William A. Dawson was born in Lancashire, England. (Note: the passage lists the July 15 birth date; the event is placed here per the printed date.)

The evidence

• “WILLIAM A. DAWSON, machinist; was born in Lancashire, England, July 15, 1820, and came to Wisconsin about the middle of April, 1857, locating at Spring Prairie, Walworth Co. ; he came to Millbury, Mass., in 1846, and served as an apprentice in a machine-shop there ; from there he went to Rockford Co., Conn., and was engaged for two years in dressing woolen cloth ; he then moved to Wallingford, Conn., and worked in the britannia manufactory; then moved to Meriden, Conn., and engaged as a journeyman in a machine-shop ; from Meriden he went to Worcester, Mass., and worked in a machine-shop, and, in 1854, went to Philadelphia, as agent of the Howe Sewing Machine Company; he then returned to Meriden and worked as a machinist until the fall of 1856; then to New Haven, Conn., and worked at his trade; then came to Walworth Co., Wis., and opened a blacksmith shop. In 1860, he moved to Whitewater, Wis., and worked in a reaper manufactory, and in January, 1861, came to Beloit as a journeyman in the reaper manufactory of Gaston & Dusten ; then with Hart & Gordon, in the same shop.”

  1879-history-of-rock-county/18-bios-beloit.md, PDF p. 739 / book p. 743

  Butterfield, C. W., et al. The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1879. Cornell University Library via the Internet Archive, archive.org/details/cu31924028871585.

  Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources