Henry Delaney Dawley

1828 - 1907

• Born	5 Apr 1828	Phelps, Ontario County, New York
  Gender	Male
  Census	1870	Nevada City, Nevada County, California
  Census	1880	Stockton, San Joaquin County, California
  	Page 5A. States as his occupation "makes squirrel poison".
  Census	1900	District 29 Assembly, San Francisco County, California
  	Living with his son, Henry, in this census.
  Occupation	Miner, Owner of the old Nebraska mine on Sugar Loaf Mountain.
  Died	7 Apr 1907	Byron, Contra Costa County, California
  _CRE	15 Feb 2015
  	15:48:05
  Notes	"JERRY."— A DOG BIOGRAPHY. To look at Jerry's countenance, gentle reader, you might suppose, perhaps, at first light, that there is nothing very handsome, or remarkably intelligent about that dog ; but lest you might unintentionally do " Jerry " an injustice — at least in thought — we ask you, just to satisfy your conscience as well as your curiosity, to take another look at him. That's right. Now we can proceed with our biography with a good grace ; for, although he is rather " homely " looking, we know him to be considerable of a dog, notwithstanding, and we shall hope to make the reader a ready convert to our opinion of him before we get through.     " Jerry," then, is a native of the city of Nevada, and is, consequently, a native Californian ; owned by Mr. Henry Dawley, of Nevada, (more generally known as Hank Dawley), by whom he was raised. His maternal parent was about half spaniel and half Scotch terrier ; and his paternal parent was a full blooded bull terrier. He is now about four years old. " Jerry " is a general favorite in and around his native city, and although be signifies his appreciation of pats or words of kindness, by a gentle wagging of his tail, he neither follows nor obeys any one but his master.     The first time we saw him, Mr. Dawley requested him to shut the door — which was wide open, and against the wall — when he immediately put his nose behind it and closed it, but as it did not ' catch ' he raised upon his hind legs and threw the whole weight of his body against it, and thus effectually shut it,     " Go, sit down there, Jerry," said his master ; and he immediately went to the spot indicated and eat down. " Sit up, Jerry," and up he sat. " Stand up Jerry, and come to me," and what appeared to us as very singular, he arose from his sitting posture and stood erect upon his hind feet, and then walked in an erect position to his master.     " Lie down and die, Jerry." He immediately lay down at his Master's feet, and closed his eyes, and appeared like one dead ; when Mr. D. slipped his right hand under one side and his left under the other, about his middle, as he lay upon the floor, to lift him up ; and the dog did not move a muscle or a limb, but his body hang down as helplessly as though he were really dead.     " Up Jerry," and he soon let us know that he was worth a dozen dead dogs. " Take a chair, Jerry," and he was soon seated in the only vacant chair in the room. " Now, wink one eye, Jerry," and one eye was accordingly ' winked ' without ceremony. Jerry, however, did not enlighten us upon the subject of having practiced this ungentlemanly habit, when passing some of his canine lady friends in the public streets ! but perhaps thinking that this might be used to criminate himself, he only wagged his tail by way of answer, which simply meant either yes or no, — just as we pleased — to our interrogations.     He used to be very fond of these amusements, until he saw a little quarrelsome dog against whom he had taken a dislike, practicing the same tricks, when he evidently became disgusted, and very reluctantly obeyed his master, for some time afterwards.     Mr. Dawley is the owner of some mining claims on Wet Hill, and resides near them ; and as they are worked both day and night, whenever the time arrives to ' change the watch ' he will say to the dog, " Jerry, go and call Ben," (or any one else, as the case may be, for he knows every one of their names distinctly) when he immediately goes to the cabin door of the man wanted, which is left a little ajar, opens it, and commences pulling off the bed clothing, and if this does not awake the sleeper, he jumps upon the bed and barks, until he succeeds in his undertaking.     If a candle goes out, in the tunnel, it is placed in his mouth, as shown in the engraving, and he goes to the man named, to get it re-lighted.     About a year ago, when they were running their tunnel, he would lie down at the entrance and allow DO stranger to enter, without the consent of his master ; but when told by him that it was all right, he not only appeared pleased, but barked at a candIe that was sticking in the side of the tunnel, when his master lighted it, placed it in his mouth, and said to him, " show this gentleman the diggings, Jerry," and he directly started, with his lighted candle, and led the way into every drift.     There is a shaft to the diggings, some thing over two hundred feet in depth, and should he want to go down at any time, which he often does, he goes to the top, and, on finding the dirt bucket up, will without hesitation jump in, entirely of his own accord, and descend to the bottom.     Mr. Chambers, an inmate of the cabin in which Jerry was raised, and who knew him from a pup, entered for the purpose of getting a coat, but when he took hold of it, the dog began to growl, and would not permit him to take it out, in the absence of his master, and he had, after considerable coaxing, to leave without it. He allows the washerman to enter the cabin on a Saturday, with the clean clothes, but as the man takes one chair, he immediately takes another chair opposite, and sits watching him until his master enters ; nor will he by by any means allow him to take away again, even the clothes he brought with him.     If men are sitting and conversing in the cabin, he will take a chair with the rest, and, what is somewhat remarkable, he always turns his head and keeps looking at the one who is speaking, as though paying the utmos: attention. We might suggest an imitation of Jerry's good manners to older heads than his, with much less sense within them ; — especially when present in a church or lec ture room — but we forbear, except to ask, that whenever they become listless at such tim.'s, and in such places, they always think of" Jerry !     " Jerry, too, is " general carrier," for his master, and goes to town each morning for the daily papers. On one occasion he wag carrying home some meal, when a much larger dog than he sallied out upon him, to try to steal it from him, but he took no notice of him, except to keep his tail near the enemy, and his head (with the meat) as far away as possible ; but, when the large dog supposed Jeny to be somewhat off his guard, he made a sudden though unsuccessful spring at the meat, when Jerry, as if struck with a new idea, immediately started home as last as possible ; and after he had deposited it safely in the cabin, he returned to town, and gave his thieving disposed brother a good sound whipping ; now, the enemy has a great preference for the opposite side of the street whenever he sees Jerry coming up.     Whenever his master goes to town, the dog stands watching him at the door, and never attempts to accompany him, without a look or a nod of acquiescense. If Mr. D. purchases a pair of pants, or gloves, or any thing else, immediately after arriving in town, he will say to him, " Jerry, you see these are mine." and place them on one side ; and after remaining an hour or two in town, and going to different places — sometimes to the theatre — he says, " Jerry, I guess I'll go home now," when the dog starts off directly for the parcel left, and appears with it in his mouth, wagging his tail, as much as to say : " here we are, is this right ?" He always remembers very correctly where it was left for him.     About noon, on Saturday last, his master paid to him : " Jerry, I don't want you to go with me this afternoon, as Mrs. Houston wishes you to go to town with her ;" when he lay quietly down, and never attempted to move, as he generally does, to accompany his master to his work. He waited very patiently, until Mrs. H. was putting on her bonnet, when, taking up a small parcel which he had seen her place upon a chair, he waited with it in his mouth until she was ready to go, and then followed her down. When in town, Mrs. H. bought a bonnet box, about fifteen inches square, with a handle on top ; and said to him : " Jerry, I want that carried home," when he took the handle in his mouth, to try to carry it, but as it extended up to his breast,and prevented his taking his usual step, he set it down again, when she said : " never mind Jerry, if that is too much for you, I will send for it ;" he immediately took it up, and although he could not lift it more than two inches from the ground, he carried it all the way home for her.     He will lift at a sack of gold dust, until his hind feet are both several inches from the floor. If sent to a store across the street for a jug of liquor, and he cannot carry it, he will be sure to drag it over — if at all possible, and never mistakes an empty one for a full one. When his master asks him to fetch his socks, or his boots, or his hat, or coat, or anything else, he never gets the wrong article, as he has a good memory to remember the names of every thing told him.     To see what he would do, several men. with his master's consent, tied a string and pan to his tail, but instead of running off as most dogs would, he turned and bit the string in two; then took hold of the string and dragged the pan along. He will go up and down a ladder by himself. If several men are in the cabin, and his master on going out should tell him not to leave it, all of them combined would not be able to coax him out.     He is very fond of music, and will walk about for hours, wagging his tail, whenever Mr. Curtis (a miner living in the same cabin) plays upon the banjo ; and some times he would run around, catching at his tail, and barking, when the music ceased.     " Jerry " has more friends than any man in town, as everybody likes him for his good natured eccentricities, intelligence, and amusing performances. He sleeps at night in an arm chair, near his master's head, and seems to love and watch over him with the utmost fondness and solicitude. If, however, the blanket upon which he sleeps is thrown carelessly into the chair at night, or is not perfectly straight and smooth.he will not at tempt to occupy it until it is made all right.     Many, very many other performances of interest could be related, such as picking up money and carrying it to to master ; catching paper in his mouth, if placed upon his nose ; taking off his own collar ; unfastening ropes with his teeth ; jumping over chairs ; carrying away his master's gloves on Saturday night and returning them on Monday morning ; standing in any position told him ; fetching anything asked for, &c., to., almost ad infinitum. But we think that we have said sufficient to prove that Jerry is an intelligent dog ; and yet, some ! persons, with more vanity than veneration, will persist in believing that God's works are not as perfect and as beautiful as they are, by asserting that " dogs have no souls,'' while they admit them to possess all the attributes of intelligence — except in the same degree — as those found in men ; and we must say that we have witnessed more true nobility of mind in some dogs, than we have in some men. '
  Person ID	I17894	Moon Anderson Family History & Genealogy
  Last Modified	11 Jan 2018

  
  

  Father	Stafford S. Dawley,   b. 22 Apr 1790, Stephentown, Rensselaer County, New York ,   d. 27 Feb 1876, Clinton, Oneida County, New York
  Mother	Elizabeth "Betsy" Burr Wilcox,   b. 27 Sep 1797, Newville, Herkimer County, New York ,   d. 23 Jun 1871, Clinton, Oneida County, New York
  Married	27 Jan 1814	Exeter, Washington County, Rhode Island
  Family ID	F7427	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	Henrietta "Hettie" Alice Marks,   b. 1838, New York, ,   d. 1878
  Married	1 May 1860	Sacramento, California
  Children	1. Alice Amelia Dawley,   b. 1861, California,   2. Henry Stafford Dawley,   b. 22 Apr 1863, California, ,   d. 18 Nov 1951, Tuolumne County, California   3. Fannie B. Dawley,   b. 1865, Nevada,   4. George Sidney Dawley,   b. 22 Aug 1869, California, ,   d. 3 Dec 1946, Alameda County, California   5. Lizzie Emma Dawley,   b. Jan 1871, California,   6. Minnie Irene Dawley,   b. 12 May 1874, West Point, Calaveras, CA ,   d. 11 Apr 1964, Oakland, Alameda County, California   7. Lois Henrietta Dawley,   b. 1878, California,
  Family ID	F2733	Group Sheet