William Dawson (college president)

Reverend William Dawson (1704?–1752)[1] was the second president of The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.[2] A graduate of the Queen's College at Oxford University, Dawson ran the College from 1743–1752.[2] He is also the brother of Thomas Dawson, who was the fourth president of William & Mary (1755–1760).[3]

Dawson was also an Anglican clergyman, a rector at the Jamestown Parish, a commissary of the Bishop of London, a moral philosophy professor at William and Mary, a poet, a chaplain of the House of Burgesses, and a member of the Governor's Council.[2]

Reverend Dawson is the namesake for Dawson Hall in the Bryan Complex at William & Mary.

Dawson married 1st, Mary Stith, a granddaughter of John Stith and William Randolph.[4][5][6] He was the grandfather of Congressman William Johnston Dawson.[4][5][6]

References

  1. ↑ Encyclopedia.com — Dawson, William. Retrieved on November 17, 2008.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 William & Mary — 18th Century Presidents. Retrieved on November 17, 2008.
  3. ↑ President Thomas Dawson. Retrieved on March 10, 2009.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gordon, Armistead C (1914). "The Stith Family". In Tyler, Lyon G. William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine XXII. Richmond, Virginia: Whittet & Shepperson. pp. 44–51, 197–208. Retrieved February 25, 2011.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed. (1915). "Burgesses and Other Prominent Persons". Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography II. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 330–331.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Goode, George Brown (1887). "Excursus.-The Stith Family". Virginia Cousins: A Study of the Ancestry and Posterity of John Goode of Whitby. Richmond, Virginia: J. W. Randolph & English. pp. 210–212.