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!