For over 50 years, I’ve been tracing the stories, people, and places that make up my family’s history—and my wife’s as well. Roots and Branches is my way of sharing what I’ve learned, not as a formal family tree, but as a growing collection of stories. I will be posting from the oldest ancestors that I know of at this time and working my way forward to the present generation.
This blog focuses on four family lines:
Dodson and Fields (my side)
Vowels and Buckman (my wife’s side)
Rather than simply listing names and dates, my goal is to breathe life into the people who came before us. Whenever possible, I’ll include:
Stories about where they lived, worked, worshipped, and raised families
Photos of individuals, homes, or grave markers
Notes on historical events that shaped their lives
Sources and research methods I’ve used along the way
This isn’t a genealogy database—it’s a narrative archive. A digital front porch, if you will, where stories get told, passed down, and sometimes corrected as more is discovered.
Whether you’re a relative, a fellow researcher, or just curious about the everyday lives of people from past generations, I hope you find something here that resonates with you.
Thank you for stopping by.
—Ron Dodson
Family historian since 1974
Welcome to Roots and Branches – where every name is a story waiting to be told.
