Born in Lambton County, Ontario, Mary Dawson was the daughter of an inspector for the Canadian Government. She wrote for the Evening Telegram, which became the largest Toronto paper within a decade of its founding. Dawson, who was married to the paper’s editor, started a column in the Telegram for female readers, giving tips on what to buy during the week. But her biggest scoop was an interview with survivors of the Titanic. In 1904 she was one of sixteen founding members of the Canadian Women’s Press Club (CWPC) and was nicknamed “Happiness” by honorary club member George Ham. Although she wrote about the exposition she attended with the other 15 CWPC founders the article she wrote didn’t include her byline. She was invested in the topic of women journalists and became president of the CWPC’s Toronto Branch. Dawson died at age 52 from complications of a severed vertebrae. Her obituary listed her specialty as “homemaking” despite her journalism career. But the Mail and Empire remembered her as someone who helped rookie journalists, praising her ability to remember how hard it is for a journalist who just started working.