Arthur Ernest Dawson (1879-1916)

10-1. Arthur Ernest Dawson was born 28 December 1879 in Milford, Iroquois, IL. He married Ruth O Neal. Arthur and Ruth had three children: Arthur Ernest, Harold, and Thomas Edward. In 1885 the J.E. Dawson family went west. Arthur was probably taught at home while the family was homesteading in Kansas. His father, James Edward, was a school teacher. In 1888 the family moved to Cozad, Nebraska where James taught school in a sod building in the country.

Arthur learned as much as he could from his father. In 1899 he returned to Milford, IL, by bicycle, to go to high school. In the 1900 census he was recorded living in Milford, IL as head. It looks like he was living in a boarding house. He was 20 years old and working as a druggist.

Chattanooga Medical College 1903

Arthur came south to Chattanooga, TN and went to medical school, he graduated in 1904. He taught anatomy at the Chattanooga Medical College and then started a practice. In the 1910 census he was recorded as living in Chattanooga, TN, married to Ruth, had three sons: Arthur Ernest, Harold, and Thomas Edward, and was working as a physician.

Sadly he died 24 May 1916 working as a county doctor in Jersey, TN of a septic infection. Ruth was still close with Madora, her mother-in-law, and would bring the three boys up north to the farm in Monroeville during the summers. Ernest died in his twenties. Harold and Thomas remembered their time in Indiana and "Grandma Dawson" as wonderful.

Thomas died in 1961. Harold around 1968. Ruth was running the Peerless Creamery from around the First World War to the 30’s. She then opened up the Colonial Coffee Shop in Chattanooga. The O’Neal family and Arthur Senior’s practice was out of town near North Chickamauga Creek, Bonnie Oaks, and a railroad stop called Tyner. They moved downtown for the Peerless job and to attend Central High School in Chattanooga. Harold then Thomas joined the Navy for one tour out of high school. Both went back in during WW2.

Source: Mike Dawson