Dawson and Dadd

DAWSON

Amongst the information sent to me recently was The Dawson Family Tree from my cousin Jenny – recently married into the Leith and Dawson families. Her husband, Ian Leith White, is descended from the left-hand section of the tree via James Dawson and Ann Roy. Ian’s great, great, grandfather was James Leith who married Ann Dawson.

The Dawson Family Tree

There is a slight error on the right-hand line of descendants as Sir John William Dawson was the son of James Dawson and Mary Rankine and not, as it would appear from the above, Alexander. James was the son of John Dawson and Isabel Mitchell. However, the interest lies with Sir John William Dawson (1820-1899).

Portrait of Sir John William Dawson (from wikipedia)

From his biography; “Sir John William Dawson was a geologist, palaeontologist, author, educator, office holder, publisher, and editor; b. 13 Oct. 1820 in Pictou, Nova Scotia, son of James Dawson and Mary Rankine; d. 19 Nov. 1899 in Montreal.”

His son, George Mercer Dawson, researched the family history and drew up his own family tree in 1881. Ufortunately, it does not contain any dates. However, the tree is very interesting to study.

Genealogical Tree of the Dawson and Mercer Families (https://sirjohnwilliamdawson.wordpress.com/)

All this information, and more, has been added to The Williams Family Tree.

DADD

Investigation continues into the Dadd families of Kent. My daughter, Christina, married Rickie Dadd and we have traced his family back to his 4x great grandfather, Edward DADD (1792-1876). There is a lot of confusion on some of the family trees on Ancestry about this family but Edward had 8 children by two wives. He first married Philadelphia Guest in 1817 and they had one daughter, Mary. Philadelphia died in 1821. Edward then married Mary Ann Barton (nee Jutson). Mary previously married Richard Barton in 1817 but he died in 1818.

Another, more documented family is that of Thomas Dadd (1798-1834). He married Elizabeth Newing in 1822 and they had 6 children. The interesting thing about these two families is the names of the children.

Two DADD families from Kent

When you view the family information side-by-side you can see that Edward’s 3rd, 4th, and 5th children were named Thomas, Mary Ann, and Emma. As were Thomas’ first three children. Also, Thomas Dadd (left) born 1827 and Emma Dadd (right) born 1827 were both baptised on the same day; 8 Jul 1827, Whitstable, Kent.

I have no doubt that Edward and Thomas were related and most probably brothers but, so far, I have not been able to find any confirmation – or otherwise. If anyone has any information about these two families please get in touch.

Phil
phil@w-f-t.co.uk