Biography of Harrison Dawson & John W. Dawson

Harrison Dawson, father of John W. Dawson, was born in Georges township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania. He was a farmer there, but now resides in Charleroi, Pennsylvania. He married Elizabeth Richey, also born in Fayette county, died April 24, 1912, aged seventy-one years. Children: 1. John William, of whom further. 2. Sarah Margaret, married Clark Lancaster, of Beallsville, Pennsylvania. 3. James, of Charleroi, Pennsylvania. 4. Alice C., married George B. Nelan, of Charleroi, Pennsylvania. 5. Lutellus. 6. George W.

(II) John William, eldest son of Harrison and Elizabeth (Richey) Dawson, was born January 4, 1867, in Georges township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in the same house in which his father was born. He grew up on the home farm, attended the public school of the district, continuing his study at Madison Academy, Uniontown, and at Smithfield Academy. He taught in the public schools of Fayette county for nine years, until 1895, then entered the law department of the University of West Virginia at Morgantown, whence he was graduated, receiving the degree of B. A. class of 1896. He located in Marion, Indiana, where he engaged in practice with Judge Joseph L. Custer, a lawyer of that city, formerly a resident of Fayette county, Pennsylvania. After two years in Marion he came to Uniontown, where in 1900 he was admitted to the Fayette county bar. He has since been admitted to practice in all courts of this state and is well established in his profession. He is also interested in the development of coal lands in Fayette county and western Pennsylvania and director of the Title & Trust Company of Uniontown. He is a Republican in politics, but extremely independent in political action. He is public-spirited and interested in all that concerns the public good. He is an elder and trustee of the Third Presbyterian Church of Uniontown, and superintendent of the Sunday school. He is a member of the Fayete County Sunday School Association and deeply interested in its work, which has for its object the moral and spiritual advancement of the young.

He married, June 21, 1904, Mary Emma, daughter of Isaac and Hettie (Hornbeck) Mills, both deceased former residents of Fayette county, Pennsylvania. She is also a member of the Third Presbyterian Church. Children: Edgar William, born July 25, 1905; Ruth E., December 27, 1907; Paul M., June 23, 1909. The family residence is at No. 204 West Main Street, Uniontown, a purely residential section of the city.