This brother, to whom we are indebted for much valuable data, is a native Texan, having been born in Austin colony, in the Republic of Texas, July 26, 1842. He is the eldest son of C. L. and Mary Dotson, who came to Texas from Mississippi in 1840. J. J. Dotson attended the first school taught in the first school house erected in Leon county. This house was of logs, with dirt floor; was at Leona. The school was taught by William Keigwin. Bro. Dotson remembers with peculiar pleasure the early visits to his father’s house of Z. N. Morrell, who preached the first sermon he ever heard. Elder Morrell awakened in him a thirst for Biblical and religious knowledge. He professed conversion in the summer of 1856, and was buried with Christ in baptism by Elder Gabriel Nash. When about 20 years old, he was married to Miss Miranda Greer Rogers, daughter of Robert Rogers, the first settler in Leon county. Their nine children are living in Leon county, the youngest being 11 years old. He served during the war in the Confederate army, Gould’s Battalion, Walker’s Division. He was a member of the Confederate States army church, organized by the late M. V. Smith, and remained a member till the war closed. At the close of the war he chose the profession of law, and has made it a success. He now resides at Jewett, and is a member of the Baptist church at that place.
Source: J. L. Walker and C. P. Lumpkin, History of the Waco Baptist Association of Texas (Waco: Byrne-Hill Printing House, 1897), pp. 290-291.