Peyton Dawson

DAWSON, COLVIN

Posted By: Chuck Helling (email)
Date: 8/20/2003 at 13:44:35

Peyton Dawson, one of the honored pioneers of Lee County, is a
resident of Cedar Township, and is a fine representative of that
brave and courageous band who first ventured into the country beyond
the Mississippi with determination to establish a home, is held in
deep veneration and respect. Not alone for this, Mr. Dawson thus
esteemed but for his excellant personal traits of character which
have gained for him the reputation os an honest man and good citizen.

Mr. Dawson is a native of Shelby County, Ky., born on the 5th of
March, 1819. His father, Elijah Dawson, and his grandfather, John B.
Dawson, were both natives of Virginia, and the latter, a boy with
George Washington. He also served as a soldier under the Father of
his Country, and during the last years of the his life enjoyed the
benefits of a pension from his Goverment. John B. Dawson removed
from his native State to Kentucky in about 1816, and settled in
Shelby county, where he lived for sixteen years. Then, in 1832, he
removed to Illinois and located near Jacksonville, where he passed
the last years of his life, and was buried with military honors, the
troops of that military post being then under the command of Gen.
J.J. Harding.

Elijah Dawson, the father of our subject, was reared in his native
State of Virginia, and when a young man went to Prince William County
as overseeron a plantation belonging to a Mr. George, whose
grand-daughter, Miss Anna Colvin, he afterward married. In 1815 he
removed to Kentucky with his wife and two children, and leased land
in Shelby County. The whole distance, 700 miles through the
wilderness, was made with teams, and after a residence of about
seventeen years in Kentucky, Elijah Dawson once more pulled up
stakes, and repeating his former experiment set out overland for
Illinois. They cooked and camped by the wayside as before, and
settled upon Morgan County as their first location, Dr. D. purchasing
land about five miles from Jacksonville. His purchase was
unimproved, and he at once set about establishing his family
comfortably in a no means modern dwelling, and then begin to prepare
the soil for the first crop. Here they lived until the farm was in a
good condition and saleable, and then Eli Dawson sold his second
homestead, and probably with the desire of Daniel Boone for
"more room" determined to cross the Father of Waters and
establish himself beyond the Mississippi. This journey, like the
others, was made over land, with teams, accompanied by his family and
household possessions. They stopped for one year in West Point, and
then afterward removed to the present site of Summitville, being the
first to make a settlement in that region. Their cabin stood on the
prairie a quarter of a mile north of where the town now stands. Mr.
D. purchased a claim of 300 acres on the "half-breed"
tract, built a double log house, and remained there until his death,
which occured in September, 1845.

The mother of our subject, before her marriage, was Miss Anna Colvin,
of Prince William County, Va. She remained the faithful companion of
her husband in all his wanderings and removals, and fulfilled the
duties of a pioneer's wife with courage and patience. She crossed
the Mississippi with her husband and children, and passed her last
days on the old homestead near Sumittiville. She and her husband
were seperated by death for only the short space of twenty-four
hours, after which she followed him to the better land. The day
following the death of the mother, the devoted household experienced
a third affliction in the death of a sister, Eliza E., an interesting
little girl of eleven years old. The three were buried in one grave.

Peyton Dawson of our sketch was the fourth child of his parents, and
was twelve years old when the family removed from Kentucky to
Illinois. He remembers all of the interesting incidents connected
with the overland journey, and entered into the spirit of the
adventure with boyish enthusiasm.

Source:

Portrait and Biographical Album of Lee County, Iowa

Author: Anonymous
City of Publication: Chicago
Publisher: Chapman Bros.
Date: 1887
Page Count: 648 p.: ill., ports