Difference between revisions of "Analysis of Dawsons SAR Application"
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There is an off-hand comment made by Dawson about the date of death on Church's tombstone being off by 10 years, as it is given in "other sources" as 1823. The nature of these other sources is not given, nor is there anything to back up the statement that the grave marker in Brattleboro lists his rank as full Colonel. | There is an off-hand comment made by Dawson about the date of death on Church's tombstone being off by 10 years, as it is given in "other sources" as 1823. The nature of these other sources is not given, nor is there anything to back up the statement that the grave marker in Brattleboro lists his rank as full Colonel. | ||
| + | |||
| + | It is reasonable to assume that Dawson knows the genealogical details of himself, his wife, his children, and his parents, so we can assume that the data for generations 0-2 in the table above is accurate. Beyond that, many of the dates and some of the names get uncertain in his genealogical data. With no sources to corroborate any of the relationships listed, these data should be considered suspect at best. | ||
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| + | ===Re-creation of Dawson's Lineage from Available Data=== | ||
| + | In this section, I will attempt to recreate as much of the lineage listed by Dawson as I can using data available to me. | ||
| + | |||
| + | TBD | ||
Revision as of 00:05, 13 June 2014
On October 7, 1942, Fred Albert Dawson prepared an application to the Indiana chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, claiming to be a lineal descendant of Timothy Church, who served as a Lieutenant Colonel of the Southern Regiment of Cumberland Co., VT, during the Revolutionary War. The application was four pages long. Click on the images below to see a high-resolution scan of each page and a full transcript for each.
Page 1
Pages 2-3
Page 4
Another application to the Sons of the American Revolution was made by Fred Alfred Dawson's nephew, Irvin Herrick Dawson, a year later. It contained identical genealogical and reference information.
This webpage is my attempt to determine the suitability of Dawsons' SAR applications as source documents for genealogical research.
Contents |
Claims made
Nine generations of people are detailed in the Dawson SAR application. The information in the table below is all genealogical data given in the application, presented one generation per line.
8 Richard Church (1649-1684) married to Mary Churchill (????-????) 7 Samuel Church (1667-1737) married to (unknown) (????-????) 6 Nathaniel Church (1704-1780) married to Rachel McCranny (????-1788) 5 Timothy Church (12May1736-13Nov1823) married on 9Jun1757 to Abigail Cousin (1738-????) 4 Samuel Church (~1765->1845) married prior to 1821 to Elizabeth ? (????-????) 3 George Dawson (~1790-7Jul1845) married in 1831 to Rebecca Church (~1801-~1866) 2 Henry Lee Dawson (28Feb1841-28Jan1923) married in 1883 or 1885 to Rhoda McFadden (26Nov1862-27Sep1933) 1 Fred Albert Dawson (1Jul1891-present) married to Helen Amanda Dawson (no relation) (????-present) 0 Martha Joan Dawson (1Apr1924-present) and Mary Patricia Dawson (3Mar1926-present), daughters of Fred & Helen
In addition to the genealogical data above, the application gives the following account of the service of Timothy Church during the Revolutionary War:
- "Served as Second Lieut., Capt., and Lieut. Col. from Brattleboro, Vt., He was appointed Second Lieut. on January 4, 1776, by the Committee of Safety. He was than[sic] serving in the Brattleborough Co. Vt. On August 18, 1778[9?] he was made a Captain and in July 1782 he was appointed Lieut. Col. Of the Southern Regiment of Cumberland Co. Vt. by the Council of Appointment of N.Y. At that time there was a territorial dispute between New York and Vermont regarding Cumberland Co., each Colony claiming it as part of its territory.
- He is buried in Brattleboro, Vt. and his tombstone designates him as a Col. and says that he died November 13, 1833, at age 86. This appears to be a discrepency[sic] in other records which show his death as having been in 1823."
References given
The SAR application provides a space for the applicant to provide references used to determine the ancestor's service during the war as well as for the genealogical data contained in the application. Fred Dawson lists the following three sources only:
Vermont Rev. Rolls. Pages 822, 823, 826. New York in the Revolution Vol. 15, page 277. Annals of Brattleboro. Vol. 1 pages 67, 68.
State of Vermont Revolutionary War Rolls mentions Timothy Church three times:
- "The Line Officers were commissioned Feb. 26, 1776, as follows: ... Brattleborough Company, Captain, John Sergeant; 1st Lieut., Oliver Cook; 2d do Tim Church; Ensign, John Alexander" - pg. 822
- "Changes in the First (Lower) Regiment...August 18, 1778... Tim Church, Captain, Brattleboro' Co." - pg. 823
- "Officers commissioned 18 Aug. 1778. Companies in the Southern Regiment...Captains...Timothy Church..." - pg. 826
New York in the Revolution mentions Timothy Church once:
- "Cumberland County Militia. The returns of the earlier organisations are incomplete. The Committee of Safety commissioned the following officers for Cumberland...Feb. 26, 1776, as follows: ... Brattleborough Company. Captain, John Sergeant, 1st Lieut., Oliver Cook, 2d do Tim'y Church, Ensign, John Alexander..." - pg. 277
Annals of Brattleboro mentions Timothy Church twice:
- "The militia of Cumberland County formed a brigade, subsequently divided by the Legislature of New York into the northern regiment and the southern regiment. The officers of the southern regiment, who received their commissions from the Council of Appointment of that state, August 18, 1778, were, in Brattleboro, Timothy Church, Captain..." - pg. 67
- "On the fifth of June and the twenty-fourth of July, 1782, were chosen officers of the southern regiment: Timothy Church, Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant..." - pg. 68
Analysis
Immediately from the references given you can see that only the service record of Timothy Church is being referenced; all genealogical data is un-sourced. The service record as-stated by Dawson appears to be correct per the references given, with the exception of the day and month being incorrect on Timothy Church's commissioning to 2nd Lieutenant (two references give the date as 26 Feb 1776 whereas Dawson gives it as 4 Jan 1776).
There is an off-hand comment made by Dawson about the date of death on Church's tombstone being off by 10 years, as it is given in "other sources" as 1823. The nature of these other sources is not given, nor is there anything to back up the statement that the grave marker in Brattleboro lists his rank as full Colonel.
It is reasonable to assume that Dawson knows the genealogical details of himself, his wife, his children, and his parents, so we can assume that the data for generations 0-2 in the table above is accurate. Beyond that, many of the dates and some of the names get uncertain in his genealogical data. With no sources to corroborate any of the relationships listed, these data should be considered suspect at best.
Re-creation of Dawson's Lineage from Available Data
In this section, I will attempt to recreate as much of the lineage listed by Dawson as I can using data available to me.
TBD
