Excerpt from A Collection of Family Records: With Biographical Sketches and Other Memoranda of Various Families and Individuals Bearing the Name Dawson, or Allied to Families of That Name This book had its origin in the desire of the compiler to know something of his own family history. The purpose of compiling it was formed in boyhood, after his father's death 3 and the first crude notes which he committed to paper, containing the facts which had been treasured up in his mother's very retentive memory, are yet preserved. The occasion of meeting with any aged relative was always improved to add something to the in formation already secured, and the swelling bulk of the carefully kept notes, when further interlineations and additions seemed inadmissible, made repeatedly necessary the task of transcribing and rearranging them, each time in a new and larger volume. The series of books which have been thus laboriously filled finds an end in the volume which is now presented. The family name, common and widely disseminated as it is known to be now, was, in the early days of this enterprise, rarely met with and scarcely known outside of a few nearly related families. It was natural to suppose that all of the name, at least in this country, must be descended from a common ancestor, discoverable by genealogical researches. How far this early belief was from the truth, this collection of records will bear but partial evidence. Records, more or less nearly complete, of a large number of families, the descendants of different American ancestors, not known to be otherwise connected than by identity of family name, are here presented. These are generally classified according to the states in which the ancestors first settled or chiefly resided. Of some families, believed to be quite considerable in point of numbers, records are almost entirely wanting. Greater fullness and accuracy would gladly have been secured, but it was im possible to publish information which those who were applied to for it, failed, for various reasons, to furnish. To such as have kindly responded to his inquiries, the compiler would tender his grateful acknowledgments. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.