Here's a question for fellow researchers... In the early 1800s, there seems to have been a very deliberate name spelling shift from Dodson to Dotson among many members of this clan. It does not seem to be a mistake of illiteracy--but it does coincide with the movement of many of the family members (who I have studied) westward in Virginia towards Appalachia. Does anyone have any clues on why they changed their names? Mary Dotson