Dawson, May

May Dawson 1870-1967

The Dawson family was one of the earliest supporters and summer attendees of the Tadoussac Protestant Chapel. The first of four children born to George Dudley Dawson and Elizabeth Crooks, May Dawson had a cognitive disability that required her to have caregivers with her at all times. It is remarkable that in a day and age when most families facing this kind of challenge had their affected children committed to institutions, the Dawsons kept her with them at home.
George Dudley Dawson, May’s father, was a wine merchant descended from an Anglican Irish family. May’s mother, Elizabeth Crooks, was from a third-generation Upper Canadian family with roots in Scotland. While May remained single, her younger siblings Aileen, Richard, and Dudley Dawson all married. Different members of the family, particularly Aileen, took turns caring for her.
Aileen married Charles Carington Smith, and they had three children the youngest of whom they also named May. The oldest was Doris Carington Smith who later married Jack Molson. To Doris and her two younger siblings, May Dawson was always simply “Auntie May”. After Doris married C.J.G. “Jack” Molson, “Auntie May” would often stay with them here in Tadoussac.
May was fond of sewing and other handicrafts. She was remembered with much affection by those who knew her.
 
Karen Molson