Timothy S. Dodge (1829-1883) (also known as T. S. Dodge) was a Baptist minister who served as the first president of Benedict College in South Carolina from 1871 to 1876.
Early life in New England Timothy S. Dodge was born on February 22, 1829, in Fairlee, Vermont to Phineas and Rebecca Dodge.Burial and birth Information on tombstone and other details are viewable on findagrave1863 Marriage Record accessible on familysearch.org In 1850 Dodge was living with the Richard Everett family in Fairlee while continuing his studies.1850 US Census accessible on familysearch.org He attended college in the North before eventually moving outside of New England."Benedict College" https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/benedict-college/ By 1854 he was in Boston working as a clerk at the Boston and Providence Railroad.The Boston Directory ... -(1854) Volume 50 - Page 96 accessible on Google Books1855 Massachusetts Census accessible on familysearch.org By 1857 Dodge was also serving as clerk of Tremont Temple Baptist Church in Boston, Massachusetts when he participated in the ecclesiastical trial of Rev. Isaac Smith Kalloch.Boston Pilot, 18 April 1857 Dodge also served on Boston's YMCA committee"Eleventh Annual Report of the Boston Young Men's Christian Association," Mayn 21, 1862, p. 5 (accessible on Google Books) In 1863 he was working as a bookkeeper and married Elizabeth Jane Whitney, a native of Standish, Maine with Rev. Daniel C. Eddy officiating their wedding in Boston.Marriage Record accessible on familysearch.org By 1870 he was working as a salesman in Boston.1870 US Census on familysearch.org Founding and Presidency of Benedict College On December 1, 1870, he and his wife arrived in Columbia, South Carolina where he was studying for Baptist ordination when he became the first president (principal) of Benedict College (then called Benedict Institute), which was co-founded by Bathsheba A. Benedict of Pawtucket, Rhode Island who provided the funds to purchase a former plantation as the site for the school.Wanda K. W. Ebright, Dance on the Historically Black College Campus: The Familiar ...(2019), p. 80The Greenville Enterprise, January 11, 1871, Volume XVII, No. 34, p. 1 Dodge's first student was a sixty-six year old African American preacher who was a former slave.Foundations: A Baptist Journal of History and Theology, (1975), p. 84 In addition to the academic and religious curriculum, Dodge helped to institute an industrial training programAlbert Witherspoon Pegues, Our Baptist Ministers and Schools (1892), p. 593 and helped facilitate financial support for the school from friends in Boston.American Baptist Home Mission Society Annual Report (1873) p. 39 accessible on Google Books While in South Carolina, Dodge's daughter Phoebe Benedect Dodge (Dolloff) was born in 1875.1880 US Census on familysearch.org
Later life as a pastor and death In 1879 Dodge moved to Illinois and became pastor at the Calvary Baptist Church in Mattoon, Illinois.Edwin Sawyer Walker, History of the Springfield Baptist Association: With ... (1881), p. 123 (accessible on Google Books) He then served as pastor of the Grant Park Baptist Church, where he was serving at the time of his death."History of Kankakee County" Timothy Dodge died at age fifty-four on June 10, 1883, in Grant Park, Illinois and was buried in Union Corners Cemetery.Burial and birth Information on tombstone and other details are viewable on findagrave
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