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Family of Wallace H DODGE and Harriet E VESEY
Wallace H DODGE b. 1848 Jul 10840 at Mishawaka, IN4297. d. 1894 Sep 10840. bd. Mishawaka City Cem., Mishawaka, IN840.
Harriet E VESEY b. 1848 Sep 6840 at Bertrand, MI4297. d. 1922 Dec 17840. bd. Mishawaka City Cem., Mishawaka, IN840.
Married4297 1869 Jul 134297 at Sturgis, MI4297. Harriet and Walle were married by F(T?) M Shanafelt, Minister of the Gospel. Witnesses were Walter Littlefield and Byron Sweetland, both of Sturgis.
Wallace Dodge opened a manufacturing company in Mishawaka, Indiana, in the mid to late 1800s. That company grew to become the Dodge Manufacturing company. His company manufactured saw bucks, chopping bowls, curtain poles, etc. To solve a power transmission problem, Dodge and George P Hilton of Mishawaka invented and patented a wood split pully system, July 4, 1882, which he then began successfully distributing as a product. In 1899, Congress Representative Overstreet of Indiana introduced a bill to extend an additional seven years that patent "for the exclusive benefit" of Hilton and Hattie E Dodge, "widow of Wallace H Dodge." (Indianapolis IN News, Jan 31, 1899, p 1; newspapers.com)
His will, dated May 15, 1891 (Bremen IN Enguirer, Oct 12, 1894, p 1), included bequests to his widow which included his home, private effects, and an annuity of $5000; annuities to his mother, his sisters, and nieces; patents to the Dodge Manufacturing Company of Mishawaka; and $100,000 in trust to establish a home for children, a library or an old people's home, to be determined by his widow prior to her death.
Shortly after Harriet's death, it was announced5382 that she had left $100,000 in her will for the establishment of a home for the elderly in Mishawaka, Indiana. That bequeathal was the result of a trust fund established by her husband Wallace Dodge, founder of the Dodge Manufacturing company, to establish an orphans' home, a public library or a home for old people, the choice to be made by his widow.