University of Virginia Library

DAWSON.

The name of Dawson has place in the records from the
beginning of the county. At the first meeting of the County
Court, Martin Dawson was appointed to appraise the estate
of Charles Blaney in the vicinity of the Cove. In 1747 he
patented three hundred acres on Buck Island, which he sold
in 1761 to John Burrus. He lived on Ballenger's Creek, and
was no doubt the father of Rev. Martin Dawson, one of the
earliest Baptist preachers of Albemarle. The son commenced
preaching during the Revolutionary War, and as soon
as the statute of religious freedom was passed, giving to
non-Episcopal ministers a license to solemnize the rite of
marriage, he was greatly in demand in this respect as well
as in the pulpit. He supplied the Baptist churches throughout

the county, but his labors were chiefly given to the
Totier Church, which was commonly called by his name.
His home was on a farm of more than five hundred acres,
which lay southeast of Hughes's Shop, and there he finished
his earthly course in 1821. His wife's name was Elizabeth,
and of his twelve children, Martin, the eldest, removed to
Gallia County, Ohio, John in 1812 to Mississippi Territory,
and Elijah, who married Martha, daughter of Benajah Gentry,
to Missouri. Another son, Allen, married Lucy, daughter
of Christopher Wingfield, and was for a number of years a
citizen of Charlottesville, a magistrate, clerk of the town
trustees, and deputy Suveyor of the county. He also taught
school, first on his farm four or five miles south of town,
and afterwards at his house on Main Street near east Third,
which from his institution, and the Female Seminary, being
located thereon, received its former name of School Street.
Notwithstanding his multifarious occupations, he was unsuccessful.
Accumulated debts constrained the sale of his
property piece by piece, till all was gone. A daughter of
Rev. Martin, Elizabeth, was the wife of Reuben Elsom, who
lived in the southern part of the county.

As early as 1757, John Dawson, whose wife was Sarah
Carroll, was living on the waters of Carroll Creek. Did he
remove to Amherst, now Nelson, and was he the father of
Martin, the well known merchant of Milton? Certain it is,
that Martin's father was named John, that his place was in
Nelson, not far from Faber's Mills, and that he was the
brother of Rev. Martin's father. Martin was one of nine
children. He established himself in Milton shortly after it
was founded, at first apparently connected with Brown, Rives
& Co.; and he continued to be associated with the village,
until its business was wholly absorbed by Charlottesville
and Scottsville. By his diligence, thrift and good judgment,
he amassed a considerable fortune. About 1822 he purchased
Bellair on the north side of Hardware below Carter's Bridge,
which had before belonged to Charles Wingfield Jr., and
there he made his residence until his death in 1835. He

left a will so elaborately indited, that it was twice taken
before the Court of Appeals for construction. In his desire
to promote popular education, he directed that an academy
should be established at each of the three places, Milton,
Bellair, and his father's old homestead in Nelson; that suitable
buildings should be erected both for teachers and
scholars; and that their advantages should be assigned in
the first place to the boys of Albemarle and Nelson. Having
a premonition that these provisions might be adjudged
invalid, he directed that in case they were set aside, his
property at the places mentioned should be sold, the proceeds
transferred to the Literary Fund of the State, and the
interest devoted to the cause of education in the two counties
specified. The latter bequest was approved by the judgment
of the Court. He also prescribed the enclosing of ten
acres at the old homestead in Nelson as a family burial place,
where he enjoined his own remains to be interred. Besides
his private business, he was much employed in that of the
county. He was appointed a magistrate in 1806, and frequently
occupied a seat on the bench of the County Court.
He never married.

A brother, Pleasant Dawson, was the owner of nearly
fifteen hundred acres on the lower Hardware. He was
engaged in milling operations, in the prosecution of which
he was involved in a long litigation with Littlebury Moon.
He died unmarried in 1826. A sister, Nancy, was the wife
of Rev. Hugh White, a Baptist minister, who was for a time
a lot holder both in Charlottesville and Milton.

Another brother was John S. Dawson, the father of seven
children, some of whose representatives are at present residents
of the county. His son, Benjamin, married Dorothy
Childress, and of their children Benjamin H. lives at the
western foot of Still House Mountain, and Andrew, and
Agnes, the wife of Peter Turner, about two miles south of
Porter's Precinct. Another son of John S., was Pleasant L.,
whose daughter Jane, the wife of Dr. Isaac F. Forbes,
recently died in Charlottesville, at the house of her son-in-law,
Harrison Robertson, and whose son, John L., still

lives on the lower Hardware, where he has long and usefully
discharged the office of Justice of the Peace. Pleasant's
widow, Mahala, survives in the enjoyment of a green old
age, and forms a link between this and former generations.