Samuel John Dawson was born in 1847 in either Itawamba or Monroe County, Mississippi.    He grew up in Monroe County and was married on July 21, 1866 there to Nancy Jane Baldwin.

In 1869, the young couple had their first child, John Anderson Dawson.  The next year they had another, Henry Clay Dawson.  They were their only children that lived.  Sam worked mostly as a day laborer, but eventually the family went to Texas.

By 1880, the family had moved to Bell County, Texas.  In 1900, they had moved to Hill County, Texas.

Sam died in 1916, probably in Hill County, Texas.  Nancy died in 1922.

John Anderson Dawson  (md. Susan Frances Russell)
Anderson and Susan had nine children.  Anderson lived to be 57 years old, dying in 1925, in Alvarado, Johnson County, Texas.

Henry Clay Dawson (md. ?)
Not sure what happened to Henry Clay, but I think he lived at least to middle age since one of his cousins always called him "scalawag."  He may have died around 1900.

Unknown Dawson (died young)
This child of Sam and Nancy did not live very long.