University of Virginia Library

XLIII. Martin Dawson

The year 1835 will always be marked with a white
stone in the history of the University of Virginia as the
date of the first gift of importance[47] which was made to
it by one of that class of noble-minded and public-spirited
benefactors, who were rarer in those times of small fortunes

than they are in our own of stupendous ones.[48] The
fourteenth paragraph in the will of Martin Dawson,—
who died very much lamented in the course of that year,
after a long life of private and public virtue,—was expressed
as follows: "I give my tract of land, called College
Estate, lying within three miles of the University of
Virginia on Biscuit Run, containing upwards of five hundred
acres, to the Rector and Visitors of the University
of Virginia, and their successors in office, for the use of
fuel for the University forever."

In this brief provision, the temper of the man is disclosed
in a broad light, for it unveils, not only his veneration
for learning, and his desire to advance it, but also
that quality of character which was one of his most conspicuous
traits,—his homely modesty. Now, it was
completely within his power to order the sale of his
valuable farm and the conversion of the money accruing
from that sale into an endowment fund, to be designated
by his name, and to be perpetually associated with the
purely intellectual activities of the institution. But he
did not do this. He was aware that the authorities were
irked by the annual inconvenience and expense of buying
its fuel of surrounding landowners. It was a recurring
annoyance, not the less irritating because an obscure one.
There was no real distinction to himself in removing that
annoyance by his will, but it would be practically useful in
him to do so, and that was sufficient to decide him. It
was this unassuming and retiring spirit of beneficence
which made Dawson a true disciple of Abou Ben Adhem.
Indeed, within the narrow compass of his provincial fortune,
he showed that he was as genuine a lover of his fellow-men

as the greatest of the princely philanthropists
of our own age; and perhaps he was more genuine than
most of them, for he must have known that his gift
was necessarily too small to raise up a cloud of incense to
his memory.

He had the good fortune to be born in a great age, the
age of great measures and equally great men. The
American Revolution had vigorously touched every civic
and patriotic chord; it had created a new spirit of democratic
helpfulness and of humanitarian sympathy. The
chief figures of Virginia, Washington, Henry, Jefferson,
Marshall, and Madison, stood for public service,—for
the use of individual virtues, talents and acquirements,
not for purposes of self-advancement, but for the benefit
of the whole community. In 1783, Dawson was only
eleven years old, and he grew up under the influence of
this noble principle, which had been so splendidly illustrated
in the war then recently terminated, and which
continued to live, in another form, long after that epochal
series of military and political events had come to an end.
Across his own doorway, as it were, during his youth and
early manhood, fell the shadow of the last, and from
some points of view, the most inspiring, exemplar of this
unselfish public spirit which had descended from the Revolution,
—Thomas Jefferson. Dawson was born in Nelson
county within a short horse-back ride of Monticello;
the career of the proprietor of that famous mansion had
been known to him from childhood; and after his removal
to Albemarle, he must have been brought into
intercourse with the statesman on many occasions. Although
the association was perhaps only casual, owing
to the difference in age, he may have learned something
from Jefferson in person about schemes of public education.
In a practical, benevolent, and disinterested mind

like Dawson's, those schemes must have aroused a quiet
enthusiasm as the wisest that could be devised for the improvement
of the community; and they undoubtedly left a
controlling impression on his own plans for the disposition
of his modest fortune.

The first view that we obtain of Dawson discloses the
confidence reposed by the University in his integrity and
business competency. From 1822 to 1834, the year
that preceded his death, he was annually called upon to
examine the books of the proctor and the bursar; and in
this responsible labor he had, throughout that time,
neither assistant nor competitor. He was, towards the
end of his term of service, always spoken of as commissioner
of accounts. On at least one occasion, he was employed
in posting ledgers and striking off balances, during
a period of three months. When, in 1834, a discrepancy
of $134.09 was discovered in the University books, and
the cause of the error could not be traced, it was he
who was asked to unravel the perplexing tangle. In
1823, he was appointed, at Jefferson's request, to examine
the accounts; and at other times, he was sent for for the
same task by either Cocke or Cabell, two men fully
capable of correctly judging his trustworthiness and
ability.

Dawson, when barely more than seventeen years of
age, had settled in the little adjoining town of Milton,
which was situated at the foot of the wooded Monticello
slopes, on the banks of the Rivanna, at the shallows that
blocked up the further navigation of the stream northward.
As we have noted in the history of the University's
building, this town formed the nearest port of entry for all
freight carried up to this region by water; and it was
also the port of shipment for a large share of the miscellaneous
loads which the canvas-covered wagons brought

across the Blue Ridge by the numerous gaps that debouched
from the Valley. Grain, tobacco, and flour,
transported by this laborious means to its wharves, were
thence sent down to Richmond by batteaux; and here were
landed the building materials, the hogsheads of bacon,
the sacks of salt, and the like ponderous articles, which
could only be conveyed from the distant lower country
by boat. The business transacted was that of forwarding
agents and commission merchants, and in the course
of it, many very respectable fortunes were slowly piled up.

Dawson was the owner of lots in the town itself, and
of a considerable area of land close to it; and he had
also purchased a fertile farm known as Bel Air, which
lay in the southern part of the county; and to this
tranquil spot he withdrew, near his end, in the possession
of a moderate fortune, every dollar of which had
been earned by the clean-handed strokes of his own untiring
industry. But he had not allowed his mercantile
calling to impoverish his civil services to his own community.
In that quiet way that characterized all his conduct,
he had a useful share in the public affairs of the
county. It is quite possible that, being of a modest and
unobtrusive disposition, he was first drawn into this new
channel by the solicitations of his neighbors, who had the
firmest confidence in the inflexibility of his probity and
the soundness of his judgment. In 1806, he was chosen
a magistrate, and very often filled a seat on the county
court bench, which was made up of judges appointed from
the circle of the county justices. "The magistrates who
compose these courts," said the great Chief-Justice Marshall,
in the Convention of 1829–30, "consist in general
of the best men in their respective counties."

With the exception of the short interval of 1811–15,
Dawson occupied this honorable office from 1806 down

to 1835, a period of twenty-four years altogether,—an
indication of the high esteem in which he continued to be
held until the close of his life. The earliest proof which
we have of his practical interest in public education was
his willingness to serve as a commissioner under the
State law that assigned a definite fund to each county for
the rudimentary instruction of children whose parents
were unable to stand up under the expense of sending
them to a private school. The duties of this office were
obscure yet arduous; but this only made him the more
conscientious in their performance. It was, perhaps, the
insight into the imperative demand for public education
which this office gave, in fortification of his independent
conclusions, that led him to provide by will for three
seminaries of learning to be located in the counties of
Nelson and Albemarle. This testamentary clause was
not upheld by the courts, as it was decided to be too
vague in its terms; but an alternative which he inserted
in the same document, was favorably passed upon, and
the fund reserved for it has, during many years, contributed
to the usefulness of the public schools of the two
counties, the objects of his philanthropy.

The farm which Dawson devised to the University
fell into its possession without dispute. It was at first
rented, and in 1846, the tenant was William Dunkum,
probably the partner in the firm of Farish and Dunkum,
who sold the students annually a large quantity of their
clothing. The income from the land in time began to
wane; two hundred and forty dollars in 1840, it had
dwindled to one hundred and five in 1846; and it continued
to shrink, until, finally, the Board of Visitors concluded
to sell the estate. An act to authorize this was
obtained from the General Assembly in 1858, and the

farm was then disposed of in two shares. The total
amount accruing from the sale was $19,433.50.

A characteristic which Dawson shared with most of
the enlightened men of his day who were interested in
public education, was his sympathy with the policy of
gradually emancipating the slaves,—the failure to carry
out which was to precipitate the terrific calamities of War.
He directed in his will that his bondsmen should be sent
to Liberia; but should the law block this benevolent provision,
they were to be assisted to live in comfort, in
the altered circumstances, which, he knew, would follow
his death.