John Bennett Dawson

Born near Nashville, Tennessee on March 17, 1798, he went to Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. He moved to Louisiana and became a planter residing at Wyoming Plantation; he was also interested in the newspaper business. He married Margaret Johnson and together they had four children. His daughter Anna Ruffin Dawson married Robert C. Wickliffe who would serve as Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Louisiana in the 1850s.

From 1823-1824, Dawson was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives representing Feliciana Parish.[1]

He unsuccessfully ran for Louisiana Governor in 1834, He was defeated by Whig candidate Edward D. White.

In 1840, Dawson was elected as a Democrat representing the Second District in the 27th Congress. He was re-elected in 1842 and represented the Third District in the 28th Congress. He served from March 4, 1841, until his death on June 26, 1845. He defeated James M. Elam (Whig) in the election of 1843.

He served as major-general in the State militia, judge of the parish court in West Feliciana Parish, and U.S. postmaster at New Orleans from April 10, 1843, until December 19, 1843.

Dawson once “threatened to cut a colleague’s throat ‘from ear to ear.’

Dawson died on June 26, 1845. His remains were interred in Grace Episcopal churchyard in St. Francisville, Louisiana.

In his memory, a cenotaph was erected at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C..[2]

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)