Massachusetts Name Changes 1790-1892
by Eileen Dodge


      

Note there are no exact dates that these events occured, nor the birthdates or birthplaces of these people - just interesting information.

List of Persons Whose Names Have Been Changed in This Commonwealth

"That from and after the passing of this act, the several persons herein named, shall be known and called by the names they are hereby respectively allowed to assume, viz.:

That Rufus Stillman Dodge, may take the name of Stillman Dodge, all of the city of Boston, in the county of Suffolk.

That Harriet Church Dodge, of Hamilton, may take the name of Phebe Ann Blanchard Faulkner.

That Calvin Dodge, of Groton, may take the name of Ira Thayer.

"And the several persons herein named shall hereafter be called and known by the names, which, by this act, they are respectively allowed to assume as aforesaid, and the same shall be considered as their only proper and legal names."

Also, non-Dodges names were changed to Dodge, most likely by adoption. Here is one example:

Charles Scott, of Hamilton, minor, may take the name of Charles Aaron Dodge

So, here is another example of the importance of DNA. Some people today with the last name of Thayer may be Dodges!