Sarah Morgan Dawson
[1][2] Dawson's father was born in New Jersey and educated in Pennsylvania while her mother, originally from New England, grew up on the Louisiana plantation of George Mather.[3] Although she received less than a year of formal schooling, Dawson studied French language and English literature at home with her mother and sisters.[1] Their home in Baton Rouge was raided by the Union Army, leaving them to abandon it and eventually relocate to Union-occupied New Orleans.[2] After taking an oath of allegiance to the United States, the family remained in New Orleans for the remainder of the war, living with her eldest brother, Judge Philip Hickey Morgan.[1] In 1872, they moved to Columbia, South Carolina, where Dawson began writing editorials for the Charleston News & Courier under the pen name "Mr.