William Crosby Dawson

William Crosby Dawson (January 4, 1798 - May 5, 1856) was a lawyer, judge, politician, and soldier from Georgia.

Early life, education and legal career

Dawson was born in Greensboro, Greene County, Georgia, January 4, 1798. His parents were George Dawson, Sr. and Katie Ruth Marston Skidmore.

After taking an academic course from the Rev. Dr. Cumming, Dawson attended the county academy in Greensboro, and then was graduated from Franklin College, Athens, Clarke County, Georgia, in 1816 at the age of eighteen. He then studied law for a year in the office of the Hon. Thomas W. Cobb, at Lexington, Oglethorpe County, Georgia, and then in the Litchfield Law School of Judges Tapping Reeve and James Gould at Litchfield, Connecticut [1]. In 1818, he was admitted to the bar and practiced in Greensboro where he was a successful jury lawyer. He was known for his ability to settle cases out of court.

In 1819 he married Henrietta M. Wingfield.

Political and military career

He was elected Clerk of the Georgia House of Representatives in 1821 and served twelve years in that post. From 1828, he compiled Dawson's Digest of Laws of Georgia, published in 1831.[2]

From 1834 to 1835 he served as a state Senator.

In 1836 he was Captain of Volunteers under General Winfield Scott in the Creek and Seminole Indian War in Florida.

Dawson was then elected as a States' Rights candidate to the United States House of Representatives for the 24th United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of General John E. Coffee, taking office on December 26, 1836 [3], then re-elected as a Whig to the 25th , 26th, and 27th Congresses. He served from November 7, 1836, to November 13, 1841.

He was the Whig candidate for Governor of Georgia in 1841 but was defeated by Charles James McDonald. He saw his defeat as gubernatorial candidate as disapproval of his congressional service, and so resigned from Congress.

During his service in the United States House, he chaired the Committee on Mileage (25th Congress), the Committee on Claims (26th Congress), and the Committee on Military Affairs (27th Congress).

He was appointed by Governor George W. Crawford to fill a vacancy as Judge of the Ocmulgee Circuit Court in 1845 but declined being a candidate for the bench at the completion of his term.

Dawson was elected as the Whig candidate for Georgia's Class 3 seat in the United States Senate for the 31st, 32nd, and 33rd Congresses, serving from March 4, 1849, to March 3, 1855. He chaired the Committee on Private Land Claims (32nd Congress) and presided over the Southern convention at Memphis in 1853.

Because of his elegant manners, he was called "the first gentleman of Georgia".[4]

Dawson died in Greensboro on May 5, 1856, and was buried in Greensboro Cemetery

Freemason

He was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Georgia on November 8, 1843 [5] and served in that capacity until 1856.[6] The Dawson Lodge in Washington, D.C. and the Dawson Lodge in Social Circle, Georgia were named for him.[7]

Eponymic places

• Dawson County, Georgia, and the county seat, Dawsonville, were named for William Crosby Dawson. The county was created by a legislative act on December 3, 1857, primarily out of Lumpkin County and small parts of Gilmer, Pickens and Forsyth counties.
• Dawson, the county seat of Terrell County, Georgia was incorporated on December 22, 1857 and named for William Crosby Dawson.

• Company C, 3d Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia, C.S.A., from Greene County, was called the "Dawson Grays" in his honor.

Bibliography

• Vorlage:CongBio NB: has error in date admitted to bar.
• A collection of family records, with biographical sketches and other memoranda of various families and individuals bearing the name Dawson, or allied to families of that name. Comp. by Charles C. Dawson, pp 368-385. Albany, N.Y.: J. Munsell, 1874.
• Historical Marker at Greene County Courthouse, Greensboro, Georgia
• Will of George Dawson, Sr.

Further reading

• American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Mellichamp, Josephine. “William Dawson.” In Senators From Georgia, pp. 127-30. Huntsville, Ala.: Strode Publishers, 1976. ISBN 0-87397-082-9

See also

• George Oscar Dawson, his third child
• Edgar Gilmer Dawson, his fifth child