Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/199

 DAWSON

DAWSON

ture, a militia general and a Democratic repre- sentative in the 27th and 2Stli congresses, 1841-45. He died at St. Fraucisville, La., June 26, 1845.

DAWSON, John Littleton, representative, was born in Uniontown, Pa., Feb. 7, 1813; son of George and Mary (Kenned}-) Dawson. He was graduated at Washington college in 1833; was a law student with the Hon. John Dawson, 1833-35 ; was admitted to the bar, and practised in Fayette county. Pa., 1836-70. He was deputy attorney -general of the state in 1838, and was appointed U.S. district attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania by President Polk in 1845. He represented his district in the 32d, 33d, 38th and 39th congresses, serving, 1851-55, and 1863-67. He served as chairman of the committee on agriculture and on the committees on foreign affairs and on public lands. He was the author of the homestead bill passed in 1854. He was a delegate to the Democratic national conventions of 1844, 1848, 1856, 1860 and 1868. President Pierce nominated him governor of Kansas in 1855, but he declined the appointment. He died at Friendship Hill, Pa., Sept. 18, 1870.

DAWSON, Samuel Kennedy, soldier, was born in Pennsylvania about 1818. He was graduated at the U.S. military academy in 1839, and assigned to the 1st artillery. He was pro- moted 1st lieutenant June 18, 1846, brevet cap- tain, April 18, 1847, captain, March 31, 1853, major, May 14, 1861, lieutenant-colonel, July 4, 1863, colonel by brevet, Sept. 20, 1863, brigadier- general by brevet, March 13, 1865, and full colonel, July 28, 1866. He was major of the 19th U.S. infantry, 1861-63, lieutenant-colonel of the 15th U.S infantry, July to September, 1863, and colonel of the 19th U.S. infantry, 1863-65. His service was at Plattsburg, N.Y., during the Canadian border ti'oubles of 1839, on the Maine frontier during the boundary troubles of 1840, with the army of occupation at Corpus Christi, Texas, 1845, at the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Cerro Gordo, and in the siege of Vera Cruz, 1846-47 ; in the Seminole war in Florida, 1851-56, in the defence of Fort Pickens. Fla., 1861, and in the Tennessee campaign of 1862-63. He was severely wounded at the battle of Chickainauga, commanded a detachment of the 15th U.S. infantry at Mobile, Ala., and the entire regiment at Macon, Ga., 1865-66. He was jthen kept on waiting orders with leave of ab- sence until May 11, 1870, when he was retired for "disability contracted on the line of duty." He died in Orange, N.J., April 17, 1889.

DAWSON, Thomas, educator, was born in Aspatia, Cumberland county, England ; son of William Dawson. His bi-other, William Daw- Bon, was the second president of William and Mary college. He immigrated to America with

his brother in 1729, and was educated at William and Mar}- college where he also studied divinity. He was ordained in England in 1740. He was master of the Indian school of William and Mary college, 1738-43; rector of Bruton parish, 1743-61; commissary of the college, 1752-55; and its fourth president, 1755-61. He died at Wil- liamsburg, Va., May 10, 1761.

DAWSON, William, educator, was born in Aspatia, Cumberland county, England, in 1704; son of William Dawson. He was elder brother of Thomas Dawson, fourth president of William and Mary college. He was graduated from Queens college, Oxford, in 1725; received holy orders; immigrated to America; became pro- fessor of moral philosophy in William and Mary college, Williamsburg, Va., in 1729, and in 1743 was elected its second president. He succeeded Dr. James Blair not only as president of the college but as commissar}^ to the Bishop of Lon- don, which made him a member of the council and of the general court of Virginia. Oxford vmiversity conferred upon him the degree of A.M. in 1728, and that of D.D. in 1747. He died in Williamsburg, Va., July 24, 1752.

DAWSON, William Causby, senator, wa.^ born in Greene county, Ga., Jan. 4, 1798; son of Thomas Dawson. He was prepared for college at Greensborough academy and was graduated at Franklin college, afterward the University of Georgia, in 1816. He studied law with Judge Thomas W. Cobb, and also at Litchfield, Conn. He was admitted to the bar in 1818, and opened a law office in Greensborough, Ga. He was clerk of the house of representatives of the state for twelve years, and was repeatedly elected a member of both branches of the state legislature. On the breaking out of the Creek war in 1836 lie raised and led a, company of A-olunteers, and re- ceived from General Scott separate command for special services. In 1836 he was elected as a Whig a representative in the 24th congress to succeed Gen. John Coffee, deceased, and was re- elected to the 25th, 26th and 27th congresses, serving as chairman of the committees on claims and military affairs. He was candidate for governor of Georgia in 1841, and upon his defeat resigned his seat in congress, Sept. 13, 1841. He was judge of the Ocmulgee circuit court from Feb. 1 to Nov. 11, 1845, and was United States senator from Georgia, 1849-55. He presided at the Memphis convention of 1853, and was a trustee of the University of Georgia, 1839-56. He was married to Henrietta M., daughter of Dr. Thomas Wingfield. She died in 1850, and in November, 1854, he was married to Mrs. Eliza M. Williams of Memphis, Tenn. He compiled the laws of Georgia from 1820 to 1830. He died at Greensborough, Ga., May 5, 1856.