on the 12th of April, 1831. His father, Sylvanus Dodge, was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, in 1801, and died in Council Bluffs on the 23rd of December, 1871. The family come of English ancestry, although in its lineal and collateral branches it has been distinctively American through many generations. The founder of the family in the new world was Richard Dodge, a native of England, who in 1629 joined the Plymouth colony in company with his brother William, General Dodge of this review being one of Richards descendants in the ninth generation. In the maternal line he comes from an old New England family, also of English lineage, established in America in 1700. His mother, Julia Theresa Phillips, was born in New England and in 1827 become the wife of Sylvanus Dodge. Three children were born unto them: Grenville M., in 1831; Nathan Phillips, in 1837: and Julia Mary, in 1843. The father followed merchandising and at one time was postmaster of his town. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.