[4] At the age of sixteen, he was apprenticed to a sign painter, where he painted tinned can of food.

[5] Dodge moved to Alabama in 1838, finally settling down in Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived and worked for twenty-one years.

[2] In 1840, he published an article entitled 'Painting and Daguerreotype' in which he criticized the invention of the photography, as it made miniature paintings less popular.

[2] In 1861, Dodge left Tennessee and returned to New York City, as he supported the Union.

[1][6] In 1845, Dodge purchased land in the Cumberland Mountains near Nashville, which he developed into a homestead together with a log house and an apple orchard.