William Dawson--teacher, commissary, councillor, college president--was a man of amiable disposition, highly respected in his own time as an able clergyman and public figure. As a writer he produced thoroughly competent verse and sermons. Born in Cumberland County, England, in 1704, Dawson matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, on 11 March 1720 at the age of fifteen. After having received his B.A. in 1725 and his M.A. in 1728, Dawson immigrated to Virginia, where he served first as tutor and subsequently as professor of moral philosophy at the College of William and Mary (1729-1749) and married Mary Stith, sister of historian William Stith. He later (1747) received his D.D. from Oxford by diploma. In addition to his duties at the College of William and Mary, Dawson served several sessions as chaplain of the General Assembly and for many years as rector of the prestigious James City parish.

On 27 October 1736, an advertisement in...