Unknown County GaArchives Biographies.....Dawson, John E. 1805 - 1861
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 5, 2005, 12:13 pm

Author: J. H. Campbell

JOHN E. DAWSON, D.D.

  As a deeply interesting memoir of this distinguished man, by his sister, Mrs.
A. P. Hill, is now before the public, it is deemed necessary to give, in this
work, only the following brief outline of his character and services, referring
those who may not have read it, to that excellent memoir, and recommending them
to obtain it without delay.

  John Edmonds Dawson was born in Washington county, Georgia, March 7th, 1805,
and was the second son of Major John E. Dawson, an intelligent and wealthy
farmer, who moved from Virginia to Georgia early in the present century, and
from Washington to Morgan county, where the subject of this sketch was brought
up. For several years he attended school in Madison, under the instruction of
Major Alden, who speaks of him as a youth of noble mien and fine intellect. He
subsequently attended school at Mt. Zion, Hancock county, under the celebrated
Dr. Beman, where it is thought he did not remain very long. His educational
attainments seem to have been only such as could be acquired in the academies
and high schools of the times. Even at this early age, he was distinguished
above his fellows for his powers of oratory, in which he so greatly excelled in
maturer years. If ever man was born an orator, John E. Dawson was that man.

  At the early age of nineteen he was married to the only daughter of Mr. John
Walker, a wealthy planter of Morgan county, and settled on a farm adjoining that
of his father-in-law, between whose family and Mr. Dawson there ever existed the
kindliest relations.

  Though not strictly moral in early life, he was ever the soul of honor; the
very impersonation of integrity. In less than two years subsequent to his
marriage, and early in the great revival of 1827, he became a hopeful subject of
divine grace. At, an Association at Antioch church, Morgan county, (mentioned
elsewhere in this work) under a sermon by Rev. A. Sherwood, he gave the first
public manifestation of interest on the subject of religion, and, before the
meeting closed, he obtained hope in Christ. He and his wife were baptized at
Indian creek church, Morgan county, by Rev. Edmund Shackleford, September 22d,
1827. He at once became an active and efficient church-member, a leader in
conference and prayer-meetings; but did not commence preaching till the summer
of 1834. His first sermon was delivered at Monroe, Walton county, during a
memorable revival, in which about eighty were baptized. He was ordained to the
ministry at Indian creek church, January 14th, 1835, by a presbytery consisting
of Malcolm Johnson, V. R. Thornton and A. Sherwood.

  There was one fact connected with, his earlier efforts at preaching, which
should be mentioned. Sometimes, after having taken his text, and proceeded
fifteen or twenty minutes, he would lose all confidence, and fail or break down.
He would generally have a presentiment of such a result, and, on different
occasions, he pressed the writer into the pulpit with him, that he might finish
out the work in which he apprehended failure. On such occasions, he would seem
to his hearers to be progressing with ease and pleasure, when he would pause, as
if bewildered, and would suddenly take his seat. Ordinary men do not have such
experiences. But John E. Dawson was far from being an ordinary man.

  He entered upon his first pastorate at Eatonton, which commenced in the early
part of 1835, in which church a great revival was experienced in the course of
the year. During the same year revivals were also experienced at Milledgeville,
McDonough, Sharon and other places, and Dawson participated in them all.

  He continued in Eatonton only one year, and was called thence to Columbus,
where he commenced his labors in January, 1836, which were soon interrupted, and
finally broken up by the war with the Creek Indians (in the territory in Alabama
adjoining Columbus) which broke out that year. Having returned to Middle
Georgia, his labors, for several years, were given to Madison, Monticello,
Forsyth, etc., till in 1842, he removed to LaGrange, Troup county, where he
became pastor of the church and principal of a female academy. This double
service was rendered necessary on account of his having a large family to
support and the heavy pecuniary losses he had of late years sustained. His whole
heart, however, was in the ministry; so that the school-room was irksome to him.
In 1843, through the agency of the writer, his school property was sold to Mr.
Milton E. Bacon, and he was once more fully devoted to the work of the ministry.

   From this time forward till laid aside by disease, induced by-excessive
labor, all his great powers were devoted to preaching "Christ and Him
crucified." It is safe to affirm that, in those clays, as a popular pulpit
orator, he had no peer in the denomination in the State, nor perhaps in any
other denomination. On all occasions, where thousands assembled to hear the
Word, the most prominent positions were assigned him, and he almost invariably
met the expectations of the public. Sometimes he failed; and when he did so, it
was an utter failure. He was no half-way man in anything. He was John E. Dawson,
and no one else. God had given him such a commanding person as few men
possessed; a voice soft and musical, yet of great compass and power; and a
manner and magnetism that captivated and attracted all who came within their
influence. His grasp of mind was that of a giant; his flow of language like the
rush of a cataract. There was eloquence in the flash of his eye, in the
movements of his body, in the nervous motions of his arms. Who that ever heard
him will forget the power there was in that left hand? But I forbear. Eloquence
may be felt, but cannot be described. The writer recalls instances in which he
has seen large audiences more entirely under his control than he has ever
witnessed in the case of any other public speaker.

  After laboring in LaGrange five years, he was again called to Columbus. He
would not accept till he had prevailed on Rev. C. D. Mallary to take his place.
In the early part of 1848 we find him again at Columbus, where he continued the
idolized pastor till 1856, having in the meantime spent several months in ISTew
Orleans, where his ministrations attracted much attention. His resignation at
Columbus was forced upon him by long-continued affliction, the result, as has
been already said, of excessive labor. When he could no longer preach, he
aceepted the position of associate editor with Dr. Henderson, of the
South-Western Baptist, Alabama. He lingered a few months, when consumption
terminated his earthly career, at Tuskegee, in the fifty-sixth year of his age.
His remains are interred at Columbus, Georgia.

  The reader is again recommended to obtain the "Life of John E. Dawson," by
Mrs. Hill.


Additional Comments:
From:

GEORGIA BAPTISTS: HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL
BY
J. H. CAMPBELL,
PERRY, GEORGIA.


MACON, GA.: J. W. BURKE & COMPANY. 1874.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by
J. H. CAMPBELL,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/unknown/bios/gbs758dawson.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/

File size: 7.7 Kb