David Low Dodge

David Low Dodge (June 14, 1774 – April 23, 1852) was an American activist and theologian who helped to establish the New York Peace Society and was a founder of the New York Bible Society and the New York Tract Society. According to historian Dale R. Steiner, he wrote "some of the earliest and most effective antiwar literature in the United States."

Life and career

David Low Dodge was born in Brooklyn, Connecticut, on June 14, 1774. His parents were David Dodge and Mary (Stuart) Earl. She was said to have been the daughter of a Scottish nobleman, perhaps connected with the House of Stuart, pretenders to the British throne, although this has never been confirmed. She had previously been married to William Earl who died of yellow fever fighting for the British during an attack on Havana in 1762. During the War of Independence, Mary's two children from this first marriage, William and Jesse Earl, were both killed on active service. Dodge later wrote that "these events almost destroyed my mother's nervous system."

From the age of seven to fourteen, except two months of district school in winter, Dodge was working on a farm in Hampton, Connecticut. He was a teacher at the age of nineteen, first in community schools then in private ones. He later began selling dry goods in Hartford, Connecticut. He also managed the first cotton factory built in Connecticut, near the town of Norwich. In the early 19th century he relocated to New York City.

On June 7, 1798, he married Sarah Cleveland (1780–1862), the daughter of Rev. Aaron Cleveland (1744–1815) and Abiah Hyde (c1750–1788). They had seven children including William E. Dodge and Elizabeth Clementine Stedman. He was also the great-grandfather of Grace Hoadley Dodge. Sarah Cleveland was great-aunt of Grover Cleveland 22nd and 24th President of the United States.