Anthony Dawson was born in about 1643 and arrived in North Carolina by 1687. Settling in Perquimans Precinct, Dawson became a captain in the North Carolina Militia and later served as a member of the North Carolina Council and General Court from 1694 to 1696. After a disagreement regarding the salvage of a ship that wrecked on the North Carolina coast, Dawson was banished from the colony on May 26, 1698. He died in New Jersey in October 1717.