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| IT all began back in April of 1897 when the Dodd family was split up. Benjamin and Anna Dodd found themselves in dire straits. For some reason Benjamin could not work and thus could no longer provide for his family of ten. The care of their youngest four daughters was entrusted to the Nebraska Children's Home society. Clara Blain, Minnie Fay, Rosa Allen and Marvel were all put in foster homes. The Society might have taken the eldest girl also, 15 year old Dolly, but she was "deformed" and would be hard to place in foster care. The four daughters were sent to different homes over the ensuing years. Most treated the girls well but some were abusive. It was later discovered that the founding ministers were known to take kickbacks from the foster parents who would use the girls as virtual slaves. In 1899, the Dodd family petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus to regain custody of their children. |
| The Home society fought back, arguing that the only reason the parents wanted their daughters now was so that they "might go around with the elder deformed sister (Dolly, who was now 18) to beg at saloons and on the streets so that the parents might live in idleness." Dolly, who herself never had any experience with the society, was called to testify in defense of her parents. After listening to the abuse that Rosa endured and testimony from Clara, the judge ruled in favor of the Dodds, restoring all back to them except (eventually) little Marvel previously mentioned. |
| Earliest photo I've seen of Dolly Dodd. 1904. Dolly was born in 1881 in Quincy, Illinois. In 1885 the Dodd's moved to Nebraska. |