[Fincannon.GED]

The following information received from John Dawson in E-mail dated 31 MAY 2000:

Origins of Dawson Family Name of the Eastern Shores of Maryland as of 1/1/99
The Dawson name came to this country from England. Some believe that the
origins of the name are French Norman with roots to the name D'Ossone. The
Origins of the DAWSON FAMILY of MARYLAND derive their descent from BERTRAM
DAWSON of Greystoke. In almost all branches of the Dawson family, tradition
agrees three or four brothers arrived in the VIRGINIA COLONY, but left
Virginia for MARYLAND which was part of Lord Baltimore's colony. They d
this because of persecution of the Virginia Puritans who were styled
dissenters. They would not pay taxes for support of Anglican Church of
England.
Some Early Maryland Dawsons
JOHN, NICHOLAS, RALPH & WILLIAM Dawson came to Talbot & Prince George county
Maryland by way of Virginia from WHITEHAVEN in County Cumberland, England.
RALPH DAWSON settled in TALBOT CO. JOHN & NICHOLAS DAWSON settled in PRINCE
GEORGE CO. Richard and John Dawson would settle in Dorchester Maryland and
Sussex county Delaware previous to 1680.
A WILLIAM DAWSON is listed with William Claiborne on KENT ISLAND in 1631.
This William Dawson would later die with Claiborne's forces in a dispute over
Kent Island. It is (--??--) for sure, but this may be the same William Dawson
that arrived in the Virginia colonies in 1608 on the ship Phoeni
By 1680 and before, there are additional Dawson's on Maryland and Virginia's
eastern shores including Northhampton Virginia. (It is not my intent to list
them all.) It is also certain by looking at the early ship records that
hundreds more Dawson's have landed in Virginia, North and South Carolina by
this time as well. However, according to leading Maryland genealogists all
of these early Dawson's of the eastern shores of Dorchester, Caroline
Maryland and Sussex County Delaware are related. By the mid 1650, these
Dawson's have very large plantations farming tobacco and other crops along
the Choptank and Naticoke rivers. For those who can trace their lines back
to this area, they can be sure that most are cousins although C.C. Dawson or
this author has not connected all the lines.

Tobacco the Golden Leaf and it's effect on the Dawson Migration
A good many early Dawsons made their way from the Virginia and Maryland
eastern shores to other areas of the US, from the central part of NC and then
to Ohio, KY, and Tenn. The Dawson's along with most other farmers of t
time were farming tobacco on the eastern shores of Virginia and Maryland
during the 1600-1700's. Even some of the Dawson probate estates found are
valued in pounds of tobacco. Lawyer's fees and children's estates were paid
in tobacco.
Tobacco is very special crop. It requires a very rich soil to prosper and
robes the soil of all its natural nutrients within one or two planting
This required the colonial farmer to have large acreage's that could only be
used once or twice before having to find new sources of fertile soil. Tobacco
is also is sensitive to the climate and soil where it is grown. The flavor or
taste is effected by the amount of sunlight and nutrients in the soils. Even
with today's technologies the best crops of Burly and Bright tobaccos a
grown in NC, VA, KY, and Tenn. The climate and soil conditions found in
these states provide farmers with a unique opportunity for growing a fu
flavor tobacco. Early farmers found that if the production of Tobacco were
to continue, new acreage sources would have to be found. This is at least
some of the reasons that Eastern Shore names have so many links to the
central Virginia and the North Carolina Piedmont. Whole plantations had to
be moved if the family business was to continue. Hence the migration to other
states.
When you see a reference to road or trail called 'Tobacco Road', this is
exactly what it means. To get their crop to market, farmers would place
their cured tobacco in a large 5-foot by 4-foot drum/barrel called a
'Hogs-Head'. A wooden shaft was placed on through the Hogshead and it was
attached behind a mule. (Wagons were used later.) The mule would pull t
cart from the farmer's land to the market. Other farmers with tobacco would
travel the same route and the heavy Hogsheads would continue to cut and pack
the earth until a 'Tobacco Road' was formed. Later on in 1800's when tobacco
was being sent to the west, for consumption, Wagon's were used. It just so
happened that the wagon of choice was made in Penn in place called Conastoga
(SP). Hence the name Conastoga wagons. This is where the slang term
'Stogie' came from meaning a cigar. (Here comes the stogie wagon) It is
interesting to note that the spread of growing tobacco follows an identical
route of the Dawson line from VA>MD>NC>VA>Ohio. (Other family links went to
Tenn. and KY after the 1860's, some as Quaker transplant.)
The 1678 Tobacco List of Dorchester Co MD: shows that Ensign John Dawse
Capt. Anthony Dawson, William Daysone and John Causey were paid in pounds of
tobacco for Militia service against Nanticoke Indians.
(In the early the 1700's, Charles and Francis Dawson are noted along the Nuse
River and Craven County North Carolina. In the mid 1700's, John and Edward
Dawson (planters) are listed in the Rowan County North Carolina deed
abstracts. There were many other Dawson's living in North Carolina in what is
now Wilkes and in the southwest portion of Randolph County, near Second and
Toms Creeks according to old Rowan Records previous to 1800, but no
connection has been made to the Dawsons of the eastern shores of Maryland.)

One Special Early Dawson
One early NC Dawson with ties to Maryland was Captain Anthony Dawson.
Anthony is listed before 1700 along the NC coast at Albemarle Sound. H
father was William Dawson who is possibly the same William of the Virginia
colonies. Anthony was self-employed as a contact builder. He builds larger
and larger projects and is eventually commissioned to build a new Dorchester
courthouse. He gets in trouble for not completing the courthouse and looses
a large plantation he placed as bond to guarantee his completion of the
project. He later shows up alive and but not to well in North Carolina about
1687. Captain Anthony would become one of first officers of the North
Carolina court system but would later be branded a Pirate for unauthorized
salvaging of ship wreck that belonged to the King of England. For this
crime, he was sentenced to death by hanging, however the sentence was never
carried out (for (--??--) reasons). He lives out the rest of his life in New
Jersey around his Kin. At his death he was married but had no known
descendants.

The Dawson migration from Virginia to > Maryland to > North Carolina
The Dawson' s of this study migrated form Virginia to the eastern shores of
Maryland, where they were tobacco farmers of their time. As noted before,
tobacco plantations were the most profitable type of farming for their day
and provided prudent wealth for the Dawson family. Two early Dawson
brothers, Richard and John are shown about 1680 in Dorchester and Kent County
Maryland with modest plantations already established. This indicates that
they were already in Maryland some years before.
( John Dawson dies sometime before 1680 in St. Jones county Deleware leaving
his estate to his brother. No descendants of this John are known)
Richard Sr. Dawson married Frances (?Causey?). They lived at one time on the
Nanticoke River on Black Level Enlarged near Miles Swamp. Richard Dawson's
estate inventory on December 27 shows Captain Anthony Dawson as one of the
appraisers. (This shows the relationship to Captain Anthony Dawson and his
father William).
· Richard's 1st son John Dawson of Talbot and Dorchester Maryland owned and
lived on a plantation called White Lady Fields. John would marry a Sar
(--??--). About 1708 John and Sarah would have a son named Richard.
· Richard the 2nd married Sarah Andrews. They would live in Dorchester
county Maryland. They would have a son named Isaac.
· Isaac married Ann Jump daughter of Sophia Smith and Isaac Jump of Kent
County Delaware. About 1740-50, Isaac and Ann Jump Dawson would have a son
named Daniel.
· Daniel would later marry Elizabeth Causey (d/o William Causey of Caroline
County Maryland). There was already an Isaac Causey living in Randolph North
Carolina at the time. It is believed that Elizabeth Causey Dawson (wife of
Daniel) was related to this Isaac Causey in Randolph County NC. It appears
that Daniel and Elizabeth moved their family from Maryland to Randolph County
North Carolina to work a plantation that was owned by the Causey family.
Dawson History of Randolph County Daniel and Elizabeth Causey Dawson
Somewhere around or after the Revolutionary war, the Dawson and Causey
families came to Randolph & Guilford Counties via 'The Wagon Road to t
South' that passed through Randolph County at that time. Several land
transactions and marriages in both NC and MD indicate that these two families
were intertwined.
By the year 1790, the Dawsons were established on a modest plantation in
Randolph County, North Carolina. On this plantation was the father Daniel
Dawson (born before 1755) and the mother Elizabeth Causey (born in Suss
County, Delaware (or Maryland?). Elizabeth's father was William Causey.
At least four children that lived to adulthood were born to Elizabeth a
Daniel: Joshua (m. Polly Fields), Nancy (m. Thomas Saxon), Isaac, and
Frederick. This plantation was large enough to support them and nine slaves.
Some of the slaves' names were Jim, Eliza, Tilda, and Bob (or Robert w
would later be given emancipation by the family and given the last name
Dawson). All appears well and happy until the death of Elizabeth Causey(--??--)
Dawson sometime previous to 1794. This death set off an interesting chain of
events.
It seems that the land they where living on was originally from Elizabeth's
family, the Causeys. This may have been part of Elizabeth's dowry. This land
evidently had a stipulation in the deed that would require that it reve
back to the Causey family. (In this case, too Peter T. Causey of Sussex
County, Delaware, who was probably a 1st cousin of Elizabeth.) The death of
Elizabeth forced Joshua, Isaac, and Frederick, into an indenture with Peter
T. Causey of Sussex County, Delaware. This indenture was paid off or
concluded in 1803 about the same time that Daniel's three sons transferred
property in Caroline County, Maryland to Peter T. Causey. Just before 1793,
Daniel remarried a widow named Rachel Powell. (The name Powell is assumed
because she already had one adult son named John Powell.) Rachel Powell's(--??--)
and Daniel's marriage produced one additional son named Kindell Dawson. The
years from 1800 to 1810 must have been a wonderful time, with young children
(Kindell) and grand children (Joshua's and Isaac's) once again on the
plantation. Joshua Dawson was already raising a family of his own in Randolph
County and by 1810 Isaac Dawson had already done likewise in Guilford County.
Daniel was now older than 55-65 and he passed away sometime before February
1813. Daniel left no will. This started a dispute over Daniel's Estate.
In February of 1813 the original children of Daniel and Elizabeth Causey
Dawson (Joshua, Isaac, Frederick Dawson and Nancy Dawson Saxton) petitioned
the court to divide Daniel's land. The court appointed commissioners to look
into the matter. However, Daniel's second wife, Rachel, didn't wait for the
court. One of the first things Rachel Powell Dawson did, in May of 1813, was
to set free one of Daniel's old slaves named Bob. (Bob's emancipation court
order can be found and read in the Randolph County Library's Randolph room.)
Bob would be given the last name Dawson and be referred to as Robert Dawson
in later Census records. In March of 1814, Rachel Powell Dawson revised her
will to include distribution of Daniel's estate. In this Will, she left
items to her and Daniel's son Kindell (still less than 21, about 19), to her
son of her first marriage, John Powell, and also to John Powell's son (her
grandson) Branson Powell. It appears that Rachel tried to exclude of
Daniel's children by his first wife, Elizabeth Causey Dawson: (Joshua, Isaac,
Frederick, and Nancy Saxton) from her will. She was later forced to amend
this Will, as there were encumbrances from the petition already set forth by
Daniel and Elizabeth Causey Dawson's children in 1813. In 1815 Rachel still
had control and was paying taxes on the estate. In December of 1816, the
court finally ruled on the petition; all the children and Rachel received one
share each of the 2032 pound estate. Each child received 328.8 pounds and no
land was mentioned. What became of the Dawson's wealth and the plantation?
Did the land revert back to the Causey Family? Unfortunately there are no
1820 census records for Randolph County to follow this point.

Isaac Dawson of Randolph County North Carolina is born
In reviewing court records, Daniel's three sons, show up quite frequently on
Bastardly bonds for Randolph County. These child support bonds were imposed
on the suspected fathers of wedlock children by the court. This was to
ensure that the mother was required to name the father. If not, she could be
imprisoned. Usually, two males were listed so as to not identify the tr
father. The child took the birth name of the mother unless a petition was
made to the state to change the child's name. A name change was rare unless
both families were of significant standing in the state with the assets to
hire a lawyer and file the necessary court papers.
Around 1804, Frederick Dawson had a child out of wedlock with a Ferreba
Williams. This child was named Isaac Williams. In November of 1807,
Frederick petitioned the court system to have the child's name chang
Isaac Dawson. Research continues into who raised Isaac and whether or not
Ferreba ever married. No further record has been found of Frederick or whom
he married.
In 1824, Isaac married Mary 'Polly' VonCannon (b.1812?), daughter of Jacob
VunCannon and Sallie Williams. Isaac and Mary had eight children: Hen
Tyson (m. Mary 'Polly' VunCannon), Wincy (m. Alfred Hoover), Ransom H. (m.
Martha A. Nance), Marinda (m. John H. Cox), Martha, James A., George Hadley
(m. Martha Evans), and Isaac Newton (m. Martha M. Williams). Henry wou
move to Carroll County, Virginia and George Hadley to Mt. Airy, Surry County,
NC.
Isaac remained in Randolph County and died before September 1883. His land
and personal property (including the family Bible sold to A. Smith) was
auctioned off. His probate records show the total value of his estate to be
$515. After the lawyers (Thomas L. Cox) were finished with the estate, each
of the following nine heirs received $8.15: Henry Dawson, Rachel Dawso
Wincy Dawson, Ransom Dawson, Marinda Dawson, Addison Dawson, Hadley Dawson,
Martha Dawson and Newton Dawson.
What happened to Rachel Dawson remains a mystery name to date.
Reference:
Research archives Raleigh NC, Randolph room, Census, Randolph Genealogical
Journals, Guilford Genealogical Journals, Ruth Irene Marshall Austin, MS
PATRICIA J DOSTER.

Name Index:
Williams, VonCannon, Saxton, Powell, Causey, Dawson, Cox, Smith, Hoover,
Nance, Evans, Jump

• Married: ABT 1827 ¹

1. George Hadley DAWSON
2. Henry Tyson DAWSON b: 1828 in Randolph County, North Carolina

1. Title: FINCANNON.ged
   Abbrev: FINCANNON.ged
2. Title: fincannonmaster.GED
   Abbrev: fincannonmaster.GED
3. Title: hinsonfincannon.ged
   Abbrev: hinsonfincannon.ged
   Repository:
   Name: Unknown
4. Title: Bob Leahy
   Abbrev: Bob Leahy
   Note: 5001 PAR DR, #3526, Denton, Texas, USA, 76208, drbobleahy@msn.com, for ancestry.com