Today I received this scan of my 6th great grandfather, Colonel John Dawson, from the archives at The College of William and Mary. I recently wrote about discovering that my 7th great grandfather, the Reverend William Dawson, was the second president of that college and the author of the book “Poems on Several Occasions.” I had an archivist check for any images of him or interesting details that may exist in their archives. Unfortunately, nothing exciting on him was found but they did have this great illustration which is supposedly of his son, the Colonel.
According to their records, as of 1962, the original was in possession of Mrs. Joseph Cheshire Webb of Hillsborough, North Carolina.
Colonel John Dawson married Penelope Johnstone who was the daughter of the Royal Governor of North Carolina from 1734 – 1752, Gabriel Johnstone and a much-married, colonial socialite, Penelope Golland Maule Lovick Phenney Johnston.
Colonel John and Penelope Johnston Dawson had a daughter named Margaret who married John Castellaw. Their son, John Dawson Castellaw led many wagon trains from Bertie, NC to Haywood Co., TN in the early 1830s.
For more about the Castellaw family, check out Haywood County Line.