Josiah Harrison “Harris” Dotson Sr. was the ancestor of all the Dotsons in the Fairview-Henderson County area. According to the census, he was born in Kentucky in 1790.
A story has been passed down that Harris Dotson had been drinking and was walking home in a snowstorm. He stopped at a house to warm up. He pulled off his shoes and put his feet close to the fire. A short while later the woman at the house yelled at Dotson that his feet were on fire. The fire had burned several holes in Dotson’s socks. He yanked them off and said that he had very little feeling in his feet, because his feet had gotten frost bitten when he walked across one of the Great Lakes when it was frozen over, chasing Indians. If this story is true, and no one is sure it is, it would have had to take place during the War of 1812. At that time American troops did cross over into Canada and fought the British and their Indian allies east of present-day Detroit.
Josiah Harrison “Harris” Dotson first married Sadacy “Sadie” Rogers on July 27, 1817. Andrew Cope was the bondsman at the wedding, and Robert Nanney was the witness. Harris and Sadie Dotson had two children. The first, Thomas J. Dotson, was born in Buncombe County on February 17, 1818. He married Elizabeth Nancy Gouger (1816-1898) in Iredell County, NC on September 18, 1839. Thomas J. Dotson died in Cabarrus County on November 14, 1862. Harris and Sadie’s second child was George Washington Dotson, born in Rowan County, NC in 1820. George W. Dotson married Barbara Patterson on January 24, 1844 in Cabarrus County. He died in 1852, apparently also in Cabarrus County. Sadacy “Sadie” Rogers Dotson died in Cabarrus county around 1822.
Josiah Harrison “Harris” Dotson was married for the second time to Hettie Easter Rogers in 1823 in Cabarrus County. Easter is believed to have been the sister of Harris’s first wife Sadie. Harris and Easter Dotson had five children.
Nelson S. Dotson was born in 1824, likely in Cabarrus County. Nelson married Nancy Arnold (it is not certain her last name was Arnold) in Buncombe County around 1846. Nelson Dotson moved to Lumpkin County, G. by 1849. He is listed on the 1850 Lumpkin County census.
The gold mining city of Dahlonega is the county seat of Lumpkin County. It was the biggest gold mining area of the United States until the California Gold Rush. Some believe Nelson Dotson went to Lumpkin County to prospect for gold. Nelson was back in Buncombe County in 1860 and was listed as living in Fairview in the 1860 census.
Nelson Dotson enlisted in the Confederate Army on July 15, 1861 for a term of one year. He was in Company H, 25th NC Infantry. He reenlisted a couple of times after his year was up. Nelson came down with typhoid fever in October 1864.  The old Christian-Lee Tobacco Building in Richmond, VA had been converted to a hospital during the Civil War, and was called Hospital 13. Nelson Dotson was taken to this hospital and died there on October 25, 1864. Nelson and Sarah Dotson had had seven children.
Sarah Dotson was remarried on January 27, 1874 to Isaac Kike Freeman. Isaac Freeman had been married to Aunt Elizabeth Harper (1814-1901), daughter of Lot Harper (1781-1866) and Mariam Whitaker (1786-1824). They divorced in the early 1870’s, which allowed Isaac to marry Sarah Dotson.