> The census taker next came to Purdy in 1830. This census gave only the > name of the head of household followed by the numbers of persons in each > 5 year age bracket. The census indicates one male between 40 and 50 > (Samuel Dawson), two males between fifteen and twenty years (John and > James), two males between ten and fifteen years (Joseph and Robert), one > male between five and ten years (Samuel Riley), and finally, one female > between 40 and 50 (Polly Ann). Samuel and Polly Ann's two daughters had > already married and appear in separate households in the census of > McNairy County, Tennessee. > > Elizabeth (Betsy) Dawson had married John Petty Jr, born Dec 9, 1810, in > Kentucky. Betsy and John already had six children: Jane Ann, Gibson, > Elizabeth, Edna, Alsey Josephine, and Alexander Anderson Petty. > > Betsy's sister, Edna Bell Dawson, at the age of seventeen had married > James Magee who was seventeen years older than his bride. His parents > were imigrants from Antrim, Ireland. > > A land grant from the state of Tennessee indicates that Samuel received > a forty-acre parcel of land on March 14, 1833, in McNairy County. After > 10 months on his land grant, Samuel bestowed his power of Attorney to > William S Wisdom, the McNairy county clerk, on Jan 14, 1834, to prepare > a warranty deed for the sale of his farm to Enoch Owens. > > Samuel and Polly bid their friends in Purdy farewell and moved further > west to the far Northwestern Corner of Arkansas. The first record of > the Dawsons in Arkansas is an 1836 tax record indicating that Samuel and > two of his sons paid Carroll County taxes. The Dawson family appears in > the 1840 Census of Carroll County Arkansas, with the name of the head of > household and only ages given in five - year brackets of the family > members. One male between 50 and 60 (Samuel Dawson), one male between > fifteen and twenty (Samuel Riley), one female between forty and fifty > (Polly Ann), and one female between ten and fifteen (probably one of > their grandaughters). The census taker indicated that four people lived > in the household with two involved in agriculture, there were no slaves. > The tax records of that same year note that Samuel owned one cow valued > at 10 dollars.