James Arthur Dawson was born 1965 and raised on Sand Mountain between Sylvania and Blake, graduating from Sylvania in 1983. His father, Bill Dawson, was born in 1933 and raised next door to Blake School, which was closed circa 1970 and later burned. Bill married Lavaughn Black in 1957 and was drafted into the Army. After training in Oklahoma and serving in Germany, being accompanied by Lavaughn, they settled on a farm on Benjis Creek and in 1962 had their first son, Willard. Bill worked for National Guard as mechanic. Lavaughn was born in 1933. Along with one sister and seven brothers she was raised on "Forks Creek" farm between Town Creek and Benjis Creek where they join.

LaVaughn's parent's were Anderson Black and Alma Bailey, married 1930. Anderson was the grandson of James Oscar Black, who served in the Civil War and returned to live between Powell and Section until 1914. Anderson's mother was Odell White, whose father Bartow was pastor at Old Sardis Free Holiness Church near J.O. Black residence. Bartow and wife Laura Garner were from Gwinnett County Georgia, as was Alma's grandfather Bill Bailey and his wife, Dovie Born. Alma's father Miles helped build the "Masters" School of Colonel Howard. Dovie's father, Daniel Born, was a member of the Georgia militia in June 1864 when he died during Sherman's Georgia campaign. Daniel's grandfather, John, immigrated from Germany before 1800.

Bill Dawson's family was from Georgia as well. The earliest known Dawson ancestor was James McCord Dawson, who helped establish the Wesley Chapel Methodist Church in Sonoraville, Georgia, east of Calhoun, after arriving there from South Carolina before 1840. He died in 1876, and in 1880 his widow Missina Nichols and two of his sons, Larkin and Joseph, moved their families to Section, Alabama. Larkin had fought in the Civil War, as did two other sons: John, who moved to Marion County Tennessee before the war, and James, who enlisted for the Union and died in Bridgeport, Alabama. Larkin remained in Section until his death in 1914. After his mother's death in 1887, Joseph moved his family to Jamestown, at the foot of Lookout Mountain in Cherokee County. By 1915, Joseph and three of his twelve sons were living in DeKalb County. In 1920, Joseph and his wife Barbara Hill died and were buried in Chattooga County Georgia. One of the sons remaining in DeKalb was Frank Dawson, Bill's grandfather. Frank lived on the brow of Sand Mountain near the Sylvania Road in the 1930's, then sold the farm after his wife Nancy Jane Canada died in 1939. His son Emra lived at the foot of the mountain before building the house at Blake in the mid-1930's. He died in 1944, leaving his wife Eva Prewett with 8 children. The Dawson family was active at Wesley Chapel Methodist Church. Eva's parents were Johnnie Prewett and Minnie Abney, who were from Paulding County, Georgia. They lived just north of Cunningham Bridge on the Sylvania Road.