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William Johnston Dawson (1765 – January 16, 1796)[1][2][3] was a U.S. Congressman from the state of North Carolina from 1793 to 1795 and a member of the North Carolina House of Commons.
Dawson was born near Edenton in Chowan County, North Carolina. His grandfather was royal Governor Gabriel Johnston.[4] He was also the grandson of William Dawson, the second president of The College of William & Mary, and a great-great grandson of John Stith and William Randolph.[5][6][7]
Dawson represented Bertie County in the state constitutional conventions of 1788 and 1789.[8] He was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons (now called the House of Representatives) in 1791 and was a member of the committee which was appointed to choose a site for the new state capital, Raleigh, that same year.[9] Dawson Street in downtown Raleigh is named for him. Dawson was elected to the 3rd United States Congress in the election of February 15, 1793, a three-way race in which he, as the Anti-Federalist candidate, defeated two Federalists: Stephen Cabarrus (Speaker of the State House) and William Cumming.[10] Dawson served from March 4, 1793 to March 3, 1795. He lost his race for re-election on February 13, 1795 to Dempsey Burges.[11]
Dawson died in Bertie County, North Carolina. His obituary, printed in the North Carolina Journal on February 1, 1796, stated that Dawson died on January 16, 1796[3] but the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, which lists his middle name as "Johnson," puts his death at 1798.
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