William Crosby Dawson William Crosby Dawson ( January 4 , 1798May 5 , 1856 ) was a lawyer , judge , politician , and soldier from Georgia . Early life , education and legal career . Dawson was born in Greensboro , Greene County , Georgia , January 4 , 1798 . His parents were George Dawson , Sr . and Katie Ruth Marston Skidmore . After taking an academic course from the Rev . Dr . Cumming , Dawson attended the county academy in Greensboro , and then was graduated from Franklin College , Athens , Clarke County , Georgia , in 1816 at the age of eighteen . He then studied law for a year in the office of the Hon . Thomas W . Cobb , at Lexington , Oglethorpe County , Georgia , and then in the Litchfield Law School of Judges Tapping Reeve and James Gould at Litchfield , Connecticut . In 1818 , he was admitted to the bar and practiced in Greensboro where he was a successful jury lawyer . He was known for his ability to settle cases out of court . In 1819 he married Henrietta M . Wingfield . They had eight children . He became a widower in 1850 and in 1854 married Eliza M . Williams of Memphis , Tennessee . Dawson was elected as one of the vice presidents of the Alumni Society of the University of Georgia at its first meeting , on August 4 , 1834 . Political and military career . He was elected Clerk of the Georgia House of Representatives in 1821 and served twelve years in that post . From 1828 , he compiled " Dawson ' s Digest of Laws of Georgia " , published in 1831 . From 1834 to 1835 he served as a state Senator . In 1836 he was Captain of Volunteers under General Winfield Scott in the Creek and Seminole Indian War in Florida . Dawson was then elected as a States ' Rights candidate to the United States House of Representatives for the 24th United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of General John E . Coffee , taking office on December 26 , 1836 , then re - elected as a Whig to the 25th , 26th , and 27th Congresses . He served from November 7 , 1836 , to November 13 , 1841 . He was the Whig candidate for Governor of Georgia in 1841 but was defeated by Charles James McDonald . He saw his defeat as gubernatorial candidate as disapproval of his congressional service , particularly his vote earlier in the year to tax coffee and tea , and so resigned from Congress . During his service in the United States House , he chaired the Committee on Mileage ( 25th Congress ) , the Committee on Claims ( 26th Congress ) , and the Committee on Military Affairs ( 27th Congress ) . He was appointed by Governor George W . Crawford to fill a vacancy as Judge of the Ocmulgee Circuit Court in 1845 but declined being a candidate for the bench at the completion of his term . Dawson was elected in November , 1847 as the Whig candidate for Georgia ' s Class 3 seat in the United States Senate for the 31st , 32nd , and 33rd Congresses , serving from March 4 , 1849 , to March 3 , 1855 . Dawson supported the compromises that preserved the union in 1850 . He chaired the Committee on Private Land Claims ( 32nd Congress ) and presided over the Southern convention at Memphis in 1853 . He was twice a delegate to the convention to amend the U . S . Constitution . Freemason . He was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Georgia on November 8 , 1843 and served in that capacity until his death in 1856 . While in Congress , he was active in local Freemasonry . The Dawson Lodge in Washington , D . C . and the Dawson Lodge in Social Circle , Georgia were named for him . Death and legacy . Dawson died in Greensboro on May 5 , 1856 , and was buried in Greensboro Cemetery with Masonic rites following a service in the Presbyterian church . Because of his elegant manners , he was called " the first gentleman of Georgia " by Joseph Henry Lumpkin . Joshua Reed Giddings described him : " He was a man of much suavity of manner ; one of that class of Southern statesmen who felt it necessary to carry every measure by the influence of personal kindness , and an expression of horror at all agitation of the slave question , under the apprehension that it might dissolve the Union . " Dawson County , Georgia , and the county seat , Dawsonville , were named for William Crosby Dawson . The county was created by a legislative act on December 3 , 1857 , primarily out of Lumpkin County and small parts of Gilmer , Pickens and Forsyth counties . Dawson , the county seat of Terrell County , Georgia was incorporated on December 22 , 1857 and named for William Crosby Dawson . Company C , 3d Regiment , Georgia Volunteer Infantry , Army of Northern Virginia , C . S . A . , from Greene County , was called the " Dawson Grays " in his honor .