Arthur McKenzie Dodson (c. 1819–1874) was a member of the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of that city, from 1859 to 1862.
Dodson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1819.
California
In 1849, he took part in the California Gold Rush, but had no luck and so settled in Los Angeles in 1850, where he set up a butcher shop and one of the first grocery stores in the Pueblo de Los Angeles. He was also the first soapmaker in Los Angeles. He was in partnership with John Benner. Dodson also established a coal and wood yard at the corner of Spring and Sixth streets, and he "started there a little community which he called Georgetown as a compliment to the famous Round House George whose bakery, was located on that corner."
Dodson was married in Los Angeles to Reyes Dominguez, the daughter of Nazario Dominguez, part owner of Rancho San Pedro. The couple had twelve children, of which "only four grew to maturity": James H., Emma, John F. and Caroline.
Dodson died in Tucson, Arizona, in 1874, and was buried in Wilmington, Los Angeles.
References
- Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials,1850-1938, compiled under direction of Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles (March 1938, reprinted 1966). "Prepared ... as a report on Project No. SA 3123-5703-6077-8121-9900 conducted under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration."
- Harris Newmark, Sixty Years in Southern California