Hi Anthony

I was hoping that your would respond to the question.

Something is not fitting here. David would have been 12 or 13 in 1860 wouldn't he. When He was hanged in 1864 hadn't he just turned 17, or was it 18? He would have been very young when he learned to be a telegrapher if he learned the skills while at Pine Bluff during the families time there in the 1850's.

Or else the family had just moved to Saline County when the 1860 census was taken. Of course the Dodd family could have lived within 20 miles of Pine Bluff in 1860 (Grant County)and still been in Saline County. I am sure that the 1860 census shows what township they lived in.

Having been a telegrapher, O5C40 radio teletype operator in the Army and NG before the age of the computer and microchip, I am somewhat aware that learning telegraphy takes a bit of practise.

I don't know when The Pine Bluff Telegraph Company, owned and run by Mr Snow and Ketchum was founded. I do know that it existed in June of 1862. Since the telegraph experienced a boom in growth during the late 1850's I would assume that it was founded sometime in the late 1850's at the earliest.

It would have been an expensive undertaking because of the cost of wire, equipment, electrical batteries and the chemicals needed to make the batteries. One part of my original question was was there another telegraph company operating in Little Rock other than the PB Telegraph Company?

More questions later.