Our Dawley family line has a long history in the United States. Michael Dawley (Elaine Dawley’s 8th Great Grandfather) settled in Rhode Island in the mid 1600s. As my grandmother, Elaine Dawley Teare, has documented:
“He came to America in 1654 by serving an indenture as a yeoman on the ship Barbados Merchant to one Roger Moore, a planter on the island of Barbados. He settled in the colony of Rhode Island, to which he brought his family (a wife and at least two children). He and his wife are buried on the Solomon Sprague Land, southeast of Exeter, RI, on Liberty Road (North of Hog House Hill Rd.).”
Four generations of Dawleys continued to live, marry, and raise their families in Rhode Island, and evidence of their time there can still be seen today (examples include Dawley Tavern and Dawley Memorial Park- documented by the RI Historical Preservation Society). In the mid 1700s our family line moves to New York, bouncing around from Herkimer to Ontario county. Finally, in the middle part of the 1800s, Job Dawley moved his family to Michigan. The connection to Ortonville remains strong since that time.
While the Dawley’s hold deep American roots, it is also interesting to trace the line back to the country of origin, Northern Ireland. The Dawleys were from the decidedly protestant part of the island, and the patriarch of the family (the furthest back we’ve traced)- Michael Dawley- lived in Antrim County, the northeastern tip of Northern Ireland. Interestingly enough, the name "Dawley" is of French Huguenot origin, and the D'Auley family originally fled to England!
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| The famed Glens of County Antrim. Image from Wikimedia Commons. |
WHERE TO GO:
View the "Dawley Lot" in Exeter, RI on Google Maps.
View the Grave Index for the "Michael Dawley Lot".
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