John Littleton DAWSON, Congress, PA (1813-1870)

DAWSON, John Littleton, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Uniontown, Fayette County, Pa., February 7, 1813; moved with his parents to Brownsville, Pa., in early youth; was graduated from Washington (Pa.) College in 1833; studied law; was admitted to the bar September 9, 1835, and commenced practice in Brownsville, Pa.; deputy attorney general of Fayette County in 1838; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1844, 1848, 1860, and 1868; United States district attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania 1845-1848; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1848 to the Thirty-first Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-second and Thirty-third Congresses (March 4, 1851-March 3, 1855); chairman, Committee on Agriculture (Thirty-third Congress); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1854; appointed Governor of Kansas Territory by President Pierce, but declined the office; elected to the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1867); was not a candidate for renomination; retired from public life and resided on his estate, “Friendship Hill,” in Springfield Township, Fayette County, Pa., until his death there on September 18, 1870; interment in Christ Episcopal Churchyard, Brownsville, Fayette County, Pa.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present