Ezra Dodson was engaged in the business of canal transportation in the busy and prosperous days of its usefulness. He owned his own boat and horses. In June 1862, he was overtaken by a flood in which his boat was swept away, his horses drowned, and also himself and an adopted son, George. The body of George was never found, but on the next day the body of Ezra was found lodged in the lower branches of a tree below Mauch Chunk, Pa.