I know a little about the Dodson Baptists, at least what has been told to me from grandparents. My line comes from Abraham Dodson, who lived in North Farnham, VA abt. 1750. His son was Enoch. Enoch's son, William migrated to Fayette Co, AL. I have read some of the church minutes where the Dodsons were members. They were called primitive Baptist. They were very strict & followed the Bible to the letter. They traveled in their wagons or by foot to church & would stay all day, listening to preaching, singing & eating lunch together. They would put the children in the wagons for naps. They did not believe in dancing, drinking, "cussing" or being unfaithful to their spouse. When a member did any of these things, the deacons would go to the person, confront him or her about their sin. They were expected to repent & walk the straight & narrow way. If the sin continued, the church would withdraw fellowship from the individual. My William Dodson, mentioned above, continued to yield to the temptation of sin, and was excluded from the church. His wife continued to go to church & take her children. In the primitive Baptist churches, men could preach if they felt the call from God to do so. Therefore, many of the men in the congregation did preach. My gg grandfather, John S. Jones (son-in-law of William Dodson) preached some in this type of Baptist church. They also believed in foot washing. This was taken from the story in the Bible where Jesus washed the disciples feet. They washed one another's feet to show humbleness and their willingness to serve their fellow man. Being Baptist, they also believed in baptism, usually in the nearest creek or river. I would guess that these traditions that I know of in the 1800-1900's were passed down from the earlier Dodsons. Being Baptist myself, these stories have been very interesting to me. I hope this might give you some insight to their beliefs.