Author: Rev George Geoffrey Baggett
Thomas P. Dawson was born around 1759 in either Albemarle County or Brunswick County, Virginia. His parents, Thomas Dawson and Martha Jane Jones were married in Brunswick County, Virginia, on January 16, 1756. The distance between the two counties seems to call the Albemarle County claim into question. Little is known about Thomas Dawson before the Revolutionary War. He enlisted as a Private in Capt. Thomas Hamilton’s Company in the First Virginia State Regiment commanded by Col. George Gibson on March 1, 1777, for a period of three years. The 1st Virginia State Regiment, not to be confused with the 1st Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line, was a Virginia State Militia Regiment authorized by the Virginia General Assembly in December 1776. Since Virginia had some difficulty meeting the quota for troops in the Continental Line, the 1st Virginia State Regiment was marched north to join with the Continental Army in the Philadelphia Campaign. In January 1778 the General Assembly placed the 1st State Regiment in relief of the 9th Virginia Continental Line Regiment, since most of that unit was captured at the Battle of Germantown. The regiment wintered at the infamous Valley Forge in 1777-78, where Dawson appears on the muster rolls. The regiment fought at the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778) and remained in the Continental Service until it was recalled to Virginia state service in January 1780. Thomas Dawson’s term of service was complete on February 29, 1780 (per his three-year enlistment). Some family sources and various family trees claim that he was in service until 1783. However, it seems that they may have been confused about his record because of the appearance of a record card in his service file dated 1783. It was simply a form showing him on the list of soldiers who had received their final pay and pension land certificates. His form is dated July 5, 1783, and shows him receiving a total pay of 57 pounds, 19 shillings, 8 pence. His duration of service of three years is also confirmed by his Land-Office Military Warrant, entitling him to 100 acres of land for serving three years in the state line. After the war, Thomas Dawson moved with his parents to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where he married Mary Ann Clay in March 1789. From 1791 until 1815, the couple had eleven children while living in Bourbon County. Thomas and his brother, John, purchased a 4,000 acre tract along the Little River and Casey’s Creek near Roaring Springs in 1816. He built a brick colonial home on his land in 1816/17 and lived there until his death in 1829. He was buried somewhere near his home, though the exact location of his grave is unknown. His wife died in 1845 and left the farm to their youngest son, Augustus Green Dawson, who had lived with her and cared for her in her old age. Amazingly, his house still stands to this day and remains occupied. It was placed on the National register of Historic Places in 1980. Various sources report his birth year as either 1757 or 1759. This is the date and location in the Ancestor File with the Daughters of the American Revolution, Dawson, Thomas, A030833, < http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search_adb/ ?action=full&p_id=A030833>, accessed August 30, 2014. The William and Mary Quarterly, January 1, 1912, “Brunswick County Marriage Bonds,” p.197. The National Archives, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, compiled 1894 - ca. 1912, documenting the period 1775 – 1784, Record Group 93, Virginia, First State Regiment, Thomas Dawson. Wright, Robert K. The Continental Army. Center of Military History, United States Army, 1983. p. 147 Shelby, John E. The Revolution in Virginia, 1775-1783. University of Virginia Press, 1988. p. 135. Valley Forge Legacy: The Muster Roll Project, Private Thomas Dawson, 1st Virginia Regiment, ID VA11259, , accessed August 30, 2014. Orderly Books of Virginia regiments in Continental Service, VA-16: 1st (G. Gibson's) Virginia State Regiment [1777-1779], , accessed August 30, 2014. Kentucky Revolutionary War Warrants, Thomas Dawson, Warrant # 1335, , accessed August 30, 2014. Bob Francis, MARRIAGES-BOURBON COUNTY KENTUCKY 1786-1800, < http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/bourbon/vitals/marriages/marriages.txt>, accessed August 30, 2014. Dan Perrigan, Thomas Dawson and Mary Ann Clay, , accessed August 30, 2014. National Register of Historic Places, Kentucky – Trigg County, , accessed August 30, 2014.