Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/198

 DAWSON

DAWSOX

regular edition of the Xcirs aiul Courier was issued September 1, and the following day, when neither printers nor pressmen could be induced to enter the building, Captain Dawson, aided only by one small boy. ran off tlie entire edition. In 1876 he incurred the severest criticism bj' de- clining a challenge from Gen. M. C. Butler, the ]>ractice of duelling being directly against his principles. Captain Dawson used the opportu- nity for a crusade which resulted in a law de- claring duelling to be a felony against the state. For this service Pope Leo XIII. made him a knight of the order of St. Gregory the Great. He was married to Sarah Morgan, and after the death of her husband Mrs. Dawson devoted her- self to literary work and to the care of her inher- ited interest in the Xeics and Courier. Captain Dawson was shot in the back and instantly killed while endeavoring to secure immunity for his children's maid from repeated insulting ad- vances made by an unprincipled man. He died in Charleston, S.C, March 12, 1889.

DAWSON, George, journalist, was born in Falkirk. Scotland, March 14, 1813. He was brought to America in 1818 by his parents, who settled at Buffalo, X.Y. He found employ- ment in the office of the Xiagara Gleaner in 1824 and in 1826, on the removal of the familj- to Rochester, he was apprenticed in the office of the Anti-JIasonic Enquirer, Thurlow Weed, editor. By private studj- he became proficient in belles- If-flrtfi, history and political economy. In 1831 he became foreman iu the office of the Albany Eceniuij Journal which Mr. Weed had previously established. For five years he filled the position of foreman besides reporting the legislature. In 1836 he removed to Rochester as editor of the Daily Democrat, and in 1839 to Detroit, Mich., as editor of the Daily Advertiser. While in Detroit he was made state printer. In 1842 he returned to Rochester as editor of the Daily Democrat and in 1846 Mr. Weed, who had removed to Albany, made him associate editor of the Evening Journal. In 1862 Mr. Dawson succeeded to the editorial charge of the Evening Journal, retiring in 1871, and resuming editorial charge in 1880. He was po.stmaster of Albany, 1861-67, and was a member of the printing firm of Weed, Parsons & Co., holding his interest at his death, when it was entrusted to the charge of his son, Burritt S. Dawson, who was also a member of the firm. He was an enthusiast in church work and chari- ties in connection with the Bapti.st denomina- tion as teacher, superintendent and lay-preacher. He was interested in the public and commercial enterprises in Albany and held jwsitions as park commissioner, and director in financial insti- tutions. He published : TIte Pleasures of Angling (1876). He died in Albany, N.Y., Feb! 17, 1883.

DAWSON, Henry Barton, historian, was born in Gosberton, Englantl, June S, 1821. His par- ents immigrated to the United States in 1834 and settled in New York. He was educated at the public schools, and in 1840 began regular news- paper work on the metropolitan journals. In 184.5—46 he assumed editorial charge of the Crystal Fount published in the interest of the temper- ance cause. He contributed a history of the New York citj- park and its vicinity to the Corporation Manual (1855), and in 1858 issued the first numbers of " Battles of the United States bj- Sea and Land." His criticisms of the merits of Gen. Israel Putnam called out a con- troversy in the Connecticut papers, afterward published in book form and sold at a fabulous price. The state of Connecticut took action on the matter of its historical accuracy and made it the subject of special legislation. He made from the original vouchers in the city archives, a transcript of the receipts and disbursements for municipal purposes during the occupation of the city by the British troops, 1776-83, which was published in 1862. He edited the Fed'-ralist in 1863 by restoring the original text and elimi- nating unconfirmed and unauthorized additions, and the controversy as called forth by his work, especially that with the Jay and Hamilton fami- lies, led to a series of letters which he published as "Current Fiction Tested by Uncurrent Facts" (1864). He became editor of the Yon- kers Gazette in 1865 and added to it a historical and biographical feature of much interest. He assumed editorial charge of the Historical Maga- zine in 1876. He also published: Becollections of tlie Jersey Prison Ship, etc. (1866) ; Putgers against Waddington (1866); and Westchester County in the Pevolntion (1886). He died in Morrisania, N.Y., May 23, 1889.

DAWSON, John, representative, was born in Virginia in 1762; son of Mai^tin Daw.son who came from Scotland with his Welsh wife about 1745. He was graduated at Harvard in 1782 and became a lawyer in his native state. He was a presidential elector from Virginia in 1783. a delegate to the state constitutional convention, and a member of the hou.se of burgesses. He served in the executive council, and rejjresented the state in the 5th-13th congresses, 1797-1814. In 1801 he was the bearer of despatches from President Adams to the government of France, and in 1813 he served as an aide to Gen. Jacob Brown, commander-in-chief of the U.S. army. He died in Washington, D.C.. March 30, 1814.

DAWSON, John B., representative, was born in Nashville, Tenn., in 1800. He was educated at Centre college. Ky.. and settled in St Francis- ville, La., where he was a planter, a judge of the parish court, a member of the state legisla-