Born on January 27, 1832, in Daresbury, Cheshire, a small English town, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (pronounced "Dodson") was the eldest son of Reverend Charles Dodgson and Frances Jane Lutwidge. His parents, both socially well-connected cousins belonging to families with strong traditions of service to the Anglican Church and to the Crown, gave birth to four boys, including Dodgson, and seven girls.

Dodgson's father, Rector of Daresbury, held a zealous sense of obligation for the church. He worked for the parish poor, ran a Sunday school, organized lectures, increased the congregation's size, and started a mission among the barge folk working on a canal. As a classical scholar, Dodgson's father published religious books and became the appointed Chaplain to the Bishop of Ripon. Later he became the Bishop of Ripon and finally a Canon of Ripon Cathedral. A powerful father to Dodgson, his "Papa" bestowed on him...