Descendants of George Dawson
           
    1     George Dawson (born Drumblade parish, Aberdeenshire, Scotland)   
.        +Ann Boneman   
..........    2     John Dawson    1764 - Unknown (born Shieldknow farm, Drumblade parish)
..............        +Margaret Brebner     1779 - Unknown
.......................    3     John Dawson     1800 - Unknown (b.Shieldknow farm, Drumblade parish)
...........................        +Janet Laggan     1805 - Unknown (b. Kennethmont parish, Aberdeenshire)
....................................    4     Jannet Dawson    1828 - Unknown
....................................    4    John Dawson    1830 - 1885 (b. Huntly, Scotland, died Sylvan, Ont)
........................................         +Eleanor Jackson    1834 - 1913
....................................    4     William Dawson    1832 - Unknown
....................................    4     Christian (Christina) Dawson    1835 - 1894 (b.Huntly, d.Woodstock, Ont.)
........................................        +Henry William Hill    1837 - 1912
....................................    4     Alexander Dawson    1838 - Unknown
....................................    4     Unknown Dawson    Unknown -
.......................    3     Christian Dawson     1802 - Unknown
.......................    3     Ann Dawson     1805 - Unknown
.......................    3     Margaret Dawson     1811 - Unknown
..........    2     Ann Dawson   
..........    2     Jean Dawson

                 The Dawsons lived for several generations on a farm called 'Shieldknow' in Drumblade parish, Aberdeenshire.  This parish was located to the south east of the town of Huntly. In the late 1700's to late 1840's, the Scottish economy was in a period of profound change.  Large land owners were converting their holdings from tenant farms to sheep farming. The need for land for the sheep became one of the economic progenitors of the infamous 'clearances'.

In the north east of Scotland from the late 1830's when a Statistical Account was taken, to about 1844 when there was a report published on the Scottish Poor Laws, there was a depopulation of rural districts, mainly blamed on landlord policies in consolidating farms and eradicating crofts.  Enlargements of farms and a prohibition on future subletting caused falling populations in Dyce, Monymusk, Kincardine O'Neil, Drumblade and Coul.

Emigrants were regularly reminded that a sum of money equivalent to a year's rent in NE Scotland could buy an improved property in Canada; and a letter in the Aberdeen Herald on 17 November 1855 referred to 'dozens' of farmers from the Huntly district of Aberdeenshire who settled in London, Ontario area, several of whom owned estates of 100 acres.

At some time before 1841 the Dawsons  moved away from the farm in Drumblade and at the time of the 1841 census were living in Huntly.  Shortly after that, John Dawson's father died, so he, his mother, two brothers and three sisters embarked on the dangerous passage to Canada.  They arrived at Quebec, and proceeded to Montreal. At that point, the family oral history tells of the separation of brother William Dawson from the rest of the family, never to be seen or heard from again.

The remainder of the family continued westward.  John Dawson, who had some training as an engineer, possibly at the University of Edinburgh, got a job surveying the route for the new Grand Trunk Railway.  This brought him to Williams township in Middlesex County, Canada West (Ontario) where he met his future wife. He found a job opportunity as head sawyer in a new sawmill at Sylvan, Ontario where there were large stands of white pine being harvested. There he settled, married Eleanor Jackson, eventually purchased the general store which also contained the local post office, and raised a family of four girls and one boy.

Of the rest of the family, the whereabouts of only one sister is known.  Christina Dawson married William Hill, a grain merchant, and they lived in Woodstock, Ontario. We continue to search for mother Janet Laggan Dawson, brothers William and Alexander Dawson, sisters Janet and Unknown Dawson and their descendants. If you have any knowledge of them, please contact 

     Ida Jeanette Dawson (Mackey)       Mary Eleanor Dawson (Meadd)

William Dawson          [John Dawson]         Eleanor Jackson Dawson

   Anne Morilla Dawson (English)   Margaret Christina Dawson (Clark)

The following represents two generations of descendants of John Dawson and Eleanor Jackson:

          
1    John Dawson    1830 - 1885
.        +Eleanor Jackson     1834 - 1913
..........    2     John Alexander Dawson     1859 - 1860 Interred Sylvan Cemetery, Ontario
..........    2     [1] Mary Eleanor Dawson     1859 - 1932  Interred Parkhill Union Cemetery, Ontario
..............        +Thomas Meadd     1859 - 1893
.......................    3     Myrtle Lena Meadd     1883 - 1976 Interred Parkhill Union Cemetery.
...........................        +William Joseph Dixon    1875 - 1961
.......................    3     Mable Beatrice Meadd     1886 - 1963  Interred Mars Hill Cemetery, Brinsley.
...........................        +George Lee     Abt. 1876 - 1951
.......................    3     Annie Laura Meadd     1890 - 1966
...........................        +Earl Sheldon Furtney    1889 - 1975
.......................    3     Howard Elliot Meadd     1892 - 1976  Died in Cornwall, Ont.
...........................        +Beatrice Cornforth     1897 - 1943
.......................    3     Wilbert Dawson Meadd     1887 - 1913
..........        *2nd Husband of [1] Mary Eleanor Dawson:   
..............        +George Clarke   
..........    2     William Dawson     1860 - 1920  Interred Parkhill Union Cemetery, Ontario
..............        +(Minnie) Mary Euphemia Cameron     1869 - 1930
.......................    3     (Ella) Sarah Elinor Dawson    1894 - 1969  Died Richmond Hill, Ontario
...........................        +(Lance) Lanson Zuefelt    1890 - 1958
.......................    3     (Fergie) Ishbel Ferguson Dawson    1896 - 1954  Died Toronto Ontario
...........................        +John David Holman     1892 - 1944
.......................    3     (Jack) John Cameron Dawson    1898 - 1980  Parkhill Union Cemetery
...........................        +Goldie Naomi Sturdevant    1910 - 1995
.......................    3     [2] (Ruth) Marguerite Ruth Dawson    1900 - 1988  Parkhill Union Cemetery
...........................        +Robert D. Campbell     Unknown - Unknown
.......................        *1st Husband of [2] (Ruth) Marguerite Ruth Dawson:   
...........................        +Gordon Graham Gray     1900 - 1970
.......................    3     (Sandy) William Alexander Dawson    1906 - 1979  Interred Blackstock.
...........................        +Laura Gertrude Bailey    1909 - 1997
.......................    3     Mary Jean Dawson     1910 - 1990  Parkhill Union Cemetery, Ontario.
..........    2     Ida Jeanette Dawson     1862 - 1929  Interred Sylvan Cemetery, Ontario.
..............        +James Manfred Mackey     1860 - 1938
.......................    3     [3] Matthias Sylvester Mackey    1892 - 1948
...........................        +Esta E. Kress    
.......................        *2nd Wife of [3] Matthias Sylvester Mackey:   
...........................        +Pearle Fleming     1891 - 1939
.......................    3     John Dawson Mackey     1893 - Unknown
...........................        +Grace Evelyn Colwell    1894 - 1981
.......................    3     Kenneth Gordon Mackey     1897 - Unknown
...........................        +Artelle A. Poore     Unknown - Unknown
..........    2     Margaret Christina Dawson     1864 - 1908  Cook's Cemetery near Mt. Bridges, Ont.
..............        +William Huston Clark     1860 - 1943
.......................    3     Nathaniel Dawson Clark     1899 - 1967 Interred Cook's Cemetery
...........................        +Cecile Louise Brownlee    1906 - 1967
.......................    3     Kenneth Huston Clark     1903 - Unknown  Interred Cook's Cemetery
...........................        +Verna Elizabeth Bradley    1904 - Unknown
..........    2     Ann Morilla Dawson     1867 - 1927  Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, London, Ont.
..............        +Stanley Edward English     1874 - 1932

DAWSON LINKS
             Dawson Genealogy Forum
             Dawson Family History Project

HOME