Dodson, William Beal was born in Baltimore, Maryland on January 31, 1787. He was the son of John Dodson of Shrewsbury, England, who migrated to America in 1771, and landed at Annapolis, Maryland, where he met and married Eleanor Howard, March 2, 1778. The Howard family was one of the old and honored families of Maryland. They had seven children born to them, William being the third son.

General Wayne and his legion by their recent victory over the Indians-secured by a treaty at Greenville that year-made it possible for emigrants to settle and cultivate the arts of peace in the Northwest Territory. in that year commenced an emigration to ohio from all parts of the old states, and maryland sent her portion of citizens to the new El Dorado. "The West" was the word after the glorious peace, and John Dodson was among the first to determine that he would lay a new foundation in a free state, where his children might earn and enjoy their own fortune. Accordingly, in the year 1795 he, and his wife and family, started to make a new home in the then far west; traveling over the mountains in wagons. William was then a boy of eight years. In November 1795, they landed in the village of Cincinnati, purchasing a farm a short distance out, in Springfield township. Here a log cabin was erected, and while building a guard of armed men was employed to protect them from the Indians, who were far from peaceful in those days, and it is told as an incident of that time that while attending church the men would cary their guns for fear of an attack from the Indians. William remained for some years on the farm with his father, and then came to Cincinnati, where as a carpenter, he was an efficient mechanic, and was active in all that pertained to the workingmen. He afterwards became a master-builder, and did the carpenter work on the second court house built in Cincinnati. The first one built in the village was on the north part of the square between Fourth and Fifth Streets, fronting on Main, but in 1814 this was burned down and the new court-house was built further out, as far up as two squares above Seventh, on Wayne Street, which in early days, was the boundrey of the in-lots of Cincinnati. The carpenter work of this court-house was all done by William Beal Dodson. He was also the builder of the noted Pearl Street House, a very grand hotel in its day, below Third, on the east side of Walnut Street. He was one of the most active workers of the Episcopal Church in Cincinnati, when they held their services in the old Wing Schoolhouse, corner of Sixth and Vine Streets. He served as a vestryman for several years, and often as a lay-reader when the clearyman could not be found. He was a very earnest politician in his day, and though never caring to hold any public office, was at one time county commissioner, and during his term of office many of the improvements of the city were made. Mr. Dodson was married to Deborah Starbuck, daughter of John Starbuck, of Nantucket, Massachusetts, to who nine children were born. In 1850 Mr. Dodson bought a beautiful home on the hillside overlooking the city, near Fairmount, which he improved and named "Cypress Villa," where he retired from the cares of active life. In 1861 he was elected president of the Cincinnati Pioneer Association, and to the day of his death took an active interest in the Society. Nearly eighty years of his life were spent here. He watched a village grow into a city, with its boundless influence. He died January 26, 1875, aged eighty-eight years.