U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dawson, George W. (b. 1844) ------------------------------------------------------------------- The History of Upshur County West Virginia From its Earliest Exploration and Settlement to the Present Time by W. B. Cutright Buckhannon, W. Va., July 1, 1907 Page 432 GEORGE W. DAWSON, native of Nelson County, Virginia, born March 29, 1844, son of Stephen Dawson and Dicie Wade, grandson of Hiram Dawson and Elizabeth Dobbs of Scotland and the great grandson of Josiah Dawson, who once owned the land on which the city of Glasgow now stands. Hiram first landed at Jamestown, Va., in 1814, after a sea voyage of six months and died in 1816, after which his wife and her son Stephen moved to Stafford County, Va., thence to Nelson County, thence to Albermarle County, where the mother died at one hundred and two years of age. Stephen was married at Mt. Ebb Baptist Church, near Batesville, in 1856, when he brought his family to Upshur county. In 1861, when the war broke out between the states, George W., at the age of 16, volunteered in the Upshur Grays, and served with this company till the close of the war. He was wounded at the Battle of Rich Mountain and McDowell and Antietam and again at the battle of Fredericksburg. When he recovered from the last wound, he took up arms again and was in the battle of the Wilderness and around Richmond until October 26, 1864, when he was retired from the regular army for six months on pay and detailed as provost guard near Danville, Va., and served as such until Lee's surrender. The close of the war found G. W. a cripple from the wound received in service and thus he was obliged to follow a trade or business that would both furnish him a living and give opportunity for him to recover from his disabilities. He became a drummer and lived in Nelson County, Va., where he had married a Miss Fox. In 1878 he came to Upshur County and entered upon the mercantile business. A few years hence he lost his wife, who had borne him nine children, seven living and two dead. He was Justice of the Peace of Union District eight years. His second wife was a Miss Vest, and their children numbered five, and his third wife was a Miss Balsley of Nelson County, Va. He is postmaster at Overfull. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Upshur County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/upshur/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------