Dawson Family Papers

Mandeville Special Collections Library

The UCSD Libraries

9500 Gilman Drive

University of California, San Diego

La Jolla, California 92093-0175

Phone: (858) 534-2533

Fax: (858) 534-5950

URL: http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/

Descriptive Summary

Creator: Dawson family

Title: Dawson Family Papers,

Date (inclusive): 1852 - 1950

Extent: 5.60 linear feet (10 archives boxes and 12 oversize folders)

Abstract: Papers (1852-1950) of the Dawson family, including patriarch John Barkley Dawson (1830-1918), a trailblazer, Texas Ranger and cattle rancher in New Mexico and Colorado, and several generations of his descendants. J. B. Dawson purchased part of the Maxwell Land Grant in New Mexico. The bulk of the collection relates to research about J.B. Dawson and other family members complied by Delphine Dawson Wilson, family historian. Materials include correspondence between family members, diaries and scrapbooks, photographs and photograph albums, ephemera, and research materials. The collection occupies 5.6 linear feet and is arranged in five series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) DIARIES AND SCRAPBOOKS, 3) PHOTOGRAPHS, 4) EPHEMERA, and 5) WRITINGS.

Repository: University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.

La Jolla, California 92093-0175

Collection number: MSS 0240

Language of Material: Collection materials in English

Access

Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Information

Not Available

Preferred Citation

Dawson Family Papers, MSS 0240. Mandeville Special Collections Library, UCSD.

Publication Rights

Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.

Historical Background

John Barkley Dawson, patriarch of the Dawson family, drove cattle across the American frontier from Arkansas to the mining towns of California in 1855. In 1857 he homesteaded land in Fort Belknap, Texas, and began a business that sold cattle to government forts, Indian agents and the distant mining towns of Colorado. Dawson blazed the trail that later became known as the Dawson Trail. For a brief period, 1864-1865, he served as a Texas Ranger.

In 1869 Dawson and several relatives purchased 250,000 acres of land on the Vermejo River, New Mexico, from Lucien B. Maxwell. Originally a Mexican land grant given to Judge Carlos Beaubien and Senor Guadalupe Miranda in 1844, the Maxwell land grant was confirmed in 1860 according to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Over the next twenty years, Dawson developed the ranch, stocked his range with cattle, constructed a dam and irrigation system for agriculture, and built a two-story ranch house and numerous buildings.

Controversy arose over the exact boundries of Dawson's property once coal was discovered under much of his range. The Maxwell Land Grant and Railway Company, an English corporation, purchased the remaining portion of Maxwell's land and engaged in an aggressive attempt to remove squatters and lease tenants from portions of the original grant. During the 1880s, the corporation successfully removed occupants without valid deeds of contract. In the early 1890s, the corporation filed a suit against Dawson which was eventually decided in his favor in the United States Supreme Court in 1893.

The costs of litigation and a persistent regional drought created a financial crisis for Dawson in the 1890s. He responded by sending his three older sons on a successful stock drive to the gold fields of the Yukon in Alaska in 1893. In 1901 he sold all but 1250 acres of his ranch to the Dawson Fuel Company (no relation) and moved to Routt County, Colorado. There he built another ranch and raised cattle and horses. The Colorado property also contained large deposits of coal, which Dawson later sold to the Victor American Fuel Company in 1915. John B. Dawson died in Los Angeles, California, in 1918.

J. B. Dawson's son, Si Dawson, continued in the cattle business after the sale of the Routt County ranch. In 1918 he accepted a position as the superintendent of a large ranch called the Fazenda Morungava, located in Brazil. He lived there with his wife Lucy and son Henry Clay until December 1919, when he died of a ruptured appendix. His daughters Delphine and Dorothy were preparing to visit their parents when word arrived of their father's death.

Delphine Dawson Wilson was responsible for assembling this collection of her family's papers. She began to compile information on her family's history in 1972 and is writing a book on her grandfather J. B. Dawson.

Scope and Content of Collection

The Dawson Family Papers document aspects of the lives of several generations of the Dawson family, including John Barkley Dawson (1830-1918) and his son Si Dawson (1870-1919). The collection includes letters written by and to Dawson family members (1894-1947), loose photographs, photograph albums, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous items such as the Dawson Family bible. The collection, dated 1852-1950, occupies 5.6 linear feet and is arranged in five series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) DIARIES AND SCRAPBOOKS, 3) PHOTOGRAPHS, 4) EPHEMERA, and 5) WRITINGS.

SERIES 1: CORRESPONDENCE

The first series, CORRESPONDENCE, contains letters written to various members of the Dawson Family. The most detailed group (1894-1909) of letters was written by Si Dawson to his wife Lucy Anne McKean Dawson. Another group of letters was written by Si to Lucy during the stock drive from New Mexico to the Yukon in Alaska in 1898. Transcriptions of these letters are located in Series 5A. The CORRESPONDENCE series also contains letters from Lucy written to her daughters Delphine and Dorothy and to her sister Elizabeth Howard from the Fazenda Morungava in Brazil between 1918 and 1919. She describes aspects of their life on the ranch and her impressions of Brazilian culture, as well as the events leading up to Si's death on December 3, 1919. Transcriptions of these letters are located in Series 5A This series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent.

SERIES 2: DIARIES AND SCRAPBOOKS

The second series, DIARIES AND SCRAPBOOKS, is arranged in two subseries. The first diary, written by Si Dawson in 1897, contains a record of travels, business transactions and reports of day-to-day occurences. Si Dawson's 1898 diary documents events of a risky cattle drive he and two of his brothers led from New Mexico to the Yukon in Alaska. It describes in detail the areas they visited, some of the people they encountered and problems they confronted throughout the trip. The third diary was written in 1918 by an unidentified visitor to the Fazenda Morungava Ranch in Brazil.

Transcriptions of these diaries are located in Series 5A.

This series also contains two scrapbooks. One scrapbook (1890-1920), compiled by Della McKean Dawson (Lucy's sister), contains a letter written to Martha McKean (Lucy and Della's mother) by her brother from an unidentified battle field during the Civil War. This scrapbook also contains photographs of the McKean family, the Chase family, the Wilkins family and of the Dawson ranch in Colorado. The other scrapbook, compiled by Delphine Dawson, documents her trip to Brazil in 1934.

SERIES 3: PHOTOGRAPHS

The third series, PHOTOGRAPHS, is arranged in three subseries: A) Photograph Albums, B) People and C) Places. This series contains images of four generations (1852-1947) of Dawson family members, beginning with the parents of J. B. Dawson and extending to J. B. Dawson's grandchildren. Also included are photographs of the ranch homes in New Mexico and Colorado, along with the surrounding land and livestock. Photographs of the Fazenda Morungava and Sao Paolo are also found in this series.

SERIES 4: EPHEMERA

The fourth series, EPHEMERA, contains miscellaneous Dawson momentos and documents, including the Dawson family Bible, printed in 1852. This Bible is covered in a buckskin binding that was made from the shield of an Indian chased down by J. B. Dawson while he was a Texas Ranger. A detailed account of this incident is laid into the Bible. This series also contains a menu for Christmas dinner in 1897 at the New Mexico ranch, several documents detailing the sale of the Dawson's land in New Mexico to the Dawson Coal Company, and a transcript of the Supreme Court trial "The Maxwell Land Grant Company, Plaintiff in Error, vs. John B. Dawson." This material is organized alphabetically.

SERIES 5: WRITINGS

The fifth series, WRITINGS, is arranged in three subseries: A) Transcriptions, B) Books, Drafts and Articles and C) Genealogical Materials. Most of the material in this series, arranged alphabetically by title, is the work of Delphine Dawson Wilson, J.B. Dawson's granddaughter and daughter of Si and Lucy Dawson.

A) The first subseries, Transcriptions, contains Delphine Dawson Wilson's transcriptions of diaries and letters found in the collection, family papers not housed in the collection and newspaper clippings. Included are the love letters written to Lucy Dawson from Si Dawson in 1894-1896, Si Dawson's diaries, newspaper articles and obituaries of family members. In most instances, the transcriptions are bound and include an introduction by Delphine Dawson Wilson.

B) The second subseries, Books, Drafts and Articles, contains mostly unpublished writings by Delphine Dawson Wilson. Titles include "An Index of Subjects from Old Mexican Newspapers, 1879-1918, "Early Western Horse Records," and "Si Dawson, Foundation Quarter Horse Breeder." The bulk of this series, however, includes writings and research material for Delphine Dawson Wilson's book entitled "John B. Dawson, Southwestern Cattleman and Rancher, 1830-1918." These materials are arranged by draft.

C) The third series, Genealogical Materials, contains genealogical records for the Dawson, Stout and Wilson families. Most of the research was conducted by Delphine Dawson Wilson, but some genealogies were compiled by research firms or by other family members. These materials are arranged alphabetically by title.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects

Dawson family -- Archives

Dawson family -- Portraits

Dawson, John B. -- Archives

Wilson, Delphine Dawson -- Archives

Dawson, Siria M. -- Archives

Cattle breeders -- West (U.S.) -- Biography

Cattle trade -- West (U.S.)

Ranches -- New Mexico -- Vermejo River

Ranches -- Colorado -- Routt County

Ranchers -- West (U.S.) -- Biography

Haciendas -- Brazil

Routt County (Colo.) -- Description and travel

Yukon Territory -- Description and travel

Vermejo River (N.M.) -- Description and travel

Maxwell Land Grant (N.M. and Colo.)

Photographic prints -- 19th Century.

Photographic prints -- 20th Century.

Contributors

Wilson, Delphine Dawson, -- correspondent

Dawson, John B., -- correspondent

Dawson, Siria M., -- correspondent

Dawson, Lucy, -- correspondent

CORRESPONDENCE

box 1, folder 1

Adair, Florence 1919

box 1, folder 2

Aldach, Victor 1918

box 1, folder 3

Barnhill, Joseph 1899

box 1, folder 4

Barnhill, Mrs. Joseph 1901

box 1, folder 5

Chase, Mrs. Ray E 1919

box 1, folder 6

Chittenden, J. S 1919

box 1, folder 7

Davenport, Homer 1911 - 1912

box 1, folder 8

Dawson, Bernice 1919 - 1941

box 1, folder 9

Dawson, Bruce 1915

box 1, folder 10

Dawson, Della M 1941

box 1, folder 11

Dawson, Delphine 1919

box 1, folder 12

Dawson, Dorothy 1914

box 1, folder 13

Dawson, Emmett 1906 - 1919

box 1, folder 14

Dawson, Geraldine 1906

box 1, folder 15

Dawson, John Barkley 1895

box 1, folder 16

Dawson, Mrs. John Barkley 1920

box 1, folder 17

Dawson, Lebbie 1919

box 1, folder 18

Dawson, Leo 1903 - 1919

box 1, folder 19

Dawson, Lucy 1917 - 1920

box 1, folder 20

Dawson, Manley 1896

box 1, folder 21

Dawson, Margaret 1944

box 1, folder 22

Dawson, Siria M 1894 - 1919

box 2, folder 1

Kent, Emma 1921

box 2, folder 2

McKean, Henry Bryan 1896 - 1897

box 2, folder 3

Murphy, J. C 1919

box 2, folder 4

Neild, W. H 1897

box 2, folder 5

Phi Mu Fraternity, Xi Chapter 1918

box 2, folder 6

Roberds, Mrs. Coke T 1919

box 2, folder 7

Roberds, Mrs. Emmett 1920 - 1921

box 2, folder 8

Ruby 1919

box 2, folder 9

Shinn, James A 1912

box 2, folder 10

Shirley

box 2, folder 11

Silva, Jose 1920 - 1922

box 2, folder 12

Whitney, Edwina 1919

box 2, folder 13

Whitney, Frederic 1919

box 2, folder 14

Young, David L 1922

DIARIES AND SCRAPBOOKS

Diaries

box 2, folder 15

Dawson, Si 1897

box 2, folder 16, oversize FB06701

Dawson, Si 1898

Note

Entries written during cattle drive to the Yukon in Alaska.

box 2, folder 17

Unknown author 1918

Note

Written during visit to the Fazenda Morungava, Brazil.

Scrapbooks

box 2, folder 18, oversize FB06801

Dawson, Della McKean (Mrs. Gus Dawson)

Note

Ca. 1890-1920.

box 2, folder 19, oversize FB06705

Dawson Wilson, Delphine 1934

Note

Scrapbook of her trip to Brazil.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Photograph Albums

box 2, folder 20, oversize FB06601

Dawson, Augustus

Note

Ca. 1890-1903. Given to him by his mother, Christmas, 1903.

box 2, folder 21, oversize FB06602

Dawson, Emmett R

Note

Ca. 1890-1920.

box 2, folder 22, oversize FB06704

Dawson, John B. Dawson Family

Note

Photos ca. 1880-1905. Compiled by Delphine Dawson Wilson in Feb. 1994.

box 2, folder 23, oversize FB06603

Dawson, Lucy Anne McKean 1872 - 1950

Note

Compiled by Delphine Dawson Wilson.

box 2, folder 24, oversize FB06703

Dawson, Si. Horse pictures

Note

Ca. 1900-1919.

People

box 2, folder 25

Negatives and Photocopies of Miscellaneous Photos

box 2, folder 26

Daguerrotypes (framed) 1852 - 1867

Note

Thomas Henry Dawson, Letitia de Graffenried Dawson and Augustus G. Dawson (c. 1867) and Henry Bryan McKean (c. 1852).

box 2, folder 27

Dawson, Augustus Family

Note

Ca. 1867-1940.

box 2, folder 28

Dawson, Augustus Family

Note

Ca. 1867-1940. Includes notes and newspaper clippings.

box 2, folder 29

Dawson, Delphine

Note

Ca. 1910-1940.

box 2, folder 30, oversize FB06702

Dawson Family Photos

Note

Ca. 1855-1890. 10 mounted, 7 tintype in Victorian box.

box 2, folder 31

Dawson Wilson, Delphine and Samuel 1943 - 1947

box 3, folder 1

Dawson, Henry Clay and Delphine 1920

Note

Portraits. Originally in folder entitled "Steamboat, Denver."

box 3, folder 2

Dawson, Lucy and Si. Early Days

Note

Includes clippings and ephemera.

box 3, folder 3

Dawson, Lucy, Henry Clay and Delphine 1930 - 1940

Note

Trips taken.

box 3, folder 4

Dawson, Si Family

Note

c.1890-1920.

box 3, folder 5

McKean Family

Note

Before 1900. Includes poem written for Lucy in 1892 entitled "A Dream of Roses."

Places

box 3, folder 6

Alburquerque, New Mexico 1915 - 1918

box 3, folder 7

Brazil 1918 - 1934

box 3, folder 8

Dawson Ranch, Colorado 1903 - 1915

box 3, folder 9

Fort Collins, Colorado 1930 - 1939

box 3, folder 10

New Mexico, Before 1908

box 3, folder 11

San Diego and Colorado 1895 - 1941

box 3, folder 12

Si Dawson Ranch, Mt. Sheep, Buffalo 1910 - 1915

box 3, folder 13

Steamboat, Denver, Colorado

Note

Includes essay for AAA Senior Breakfast, 1927, signed D.D.

box 3, folder 14

Tucson, Arizona 1938 - 1940

box 3, folder 15

Yukon Stock Drive Journey

Note

Photos of trail in Alaska and the ascending Chilkoot Stairway.

box 3, folder 16

Miscellaneous photos

Note

Ferry's Ranch, Routt County, Colorado; Jack White's Colorado Homestead; and unidentified, 1909.

EPHEMERA

box 4, folder 1, oversize FB02205

Dawson Coal Company Documents 1915

Note

Certificate of authority issued to the Dawson Coal Company by Secretary of State of Colorado.

box 4, folder 2

Dawson Coal Company Documents 1915 - 1943

Note

Deed, quit claim, memoranda, first mortgage, and list of stockholders and proxies.

box 4, folder 3, oversize FB06901

Dawson Family Bible

Note

Bible printed in 1852 and wrapped in cowhide from Indian's sheild acquired when J. B. Dawson was a Texas Ranger. Includes marriage records for Dawson family members.

box 4, folder 4

Ephemera

Note

Christmas cards, commencement exercise invitations, marriage announcements, postcards, and stationary.

box 4, folder 5

Leather expansive file of S.M. Dawson

Note

Empty and embossed with "S.M. Dawson, Sao Paolo, Brazil."

box 4, folder 6

Menu from Dawson Ranch, New Mexico, Christmas Dinner 1897

box 4, folder 7

Muir, Jean, "The Big Cattle Drive to the Yukon," TRUE, THE MAN'S MAGAZINE 1953

Note

Article about the trip Si Dawson made to the Yukon in Alaska, 1898.

box 4, folder 8

Newspaper clippings 1963 - 1980

box 4, folder 9

Poems - "Like a Rose" (by Lucy Dawson?) and "The Cremation of Sam McGee"

Note

By Robert Service.

box 4, folder 10, oversize FB06604

Supreme Court of the United States: The Maxwell Land Grant Company 1893

Note

Plaintiff in Error, vs. John B. Dawson. Bound in red leather. This copy belonged to Gus Dawson.

WRITINGS

Transcriptions

box 4, folder 11

CIMARRON NEWS AND PRESS, Mountain Meadow Massacre, 1875

Note

Articles transcribed by D.D. Wilson.

box 4, folder 12

Dawson Family Letters - Miscellaneous. Transcribed by D.D. Wilson 1896 - 1901

box 4, folder 13

Dawson, Emmett. "I Was a Cowboy in South America"

Note

Story transcribed in 1981. Story takes place circa 1919.

box 4, folder 14

Dawson, Lucy Anne McKean. Diary -Transcribed by D.D. Wilson 1945 - 1949

box 4, folder 15

Dawson, Lucy Anne McKean. Letters from Fazenda Morungava, Brazil

Note

Transcribed by D.D. Wilson. Includes preface, index and summary sheet.

box 5, folder 1

Dawson, Si. Love letters to Lucy Anne McKean 1894

Note

Transcribed by Dale Dawson.

box 5, folder 2

Dawson, Si. Diary transcribed by D.D. Wilson 1897

box 5, folder 3

Dawson, Si. 1898 Stock Drive to the Yukon. Working copy 1898

Note

Diary transcribed by D.D. Wilson.

box 5, folder 4

Dawson, Si. 1898 Stock Drive to the Yukon 1898

Note

Si Dawson's diary and letters to Lucy Anne Dawson during trip combined and arranged alphabetically. Transcribed by D. D. Wilson.

box 5, folder 5

Dawson, Si. 1898 Stock Drive to the Yukon. Bound version 1898

Note

Si Dawson's diary and letters to Lucy Dawson combined and arranged alphabetically. Transcribed by D.D. Wilson.

box 5, folder 6

Dawson, Si. 1898 Stock Drive to the Yukon. Letters written to Lucy Anne Dawson 1898

Note

Transcribed by D.D. Dawson.

box 5, folder 7

Dawson, Si. Fazenda Morungava, Si Dawson, Manager, 1918-1920 1918 - 1920

Note

Si Dawson's diary (Oct. - Dec. 1918) transcribed. Also includes transcribed contract between M. Mackenzie and Si Dawson.

box 5, folder 8

Goodnight, Charles. "Indian Recollections" and letter by Goodnight to C. Siring 1915

box 5, folder 9

Obituaries. Manley Dawson, 1907. John B. Dawson, 1918. Grace Dawson, 1911 1907 - 1918

Note

Transcribed by D. D. Wilson.

box 5, folder 10

SACRAMENTO DAILY UNION. Articles transcribed with notes, 1851-1856 1851 - 1856

box 5, folder 11

Sanders, Harriet Peck Fenn

Note

"Diary of a Journey Across the Plains in 1863 and Reminiscences of Early Life in Montana." Transcribed by D.D. Wilson.

box 5, folder 12

Sumners, Hatton W. "Charles Goodnight visits John B. Dawson on Dawson's Ranch" 1911

Note

Transcribed by D.D. Wilson.

box 6, folder 1

Zenus Curtis Testimony at Maxwell Land Grant vs. Dawson 1863

Note

Supreme Court of the United States. Transcribed by D.D. Wilson.

Books, Drafts and Articles

box 6, folder 2

Bill Egry, a Real American Cowboy

box 6, folder 3

Books Written and Trips Taken by D.D. Wilson 1934 - 1990

box 6, folder 4

Dawson Family History

Note

Beginning of research for book. Includes D.D. Wilson's correspondence with county clerks, notes, transcripts of articles re: Dawsons.

box 6, folder 5

Dawson Family History

Note

Requests for information from libraries, county clerks and repositories. Includes notes and responses.

box 6, folder 6

Dawson Family History. Mead notebook, reference notes, questions, etc

box 6, folder 7

Dawson Family History

Note

Notes, outline and reference notes.

box 6, folder 8

Dawson Family History. Typescripts, rough drafts, transcriptions, notes

box 6, folder 9

Early Western Horse Records

box 6, folder 10

Index of Subjects from Old New Mexico Newspapers (1879-1899)

box 6, folder 11

Index of Subjects from Old New Mexico Newspapers (1900-1911)

box 7, folder 1

Index of Subjects from Old New Mexico Newspapers (1980-1918)

Note

Includes family history timeline, 1759-1907.

box 7, folder 2

John B. Dawson Family

box 7, folder 3

John B. Dawson's Part of the West, 1830-1919, BRAND BOOK NUMBER SIX

Note

San Diego Corral of the Westerners. By D.D. Wilson and R.B. Michaelis.

box 7, folder 4