William Dawson

Background

He was born in Redhaven, Banffshire, Scotland in 1822 and came to Nepean Township near Bytown around 1836.

Career

He served as Crown Lands agent at Ottawa and was superintendent of the woods and forests branch in the Crown Lands department from 1852 to 1857. In 1858, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada for Trois-Rivièresearch He was defeated there but elected for the County of Ottawa in the 1861 general election.

During his first term in office, he travelled to London in an attempt to secure financing for a transcontinental railroad.

He died at Montreal in 1890. Another brother Aeneas McDonell Dawson was a priest and author at Ottawa.

Achievements

• Dawson was founder and present of the North-West Transit Company.