Sacramento County
Biographies
PHILANDER H.
DODGE
PHILANDER H. DODGE, manufacturer of gloves, 1017 Ninth street, Sacramento, was born May 2, 1847, at Monroe, Waldo County, Maine, and was educated in the public schools, graduating at the high school. In September, 1864, being then only seventeen years of age, he enlisted in Company G, Ninth Maine Regiment of Infantry, for a period of one year or during the war. His father, who had been in the army and discharged for disability, sought to dissuade him from going, but finding him determined reluctantly gave his consent. His regiment was ordered to Chapin’s Farm, on the James River, in front of Richmond, and assigned to the division commanded by General B. F. Butler. His regiment took part in an engagement, in which it lost about ninety men. Soon after the fight he was stricken with rheumatic fever and sent to the hospital at Portsmouth, Virginia, where he remained about seven weeks. In the meantime his regiment had been ordered to Fort Fisher, where he rejoined it, arriving two days before that battle was fought and in which with his regiment he took part. After the fight the brigade under General Terry marched in Wilmington, North Carolina, and thence to Raleigh. On the way it was learned that General Schofield was fighting with General Joe Johnston, and in order to render him assistance a forced march of forty-four miles was made in one day. On arriving at the scene of battle, material aid was given General Schofield and victory crowned the Union forces. This was the last battle in which General Johnston’s army took part during the war. On arriving at Raleigh, General Terry established his headquarters, and Dodge was detailed with others for duty at the General’s headquarters, where he remained until the surrender of Lee, when he was ordered to report to his regiment to be mustered out. On returning to his home in Maine, he attended school for one term, then bought an interest in the firm of J. B. Morse & Co., manufacturers of edge tools, located at Dixmont, Maine. But, not liking the business, he remained only six months, when he sold his interest to his partners and engaged as traveling salesman for a Boston grocery house, with whom he stayed till 1868. In April of that year, he started for California, coming across the Isthmus and arriving in San Francisco in May. At this time the Central Pacific Railroad was in course of construction and the work in need of men and Mr. Dodge being willing to do anything to afford an honest living, hired as teamster and was engaged in hauling railroad iron. At the end of six weeks an opportunity offered for him to go to Emigrant Gap; thither he went and for four months was engaged in logging, with S. Putnam of that place. In the fall of the year he went to Yolo County, and obtained employment on a ranch, where he spent the winter. In the spring of 1869 he went to San Joaquin County, purchased a lot of wild horses and engaged in teaming, chiefly in hauling grain. In the autumn he disposed of the team and went to Roseville, Placer County, where he took a contract for cutting wood, in which he employed a considerable number of men. In the spring of 1870 he went to Colusa County and engaged in raising sheep. In the fall he sold his band, and during the winter taught school at Colusa. In the spring of 1871 he went to Nevada and again bought sheep, spending the remainder of the year in that State, wintering his band at Pueblo Valley near the Oregon line. Early in 1872 he sold his sheep and returned to California, and after spending some time in the mountains he went to Red Bluff, Tehama County, and engaged as foreman for Phillips & Chandler, the largest stock-raisers in the county, remaining with them till December, when he paid a visit to his home in Maine, spending about two months there. On his return to California he went to Colusa, and during the season gave his time to shearing sheep, traveling from Colusa to the State of Nevada.
At the end of the shearing season, and until early in 1875, he operated a stage line and kept a hotel in the mountains. In 1875 he came to Sacramento and engaged as a salesman for Horace Briggs, who was manufacturing a patent spring bed, and also sold furniture for W. D. Comstock and others. At the expiration of his contract with these parties, he opened a wood-yard in Sacramento, which he operated during the winter. In the spring of 1877 he disposed of this, and removed to Butte Meadows, Butte County, where he built a hotel, remaining as “mine host” for about four years, when he sold out, returned to Sacramento and engaged in his present line of business, the manufacture of gloves. He has been very successful, and has a reputation second to none in his line. His business relations are quite extended, his goods being sold not only in California but also in Nevada, Oregon and most of the Territories. Mr. Dodge’s thorough knowledge of the requirements of his trade, and the fact that all skins used in the manufacture of his gloves are tanned at his own tannery and under his own personal supervision, enables him to place his goods on the market with the positive assurance that no competitor can excel him. In the operation of his factory and tannery, he employs twenty girls and six men. In the business he is highly regarded, and enjoys to the fullest extent their confidence and esteem. During his visit East in 1872 he was married to Miss Emma Sunderland, a daughter of Major Henry Sunderland, of the British army at Montreal, Canada. Mr. Dodge is active in the Grand Army of the Republic, being a member of Sumner Post, No. 3, also of Leland Stanford Camp, No. 11, Sons of the Veterans. Of the last organization he has been Captain. Is also prominent in the Odd Fellows order, being a member of Capital Lodge, and the Occidental Encampment of Patriarchs Militant. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, and is now Chancellor Commander of Capital Lodge. In politics Mr. Dodge is a ‘dyed-in-the-wool” Republican, and uses all his energies to further the interests of his party both locally and nationally.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of
Sacramento County, California. Pages 669-670. Lewis
Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.