His father was a well-to-do country squire and merchant, well connected politically, who died in 1871 when Josiah was 10.

Dort left school at age 15 to help his mother in business and to work at a crockery firm.

[1] He made a $1,000 investment in 1886 (equivalent to $30,000 in 2023[2]) to become a partner with William C. Durant in a new carriage business called the Flint Road-Cart Company.

Dort and Durant invested in a controlling interest in Buick in 1904 when the new owner ran short of capital.

Durant lost control of GM to bankers in 1911 and they re-established themselves by creating a new brand of automobile, Chevrolet.