John Ellerton Lodge was one of the best-known ship-merchants of Boston, engaging in commerce chiefly with China. His office was on Commercial Wharf, and his son, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, in his very interesting book called " Early Memories," describes how he used to go down to the wharf when a boy to look at the ships as they sailed up the harbour. He also used to go over the vessels when they docked at his father's wharf, and made friends with the captains and seamen. He describes the great interest he took in the pictures, ivories, nuts, and ginger that had been brought from the East, but he was chiefly interested in the Chinese fire-crackers, which he said often he could not make " go off." Senator Lodge in his "Memories" said these ships reminded him of the following lines by Longfellow:
"I remember the black wharves and the slips, And the sea-tides tossing free, And Spanish sailors with bearded lips, And the beauty and mystery of the ships, And the magic of the Sea."
He also remembers as a boy taking great interest in the molasses-barrels, and. occasionally the boys used to run a long stick through the bung-hole of the barrels in order to fish up a little of the molasses.
In later years Senator Lodge used to drive with his father to Medford to see his father's ships building there. They included the following: " Argonaut," " Sancho Panza," " Don Quixote," " Kremlin," " Storm King," " Cossack," " Magnet," and " Longfellow."
When the war came, John Ellerton Lodge backed up the North as his son has backed up this country in the last great war.

• Married: 1842

1. Elizabeth Cabot LODGE b: ABT 1843 in Massachusetts
2. Henry Cabot LODGE b: 12 MAY 1850 in Boston, Suffolk Co., MA