William Dawes

William Dawes, Jr. (April 6, 1745 – February 25, 1799) was one of several men and a woman who alerted colonial minutemen of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the outset of the American Revolution.

Early life

Dawes was born in Boston, Massachusetts on April 6, 1745, to William and Lydia Dawes (née Boone), and baptized at Boston's Old South Church. He became a tanner and was active in Boston's militia. On May 3, 1768, Dawes married Mehitable May, the daughter of Samuel and Catherine May (née Mears). The Boston Gazette noted that for his wedding he wore a suit entirely made in North America; at the time, Whigs were trying to organize a boycott of British products to pressure Parliament into repealing the Townshend Acts.

Role in Boston's militia

On April 8, 1768 Dawes was elected as a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. He was appointed as the Company's second sergeant in 1770. When the Company was revived in 1786, after becoming dormant during the American Revolution, he was appointed as the Company clerk. His father, William Dawes, Sr., was also a member of the Company.

William Dawes (abolitionist)

William Dawes was an abolitionist.

William Dawes and John Keep toured England in 1839 and 1840 gathering funds for Oberlin College in Ohio. They both attended the 1840 anti-slavery convention in London.

John Keep and William Dawes both undertook a fund raising mission in England in 1839 and 1840 to raise funds from sympathetic abolitionists. Oberlin College was one of the few mult-racial and co-educational colleges in America at that time.

Both John Keep and Dawes are credited with helping to start the collection of African Americana at Oberlin College which inspired other writers.

A house occupied by someone of the same name was in Hudson, Ohio in the 1830s supporting the route for escaping slaves.

References

William Dawes (disambiguation)

William Dawes may refer to:

See also

Sir William Dawes, 3rd Baronet

Sir William Dawes, 3rd Baronet PC (12 September 1671–30 April 1724) was an Anglican prelate. He served as Bishop of Chester from 1708 to 1714 and then as Archbishop of York from 1714 to 1724.

Education

Dawes was born at Lyons, near Braintree in Essex and from the age of nine attended Merchant Taylors' School in London. Already excelling in Hebrew by the age of 15, he was barely 18 when he wrote his work in verse: The Anatomy of Atheisme, and his eminent The Duties of the Closet in prose.

In 1687, William matriculated at St John's College in Oxford, the college he also became a fellow of, then migrated to St Catharine's College, Cambridge in 1689. He received his MA degree from St Cat's in 1695 on royal decree (per lit. reg.) due to his young age. In 1696 he graduated in theology (DD).

Anglican priest

William Dawes became the permanent pastor of William III (1688–1702) and was later court pastor of Queen Anne (1702–14). From 1698, at a young age, he was Canon of Worcester Cathedral.

William Dawes (British Marines officer)

William Dawes (1762–1836) was an officer of the British Marines, an astronomer, engineer, botanist, surveyor, explorer, abolitionist and colonial administrator. He traveled to New South Wales with the First Fleet on board HMS Sirius.

Early life

William Dawes was born at Portsmouth, Hampshire, in early 1762, the eldest child of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Sinnatt) Dawes. He was christened there on 17 March 1762. His father was a clerk of works in the Ordnance Office at Portsmouth.

He joined the marines as Second Lieutenant on 2 September 1779 and was wounded in action against the French Navy under the Comte de Grasse at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781.

Dawes volunteered for service with the New South Wales Marine Corps, which accompanied the First Fleet. Because he was known as a competent astronomer, he was asked to establish an observatory and make astronomical observations on the voyage and in New South Wales.

New South Wales

From March 1788 Dawes was employed in the settlement as an engineer and surveyor, and built his observatory on what is now Dawes Point, under the southern approach to Sydney Harbour Bridge. In his several roles, Dawes made astronomical observations, constructed batteries on the points at the entrance to Sydney Cove, laid out the government farm and first streets and allotments in Sydney and Parramatta. Dawes took part in several explorations to the mountains west of Sydney, beyond the Nepean River and the Cowpastures; the first attempt to cross the Blue Mountains. Dawes' skill in computing distances and map making were invaluable in the new colony.