Person:Rhoda Dotson (1)

DEATH: Died after her apron caught fire at her son Joe's home in 1944. Date of Death from Probate of Will dtd 16th June 1944.

Written by Jessie May, on Nov. 6, 1975; 1721 Poplar St. Kenova, WV I wanted to write this record of the May Family, according to the best of my knowledge. My Aunt Rhoda Dotson who was married to old John S. Dotson was an example. While she was single and still at home, she was tanning some leather to make shoes for the family, when some soldiers came. Soldiers of the civil war would come through the countryside, stealing and robbing wherever they could. One of those men tried to take the hide from Rhoda. She was putting up such a fight another soldier started to help take it from her. When a captain in the group told him to stay out of it. If she could whip him, she could keep it and she did and was able to keep it. People used to have to hide their cows and horses in old mine banks and hollows and hide their food any where they could, even under the floor, when they heard that the soldiers were coming through the country. Rhoda would ride an ox from Virginia to Louisa KY, to buy salt. The men and women used to plow with ox. She was plowing a field when her sweetheart came home from the army and she came leaping out of the field to meet him, letting the oxen go. Rhoda was 100 and of a sound mind when she died.

Rhoda was living with her son Joe below Grundy in 1947 and caught her apron on fire while cooking in the kitchen. She died from injuries from the fire. Rhoda lived with Joe until her death in 1947.

Listed in 1910 Census for Buchanan County, Virginia

Here is another story about Rhoda as related by Frank Dotson Rhoda and John S. Dotson's grandson, of Home Creek.

"Bushwhackers were by far the worst criminals in the war, pillaging homes and murdering people during the confusion of the war. They are said to have deserted the Confederate Army and hidden in the hills. One such group according to Frank Dotson of Home Creek, forced their way into the Knox Creek home of Virginia and William Riley Dotson, William was away at war leaving Virginia there with her daughter Rhoda and son Shade. The thieves searched the house, gathering up valuables. One had a knapsack, which he was filling as he was going thought the house, and Rhoda grabbed a butcher knife and cut the straps. Another rogue changed his filthy shirt, putting on one belonging to William. (It is ironic that Virginia later found $100 left by mistake in the pocket of the discarded dirty shirt!) For some reason, the bushwhackers had to leave in a hurry, and brother Shade, then a teenager, took an old muzzle loading musket, followed them, and shot one. Fifty years later when John P. Dotson was road supervisor, a work crew found a skeleton buried beneath a cliff. This may have been the body of that dead bushwhacker"

Rhoda went to visit her father and brothers in a Civil War camp in Louisa, Kentucky. While there, she married her sweetheart, John Sherman Dotson, who was a distant relative.

WILL: I, Rhoda Dotson, of Buchanan County, Virginia, widow of John S. Dotson, deceased, being of sound and disposing mind, do hereby make, publish and declare this to be my last will and testament, hereby revoking all other wills by me at any time made. 1.I direct that all my just debts shall be paid and necessary burial e×penses after my death to be directed and done by Joseph Dotson, my son. 2.I give and bequeath to my son, Joseph Dotson, all the personal property that I have or may have at the time of my death, including any and all moneys except as hereinafter provided that I may have at that time, and any kitchen or household furniture that I may own at the time or my death or that I may have an interest in. It is my intention to give to my son, Joseph Dotson, the most of the worldly possessions I may have or may own at the time of my death because he has taken care of me during the past several years, and at this time I feel sure that he will take care of me in the future. 3.I give and devise to my son John H. Dotson the sum of one dollar ($l.00). 4.To my daughter, Mary Dotson Ratliff, I give tile sum of one dollar ($1.00). 5.To my daughter, Pricey Dotson, I give and bequeath the sum of one dollar ($1.00). 6.To my son Green Dotson, I give and devise the sum of one dollar ($1.00). 7.To my daughter Alifair Dotson, I give the sum of one dollar (,1.00). 8.To the heirs at law of George Dotson, deceased, I give the sum of one ($1.00). 9.To the heirs at law of Jane Lester, deceased, I give and bequeath the sum of one dollar ($1.00).

WILL: I do hereby nominate and appoint my son, Joseph Dots0n, of Buchanan County, Virginia, as my Executor of this my last will and testament, with full power and authority to execute the same according to its true intent and meaning, and having perfect confidence in his judgment and intergity, I direct that the said Joseph Dotson shall not give security for the execution of this my last will and testament. Given under my hand this the 2lst day of June, 1939.herRohoda x Dotson (SEAL)markThe above signature of the Testatrix, Rhoda Dotson was made and the foregoing

WILL: will was acknowledged to be her last will and testament in the presence of us, three competent witnesses, present at the same time, and we, the said witnesses do hereunto subscribe the said will on the date last above written, in the presence of said estatrix, and of each other, at the request of the said Testatrix who was then of sound mind and over the age of twenty-one years. S. C. Ratliff Joe ttackney Minnie Lester

WILL: IN RE: PROBATE OF W1LL OF HHODA DOTSON, DECEASED

WILL: VIRGINIA:In the Clerk’s Office of the Circuit Court of Buchanan County, the 10th Day of may, 1944.

WILL: It appearing that Rhoda Dotson departed this life on the 1st day of may, 1944, that said Rhoda Dotson, at the time of her death, had a mansion house and a known place of residence in the County of Buchanan; and now a writing bearing date the 2lst, day of June, 1939, purporting to be the true last will and testament of the said Rhoda Dotson, deceased, is produced before me, the Clerk of the Circuit Court of said County, and duly proved by the oath of Minnie Lester Padbury, one of the subscribing witnesses to said writing, who after being duly sworn did depose and state that the said Rhoda Dotson had signed said writing in her presence and in the presence of Joe Hackney and S. C. Ratliff, the other two subscribing witnesses, all of them being, present at the same time, as and for her last will and testament, and they, at her request, had signed same in her presence, and in the presence of each other as attest­ing witnesses, and the said Rhoda Dotson, at the time of the execution of said writing, was of sound mind and disposing memory. On motion of Joseph Dotson, one of the beneficiaries in said will, the said writing was admitted to probate as and for the true last will and testament Of the said Rhoda Dotson, deceased, and is ordered to be recorded. The said Rhoda Dotson, deceased, in her last will and testament, appointed her son, Joseph Dotson, Executor thereof, with the direction that he not be required to give any bond, and the undersigned Clerk, seeing no objection thereto:, and no person making any application to the contrary, the said Joseph Dotson is hereby appointed Executor of the last will and testament of the said Rhoda Dotson, deceased, and no bond is required of him. There upon, the said Joseph Dotson duly qualified as such Executor by taking and subscribing the oath as provided by law. J. L. Looney, Clerk VIRGINIA, BUCHANAN COUNTY, to-wit: In the Clerk’s Office of the Circuit Court of the county of Buchanan, State of Cirginia, the 16th day of June 1944, the foregoing last will and testament of Rhoda Dotson, deceased, and the proceedings in connection with the probating of same, were Presented and admitted to record, and recorded in Will Book No.2, page 127. TESTE:JenningsL.LooneyCLERK

1. ↑ 1860 United States Federal Census Buchanan County, Virginia.
2.   Jay Dotson's.