Hon. John Littleton Dawson and Mary Clark

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Husband Hon. John Littleton Dawson ^{1 2}

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           Born: 7 Feb 1813 - Uniontown, Fayette Co, PA 1 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 18 Sep 1870 - Springhill Twp, Fayette Co, PA 3 4
         Buried: 

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         Father: George Dawson (      -Bef 1882) 2 5 6 7
         Mother: Mary Kennedy (      -      ) 2 7

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       Marriage: 

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Wife Mary Clark ²

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           Born: 
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           Died: 
         Buried: 

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         Father: Robert Clark (      -Abt 1840) 2
         Mother: 

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Children

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1 F Sarah Dawson ²

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Charles Spears (      -      ) 2

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2 F Mary Dawson ²

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
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         Spouse: Hon. Chauncey Forward Black (      -      ) 2

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3 F Louisa C. Dawson ⁸

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 1875 8
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Henry W. Patterson (      -      ) 8
           Marr: 1866 8

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General Notes: Husband - Hon. John Littleton Dawson

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When quite young he removed to Brownsville, Pennsylvania, which was his residence during the greater part of his subsequent life. He was educated in Washington College, Pennsylvania, and immediately after being graduated from that institution began to read law with his uncle, John Dawson, at Uniontown. He was admitted to the Fayette county bar September 9, 1835, and immediately entered upon the active practice of the law. He was a good lawyer, an able counsellor and a brilliant pleader before a jury. Having carefully studied the science of government and the great political issues of Jackson's and Van Buren's administrations, at an early age he entered the political arena. The first office he filled was that of deputy attorney-general for Fayette County. President Polk, in 1845, appointed him United States district attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania, and he held the office during the whole of Polk's administration. In 1848 he was put forth as the democratic nominee for member of congress in the district composed of Fayette, Greene and Somerset counties, but was defeated. He was renominated in 1850, and was elected. In 1852 he represented in congress the district composed of the counties of Fayette, Washington and Greene. At the end of his second term he declined a renomination, but in 1862 allowed the use of his name and was triumphantly elected and re-elected in 1864, the last time from the district composed of Fayette, Westmoreland and Indiana counties. Mr. Dawson signalized his entrance into congress and engaged the thoughts of people by his resurrection and re-introduction of the Homestead bill, which had been previously introduced and defeated. Originating and adding several important provisions to this celebrated bill, he eloquently and ably advocated it until it became a law of the land, opening millions of homes on the broad prairies of the West to settlers, and wonderfully accelerating the progress of the country in her many Western fields of wealth and promise. This one act of his political career entitles him to rank as an able statesman and a public benefactor.
He retired from public life 1867, after four terms of honorable and distinguished service in the interest of his country. From 1867 he resided with his family on the estate known as "Friendship Hill" (the former residence of Albert Gallatin) until his death.

At his death the Cincinnati Enquirer gave the following tribute to his memory:
"He belonged to a school of great, good and useful men, but a few of whom linger now to adorn and serve a country whose name their genius contributed so much to make glorious, and whose prosperity and happiness their wisdom and integrity ever sought to promote. Among political philosophers and practical statesmen, he was one of our profoundest thinkers. As an orator, whether on the mission of persuasion or conviction, he had but few rivals; and as a private citizen, his exalted character was without a blemish. His career in congress was in every respect brilliant. The private friendships he there contracted, even in the face of the bitterest prejudices, the lapse of years served only to strengthen and brighten, and the public record that he made is a proud heritage for his family and a shining example for future statesmen, and must grow brighter and brighter as time reveals-as reveal more and more each revolving year it surely will-the soundness of his judgment, the breadth of his comprehension, the clearness of his foresight, and the truth of his predictions. Always dignified, debonair and dispassionate in debate, no eruptions of temper ever ruffled the calm surface of his vigorous intellect. Endowed with an impressive and imposing presence, and those rare and peculiar gifts so prominently adapted to ad captandum discussion, he was not more honored by his own party as a leader than he was dreaded by the opposition as an adversary. The loss of such a man as John L. Dawson amounts to a national calamity."

He was governor of the Territory of Kansas under Pierce's administration.

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General Notes: Wife - Mary Clark

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from Brownsville, Fayette Co, PA

1 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 145, 464.

2 John M. Gresham, Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: John M. Gresham & Co., 1889), Pg 158.

3 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 426.

4 John M. Gresham, Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: John M. Gresham & Co., 1889), Pg 159.

5 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 428, 674.

6 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1912), Pg 595.

7 Editor, Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley (Chambersburg, PA: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897), Pg 7.

8 Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 351.