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John Francis Dodge was an American industrialist known for founding the Dodge Brothers Company, one of the United States' Big Three auto companies, with younger brother, Horace Elgin Dodge.[1][2][3][4]
John Francis Dodge was born October 25, 1864, in Niles, Berrien, Michigan, USA, son of Daniel Rugg Dodge and Maria Duval Casto.[5][4][3][1][6][7][8] John spent his childhood in Niles, Michigan.[6][9][4]
John married Ivy S. Hawkins September 22, 1892 in Detroit, Michigan.[8]Their children included Winifred born 1894 in Michigan[10][11]; Isabel C. born circa 1897 in Michigan[12][10]; and John Duval born 1898 in Michigan[10][13].
John married second Minnie Isabella Smith on December 8, 1903 in South Haven, Michigan.[14] They divorced 29 October 1907 in Van Buren, Michigan.[14]
John married finally Matilda Rausch on December 10, 1907 in Detroit, Michigan.[7][5] John and Matilda raised their family in Detroit.[12][10] Their children were Frances Matilda born in 1914 in Michigan[12][5]; Daniel George born in 1917 in Michigan[12][5]; Anna Margaret born in 1919 in Michigan[12][5]. John's sister Delphine and her family are found living with his own family from at least 1910 until 1920.[12][10]
Matilda, Frances, Daniel, and Anna Dodge |
Mechanics was a family affair, as John's father was a machinist who owned his own foundry and machine shop in Niles.[9][2] John and his brother had their beginnings there, but worked toward their own endeavours.
John and his brother Horace moved to Detroit in 1886, where they started working for a boilermaker.[2] By 1894, they were working at the Canadian Typograph Company in Windsor, Ontario.[2] John started leaning towards the managerial side of things while Horace was the more gifted of the two with mechanics and inventing.[2] In 1897, the brothers found another investor to work with them in using a dirt-proof ball bearing in the manufacture of bicycles.[2][3][4] Just a couple years later, they sold the Dodge-Evans Bicycle Company and opened their own machine shop in Detroit.[2][3][4]
The company gained a contract to build transmissions for the Oldsmobile Automobile Company, and started to build a solid reputation in the auto parts industry in 1902.[2][3] Only a year later, they were preparing to manufacture engines for Henry Ford.[2][3][4] From 1903 to 1913, the Dodges held shares in the Ford Motor Company, and manufactured parts for Ford.[2]
Their next move was to start their own automobile manufacturing business.[2][4] They started with a four-cylinder touring car, debuting in 1914, and moved on to ambulances, trucks, and military vehicles.[2][3][4] The company was very successful, and even had a marine division.[2] One of their innovations was an oven that would bake enamel onto steel auto bodies.[3]
John and Horace riding in the back of their first production car. |
Several years after John's death, Dodge was purchased by the Chrysler Corporation from he and Horace's widows, making Chrysler one of the three largest auto companies in the country.[2] Dodge remains a part of their company to this day.[3]
Both Dodge brothers died in 1920, after attending an auto expo in New York City.[3][4] John passed away January 14, 1920, in Manhattan, Kings County, New York of the Spanish Flu, which he had contracted at the expo.[1][3][4] He was buried 17 January 1920 at Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit.[2][1]
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