George Dodds was born February 10, 1837 in Roxburgshire, Scotland. On July 28, 1854 at age 17, George sailed for New York City aboard the steamship "Glasgow." Upon his arrival he traveled by rail to Cincinnati and then by steamboat to Madison, Indiana where he became an apprentice in a marble shop where his brother, Andrew, was a foreman. In 1859 the two brothers moved to the booming town of Yellow Springs, Ohio where the formed a partnership and started their own marble and granite company. In the early 1860''s, the two brothers decided to move their young company. George talked to an attorney friend about whether they should move to Dayton or Xenia. The attorney noted that while Dayton had the canal, it was Xenia which would have the railroad and would soon be the center of commerce in the region. [Detail]