Moses Woodruff Dodd was the founder of a publishing company that eventually became Dodd, Mead and Company

Dodd, Mead and Company

Dodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. Its history properly began in 1870, with the retirement of its founder, Moses Woodruff Dodd. Control passed to his son Frank...

 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Biography

He was the son of Ira Dodd (1786-1869) and Anna Harrison (1785-1867) of Bloomfield, New Jersey

Bloomfield, New Jersey

Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 47,315. It surrounds the Bloomfield Green Historic District.-History:...

. After graduation at Princeton

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in 1837, he entered the Princeton Theological Seminary

Princeton Theological Seminary

Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...

, but was soon obliged by ill health to relinquish his studies for the ministry. In 1839, he formed a partnership with John S. Taylor, then a leading publisher of New York. When Taylor withdrew in 1840, he continued the business under the name of M. W. Dodd until his retirement in 1870. The publications of the house during this period were chiefly theological or religious.

Family

He had the following siblings:

• Mary Kingsland Dodd (1811-1833)
• Phebe Pierson Dodd (1816-1894)
• Amarintha Dodd (1821-1889).

He married Rachel Hoe (1817-1897) and had the following children:

• Ira Seymour Dodd (1842-1922)
• Frank Howard Dodd
  Frank Howard Dodd
  Frank Howard Dodd was a United States publisher.-Biography:...
  
  (1844-1916) who took control of the company at his father's retirement.
• Charles Townley Dodd (1846-1917)
• Robert Hoe Dodd (1848-1934)
• William Mead Dodd (1851-1928) who married Jean MacNeill
• Edward Winslow Dodd (1853)