| 30/12/2015 |
Family: John Dawson, Sarah Jane Dawson, Hessie J Dawson (born 16th November 1875), Hugh Dawson (born 23rd March 1878), Sarah Dawson (born 9th November 1880), Elizabeth Dawson (born 2nd March 1883), William John Dawson (born 25th October 1886), Isabella Dawson (born 7th March 1889), Henderson Dawson (born 14th August 1891, died 30th December 1895), Samuel James Dawson (born 4th September 1893), Martha A Dawson (born 20th February 1897), Ernest Dawson (born 5th June 1899). |
| 30/12/2015 |
Corporal Dawson is commemorated on the memorial in Bellaghy Presbyterian Church. |
| 30/12/2015 |
Corporal Samuel J Dawson is buried in St. Mihiel American Cemetery in Thiaucourt, France. |
| 30/12/2015 |
Corporal Samuel J Dawson was serving with the 34th Infantry Regiment, 7th Division, when he died on 22nd October, 1918, only a fortnight before the end of the war. |
| 30/12/2015 |
Samuel Dawson enlisted in the U.S. Army in New York. |
| 30/12/2015 |
Records from Ellis Island, New York, show that Samuel Dawson from Bellaghy arrived in New York on his own on 2nd May 1911. He was 17 years old. He was travelling on the Furnessia which had departed from Londonderry. |
| 30/12/2015 |
The 1911 census lists Samuel James as age 17 living with the family at house 96 in Bellaghy, County Londonderry. Samuel was still at school. |
| 30/12/2015 |
The 1901 census lists Sam James as age 8 living with the family at house 2 in Bellaghy, County Londonderry. His father was a carpenter. |
| 30/12/2015 |
Samuel James Dawson was born in Bellaghy on 4th September 1893. |
| 30/12/2015 |
Samuel James Dawson was the son of John and Sarah Jane Dawson. John Dawson married Sarah Henderson on 14th January 1875 in the parish of Magherafelt. |
| 30/12/2015 |
It should be noted immediately that all the Bellaghy details are provisional and there is no direct evidence to link the Samuel James Dawson in the census to the Samuel J Dawson who died with the US Army. The reason for linking the two is that we know Samuel James Dawson was a Presbyterian from Bellaghy and was aged 17 in 1911. |
