1884 - 1975

Home    Search    Print    Login    Add Bookmark

• Birth	1 Aug 1884	Anson, Clark, Missouri
  Gender	Male
  Died	21 Jun 1975	Marked Tree, Poinsett, Arkansas
  Buried	23 Jun 1975	Marked Tree Cem., Marked Tree, Poinsett, Arkansas
  Person ID	I108599	Brainard (Brainerd) / Foster / Fish
  Last Modified	28 Apr 2005 00:00:00
  Father	William Nelson DAWSON, Jr, b. 19 Aug 1848, Washington Co., Ohio
  Mother	Cynthia Ann POE, b. 14 Apr 1846, Bonaparte, Vernon Twp., Van Buren, Iowa
  Family ID	F45786	Group Sheet
  Family	Virgie Lena WASKOM, b. 14 Apr 1891, Sturgis, Union Co., Kentucky
  Married	12 Dec 1909	Marked Tree, Poinsett, Arkansas
  Family ID	F45795	Group Sheet

• Notes

  "Clarence Andrew Dawson arrived in Marked Tree, Arkansas by train at 7 a.m. on September 10, 1903. Virgie Lena Waskom Dawson arrived June 15, 1905." "Before I write about Clarence and Virgie Dawson, I must write about what was going on in this area prior to their arrival on the scene. "Mr. Ernest Ritter came to this area in 1886 to work for his uncle, Mr. Markhardt, who had charge of the Oliver Davis Mill, the first industry in this area (Marked Tree, Arkansas). There was nothing but wilderness here, with a few men--practically no women or children--hunting, fishing, clearing land and logging. "In Nov. 1890, Mr. Ritter opened a mercantile business and in 1893 he was appointed postmaster and moved the post office into his store. Clarence's older brother, Clyde, was keeping books for Mr. Ritter and in 1903 became ill with typhoid fever. Needing help while Clyde was ill, Mr. Ritter sent for Clarence who had completed nine grades of school and a business course. He was 19 at the time having been born Aug. 1, 1884. He was born in Anson, Clark Co., MO, which is near the Iowa line. His parents were Wm. Nelson (Dawson) and Cynthia Ann Poe Dawson. He had a twin sister, Clara, four older sisters, Ada, Marie, Emma and Sarah and two brothers, Clyde who was older and Frank who was younger. His father was a half-brother of Mrs. Anna Ritter's mother. "Clarence was made secretary-treasurer of E. Ritter & Co. when it was incorporated June 10, 1907, and worked for the company in that capacity until he was 85, a period of 65 years. He was secretary-treasurer of the Marked Tree Methodist Church from 1910-1970, keeping books, paying the bills, the whole lot. "Virgie Lena Waskom arrived in Marked Tree from Sturgis, KY, with her widowed mother, Mary Lee Hazel Waskom, at age 14 having been born April 14, 1891. Her mother had four brothers who had settled here and they came here to be with them. They were Jack and Crockett Hazel, farmers, Marion Hazel, a lawyer, and Noah Hazel, Marked Tree's first public school principal and later cashier of the bank. "Soon after Virgie arrived, she went to Harrisburg, the county seat and took the county teacher's examination and won a two year license to teach. She taught the first five grades when she was 15 and 16 and her uncle Noah Hazel, principal, taught the sixth, seventh and eigth grades. The school was a three-room frame structure located on Liberty Street at Locust. "Clarence and Virgie were married in the Marked Tree Methodist Church on Dec. 12, 1909, and resided in a home that Clarence had built for them on Home Street at Central. They lived there until 1929 when they moved to a larger home at 301 Dawson Street which is the family homeplace today. To them were born seven children: Helen Gertrude Oct. 5, 1910; Clarence Alston, Aug. 14, 1912; Marion, Aug. 30, 1915; Frances, Jan. 8, 1917; Howard Waskom, April 25, 1922; Martha Virginia, Nov. 13, 1925; and Cynthia Ann, May 14, 1934. "Clarence died of heart failure June 21, 1975, and Virgie died of heart failure June 13, 1984. They are buried in Marked Tree Cemetery on the family plot." Submitted by Marion Dawson. SOURCE: Clarence Dawson, William A. Poe, Harry Vredingburgh. Virgie Waskom Dawson, "Poinsett County, Histories and Families", Turner Publishing Co., 2002, page 301.

• Sources

  [S2210] Genealogy report of Cynthia Ann Poe, Poinsett County GenWeb site administrator. Source: Clarence Dawson and William A. Poe