Biography of John W. Dawson, pages 205/206/207/208.  Memorial Record of 
Northeastern, Indiana, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1896.

	John W. Dawson.-In the history of the legal profession of northeastern 
Indiana one specially deserving of mention as an eminent member of the bar 
of Allen county is Mr. Dawson of this review.  In the essential qualities 
of a successful lawyer there are manifest those traits of character which 
he possesses in a high degree.
	Mr. Dawson was born October 1, 1820, and is a son of John Dawson, 
and early settler of Cambridge, Indiana. In 1838 the son became a clerk in 
the office of his brother-in-law, Colonel Spencer, receiver of public 
moneys.  In 1840 he became a student in Wabash College, where he pursued 
his studies for two years, and then entered the law office of  his brother-
in-law, Thomas Johnson. In 1843 he was admitted to the bar and embarked in 
practice at Augusta, the old county seat of Noble county, Indiana. 
Subsequently he practiced in Fort Wayne, and attended law school in 
Kentucky, but his health failing about this time he did not again locate 
in Fort Wayne until 1843.  In that year he began his connection with 
journalistic work, when, in company with T. H. Hood, he leased the Fort 
Wayne Times, a Whig paper, then owned by G. W. Wood & Company.  In 1854 he 
bought out his partner and devoted his journal to the interest of the 
“anti-Nebraska” party.  This party nominated him Secretary of Sate, and he 
made a vigorous canvass.
	Mr. Dawson at this time became prominent in political affairs, and 
shortly after the inauguration of President Lincoln was appointed Governor 
of Utah.  He was untiring in his efforts to compel obedience to the laws, 
and in this so incurred the hatred of the “Saints” that on his return from 
Salt Lake he was waylaid, robbed an so maltreated that he never fully 
recovered from the effects of the outrage.  He never swerved from the path 
of right as he saw it and was fearless in maintaining his convictions. 
This honorable course caused his death, and he passed away September 10, 
1877.
	The Dawson family has long been prominently connected with the 
history of northern Indiana, and one of its leading representatives is 
Hon. Rueben Jackson Dawson, who was born on the 13th of March, 1811, six 
miles west of Lawrenceburg, Dearborn county, Indiana.  In early life he 
engaged in breaking and clearing land and in farming, and about the time 
he attained manhood he taught one term of school. His mind tended toward 
mathematics, and as far as possible he acquired a good mathematical 
education.  About 1832 he learned surveying of Samuel Morrison, and to a 
very different calling then turned his attention, reading law in the 
office of the Hon. George H. Dunn.  In May, 1832, he became a resident of 
Fort Wayne, coming to this place to accept the clerkship in the office of 
his brother-in-law, Colonel John C. Spencer, who had been appointed 
receiver of public moneys.  Not long afterward Mr. Dawson was appointed 
Surveyor of Allen county, and about 1833 was awarded the contract by the 
Government for subdividing and platting a large body of wild land, now a 
part of the counties of Elkhart, Kosciusko and Noble, which he completed 
early in 1834. The next undertaking to which Mr. Dawson devoted his 
energies was real-estate speculating, in which he was engaged for several 
years.  In 1837 he again took up the study of law in the office of another 
brother-in-law, Thomas Johnson, being admitted to the bar in the spring of 
1838, after which he entered into partnership with his preceptor and won a 
high reputation as a member of the legal fraternity.
	That the public recognized his ability was shown by his appointment, 
February 1, 1840, to the office of County Judge, which had been left vacant 
by the resignation of Hon. Lucian P. Ferry, and he served until the 
following November.  In the meantime he has extended his business 
operations along various other lines, having become owner of a large 
estate, a sawmill and gristmill and a dry-good store in DeKalb county.  
These demanding his attention, in 1841 he removed to that place, platting 
the town of Spencerville, which he made his home until his death, looking 
after his large and lucrative business interests.
	In January, 1846, Reuben Jackson Dawson married Minerva Catlin, of 
Spencerville, who after his death became the wife of S. Cary Evans, 
formerly a banker of Fort Wayne, later one of the proprietors of 
Riverside, California.  Then came public honors, for his fellow citizens 
called him to office and in 1849 was elected to represent DeKalb, Steuben 
counties in the State Legislature, while the following year he was the 
Senator from the district composed of DeKalb, Noble and Steuben counties. 
In January, 1852, Judge Dawson was placed on the Democratic ticket as 
Elector for Franklin Pierce, and soon afterward was Prosecuting Attorney 
for the county, but in a short time resigned that position.
	He was appointed by Governor Willard as Circuit Judge in January, 
1858, on the resignation of Hon. J. L. Worden, and in February, at 
Bluffton, entered upon his first term of court, which continued until June 
of that year with but one week’s rest.  During this time a crisis arose 
which tested his nerve and judicial skill. Northern Indiana had long been 
infested with horse-thieves, counterfeiters, etc., and the public mind was 
aroused to a degree unparalleled in the history of the State.  When the La 
Grange Circuit Court opened many were in custody charged with these crimes, 
and many citizens were present determined to see law and order prevail or 
else
take the enforcement of the laws into their own hands. The laws and their 
friends soon found that they had a Judge who could not be intimidated from 
doing his duty, and by his prompt and fearless rulings on the side of law 
and order all danger of lynching was averted.  Again, in Noble county, 
when court opened at Albion, a few weeks later, and intense feeling was 
manifested. One McDougall had been hung by the “Regulators” a short time 
before and a number were waiting trial for crimes of that kind and had 
employed the best legal talent in northeastern Indiana to defend them.  
Their plan was to challenge the array of grand and petit jurors and by 
other dilatory motions and pleas so embarrass the judge that there would 
result errors in the record; but Judge Dawson proved equal to the emergency, 
and the excited people soon found that law and order was the best courses 
and remained satisfied. He continued faithfully to perform his duty until 
illness compelled him to resign, in November, 1858.  In August of that year 
he had been nominated by the Democratic party for Congress, but died May 
14, 1859, at his residence in Spencerville. All who knew him respected him 
for his honorable, upright life, and his unswerving fidelity to duty.  The 
resolutions of respect passed by the court on the announcement of his death 
contained the following:  “He as a lawyer was faithful, conscientious and 
energetic; as a legislator honest, disinterested and patriotic; as a judge, 
pure, impartial and efficient; as a partisan, ’he never gave up to party 
what was meant for mankind.”
	Charles M. Dawson has sustained the high reputation of the family as 
a jurist, and his past successes at the bar and on the bench argue well 
for future greatness in the line of his chosen calling.  He was born in De 
Kalb county, Indiana, February 22, 1848, and is the son of Hon. Reuben 
Jackson Dawson, and belongs to an early Colonial family, which was founded 
on American soil in 1685, when his ancestors located on the eastern coast 
of Maryland. His great-grandfather came to Indiana in 1798 from Kentucky, 
and brought with him six slaves, which he freed on his arrival.
	Charles Dawson was afforded liberal educational privileges, and was 
graduated at Pennsylvania College with the class of 1869. He has since 
been a resident of Fort Wayne, and entered upon his business career as 
cashier in the Merchants’ National Bank, filing that position for three 
years, His family was noted for the high legal attainment of its members, 
and this ability he seemed to have inherited. Resolving to enter the legal 
profession, in 1876 he became a student in the Albany (New York) Law School, 
at which he was graduated the following year, and was then admitted to 
practice in the New York Supreme Court. Immediately thereafter he opened 
an office in Fort Wayne, and in his chosen calling has met with marked 
success. Added to his thorough knowledge of the law are keen discrimination, 
quick perception and sound judgment, and by these qualities he has attained 
to an eminent position in the legal fraternity. 
	In 1879 Mr. Dawson was appointed Prosecuting Attorney for the Thirty-
eighth Judicial Circuit by Governor Williams, and was re-elected in 1880, 
1882 and 1884.  His service in this capacity was unexcelled for efficiency 
and fearlessness, and he succeeded in bringing to justice many law-breaker 
who are now filling life sentences in the penitentiary.  In argument he is 
clear, concise and logical, and holds the hearer’s attention by a power of 
thought and feeling that has made him one of the strongest members of the 
bar of Allen county. He possesses good oratorical powers, and, upon the 
stump is often heard in defense of the Democracy, where he is not only a 
fluent speaker but is also entertaining and instructive.  In 1890 he was 
elected Judge of the Superior Court, and re-elected in 1894, so that he is 
now serving in that position.
	In 1870 was celebrated the marriage of Charles Dawson and Elizabeth 
Maier, of Fort Wayne.  They have two children,---Ronald and Hadjie. He is 
a prominent and valued member of the Masonic fraternity, a thirty-second-
degree Mason, and a member of the Mystic Shrine.

Submitted by:
Arlene Goodwin
Auburn, Indiana
Agoodwin@ctlnet.com