Currently there are
more than 700 entries in Ancestry Member Trees (on Ancestry.com) of the John
Hawkins who was born in Maryland, lived in western North Carolina by the late
1760s and died before March 1799 in Abbeville, South Carolina. It seems there are a notable number of family
history researchers with an interest in this family. But who was his father?
Early land records in
western North Carolina document land transactions in the late 1770s involving
at least two men named “John Hawkins.” One
resided in an area successively defined as lying in Rowan, Burke and then
Lincoln counties. The other John Hawkins
resided in Orange County where he entered public office as a Justice of the
Peace in 1777, served in various official capacities and finally as Sheriff in
1786.[i] Not surprisingly, family historians among the
descendants of each have inquired for many years about their ancestry prior to
these two men named John Hawkins.
Thanks to the Hawkins
Worldwide DNA Project, we now know that descendants these two early North
Carolina residents named “John Hawkins” have a common male ancestor. Two participants in the Hawkins Y-DNA project
(#145870 and #339078) trace their ancestry to the John Hawkins who purchased 250
acres on Beaverdam Creek in Rowan County on August 28 1778, “including
improvement on which he now liveth.”[ii] This John Hawkins relocated his family to
Abbeville District in South Carolina in the early 1790s where his will was
recorded in March of 1799.[iii] Participant #110938 in the Hawkins DNA
project descends from the John Hawkins who settled in Orange County, NC where
he died in 1786. Taken alone, the public
records left by these two residents of Revolutionary War era North Carolina
provide no specific clues about the identity of their fathers or about their
places of origin.
The family mystery concerning
the identity of the father of John Hawkins of Orange County, NC unlocks with
the key provided by another Family Group 5 participant (#211935) who documents
his paternal line directly to Augustine Hawkins (b. 1721, MD; d. 1808, TN), son
of Joseph Hawkins (d.1725, MD), who was, in turn, a son of John Hawkins (d.
1676, MD). The Y-DNA of participants
#211935 and #110938 matches exactly at 37 markers.
Robert N. Hawkins has
succinctly summarized the implications of these close matches within Family
Group 5 between the participants who descend from his ancestor, the John
Hawkins (d. 1786) who lived in Orange County, NC, and the participant who
descends from Augustine, a son of Joseph Hawkins (d. 1725 in Baltimore County,
MD):
The
reasoning is as follows: Joseph's son Augustine was too young to be the
father of Our John Hawkins d. 1786. Moreover, the genealogy paper trail for our
John Hawkins shows no links to Augustine's descendants. Therefore, if
Augustine's descendants and the descendants of John Hawkins, d. 1786 have the
same Y-DNA, they must have a common ancestor before Augustine. If this
common ancestor is not Joseph, the next ancestor is John Hawkins of Ann Arundel
County. However, descendants of Joseph's b. 1665 brothers, Thomas b. 1670
and Matthew d. 1705 do not have the exact Y-DNA profile match with Our John's
descendants and that of Joseph/Augustine's descendants. That is, the
common ancestor must be before Augustine and after John Hawkins of Ann Arundel
County and cannot be any of Joseph's brothers. Consequently, the common
ancestor of both Our John and the descendants of Augustine must be Augustine's
father Joseph.[iv]
The identical Y-DNA
signatures carried by a descendant of Augustine Hawkins (b. 1721, MD; d. 1808,
Jackson Co., TN) and a descendant of John Hawkins (d. 1786, Orange Co., NC) provide
firm evidence of Joseph Hawkins as their most recent common ancestor. Following this logic, John Hawkins (d. 1786)
of Orange County, NC is most likely the son of John Hawkins (b. 1713 MD; d.
1790 MD) and Augustine Hawkins (1721 MD; d. 1808 TN) is his uncle. Only two sons of Joseph Hawkins (d. by 1726)
have been identified in Maryland records:
John Hawkins, b. 1713, and Augustine Hawkins, b. 1721.
I add one caution to
the analysis of the haplotypes of the descendants of the 17th
century Quaker Hawkins family of Maryland assigned to Family Group 5. While descents have now been documented from
brothers John Hawkins, Matthew Hawkins and Joseph Hawkins, no participant has
yet been identified who traces his paternal line through documents to their
brother Thomas. West River Quaker
Meeting records from Ann Arundel County, MD include entries for the births of
his sons Aaron and Joseph, along with daughter Ruth, but I have found no
documentation of descendants for these children.[v] Until clear evidence of the deaths of each
without progeny has been located, or confirmation that their lines daughtered
out early, some uncertainty remains when considering possible ancestors of
Group 5 members who continue to search for evidence of the connection through
their paternal ancestry.
This DNA evidence runs
contrary to assertions long made by some researchers. But, the haplotypes of the two participants
(#145870 and #339078) who descend from John Hawkins of Rowan/Burke/Lincoln
County, NC and Abbeville District, SC (d. 1799) each differ at three markers
(of 37) from those of the descendants of Joseph Hawkins. Many descendants of this John Hawkins have
assumed he was the son of John and Mary (Simkins) Hawkins, that John being a
son of Joseph Hawkins. Excluding this
possibility helps to resolve any uncertainty as to the correct father of John
Hawkins of Abbeville, SC.
The DNA results from
the Hawkins Project have also eliminated any consideration of paternal linkage
with the family of Robert and Ann (Preble) Hawkins of Baltimore Co. (later
Harford Co.), MD. Several descendants of
the couple have tested and are grouped as Family Group 8, revealing no relationship
to the Hawkins of Family Group 5.
How do these DNA-based
conclusions mesh with the available historical evidence?
While no evidence from
public historical sources has emerged that states directly his place of birth
and the names of his parents, we do have clues from private sources regarding
the ancestry of John Hawkins of Abbeville, SC (d. 1799).
One reconstructed
version of the family of John and Elizabeth (Jones?) Hawkins has been available
for many years. Mary Pruitt Thompson
(1851-1902), whose maternal grandmother was a granddaughter of John Hawkins of
Abbeville, SC, compiled a book about her family history which was privately
published in 1896. A number of pages
from this volume have been reproduced in the 1973 publication Moses and William Pruitt, Indiana pioneers. Ruth Pruitt, one of the authors, explained in
the introduction that Mary Pruitt Thompson “did considerable traveling going to
the Carolinas, Virginia, England and other places in search of authentic data.”[vi] Mary Pruitt Thompson recorded the information
she gathered in careful handwriting on pre-printed forms designed to present
information about “Ancestors and Their Families” and then bound these as part
of her 1896 publication. Assembling
information solely from Mary Pruitt Thompson (as reprinted on pages 34-42 of Moses and William Pruitt, Indiana pioneers),
we have the following family details:
John Hawkins was born
in Maryland in about 1730, was a Planter by occupation and died in Abbeville
Co., SC in 1799. His father, also named
John Hawkins, was “of England” and lived in Maryland. In 1750, he married Elizabeth Jones, a
daughter of Joseph Jones “of Wales.”
Their children include:
John – Drowned in
Susquehanna River
Millie (Rebecca) m.
Richard Berry
Patience m. William
Osborne
Elizabeth m. Reuben
Simpson
Nancy m. Benjamin West
Mary m. Archibald
Hamilton
Joseph m. Elizabeth
Perkins
James m. Rachel Little,
2nd Rachel Hughes
Matthew m. Ester Little
Benjamin m. Sarah
Baldwin
These details included
from Mary Pruitt Thompson’s book offer very important clues. Unfortunately, she offered no explanation of
the source of these potentially significant details. Did she interview living relatives who might
have recalled hearing of these ancestors who were born 100-200 years
before? Did she correspond with other
descendants who held their own versions of the family history, such as a family
Bible? Did she correspond with anyone
who had knowledge of Hawkins families in early Maryland (possibly related -- or
perhaps not)? If only were could learn
more about her sources for this information, we could possibly gauge the
reliability of her sources. Fellow
Hawkins descendants can only be extremely grateful that Mary Pruitt Thompson
endeavored to collect and preserve so much family information, providing many
clues to pursue in the quest for evidence.
I count myself among them.
Two of the above
mentioned spouses of children of John and Elizabeth (Jones?) Hawkins are named
differently in other records. Among the earliest records found in colonial
North Carolina of the John Hawkins of Abbeville (d. 1799) in Rowan County,
North Carolina, are two marriages.
“Rebina” [Rebecca] Hawkins married Richard Berry in 1767, with William
Simpson serving as bondsman.[vii] John Hawkins, “father of Rebina Hawkins,” gave consent. In 1768, Rebecca’s sister, “Eliz. Hocking” [Elizabeth Hawkins], married Will Simpson with Moses Sherrill serving as
bondsman.[viii] “John and Elizabeth Hocking” [Hawkins], gave
consent. So, William Simpson was
Elizabeth’s spouse, not Reuben Simpson.
Similarly, Benjamin Hawkins, youngest known child of John and Elizabeth
(Jones?) Hawkins, actually married Sarah Mauldin, not “Baldwin.”[ix] But for these exceptions, Mrs. Thompson
appears to have gathered an accurate listing of her great-grandfather’s
siblings and their spouses.
I mention these
discrepancies in order to consider another item Mrs. Thompson included on the
form for the father of John Hawkins, born in Maryland ca. 1730. She recorded a list of his father’s children,
including John Hawkins and his brothers (no sisters mentioned). In addition to son “John, Jr.” [who was the
John Hawkins of Abbeville] the list includes:
Moses, Benjamin, Matthew, [and] Joseph.
The list of male offspring of John and Mary (Simpkin) Hawkins identified
by Robert Barnes in Baltimore County
Families includes John (b. 1736), Joseph, Moses, Rezin, Thomas, William,
and Nicholas. [x]
Two additional sons, Caleb and Charles,
were mentioned in John Hawkins’ 1790 Will.[xi] So, the many sons of John and Mary (Simpkin)
Hawkins included John, Joseph and Moses, but no Benjamin or Matthew. Singly or in combinations, these names also repeat
in other lines in Mrs. Thompson’s ancestry.
There is little more to be accomplished by way of comparison, since we
have no manner of evaluating Mrs. Thompson’s sources.
That said, with the
task in mind of connecting John Hawkins, father of the family delineated above,
to his origins in Maryland, the locational detail Mary Pruitt Thompson provided
about the parents’ loss of their first child is a significant clue. The Susquehanna River formed part of the
northeastern boundary of what was Baltimore County, Maryland in the 1750s,
separating it from Cecil County to the east.
While is it possible that an accidental drowning might occur while in
transit along or across that river from elsewhere, it is reasonable to canvas the
area near the Susquehanna in search of a resident named John Hawkins who had a
son named John.
Indeed, land records
place two men named John Hawkins in the vicinity of the Susquehanna River in
northeastern Baltimore County. One was a
member of the Hawkins of Margaret’s Mount, as identified by Robert Barnes in
his Baltimore County Families, 1659-1759.[xii] Given that we now know his male descendants
are not matches to the members of Family Group 5 in the Hawkins Worldwide DNA
Project, John Hawkins of Abbeville could not have belonged to the family of Robert
and Ann (Preble) Hawkins.
There was another John Hawkins residing in early 18th Century northeastern Baltimore County. The list of their known children matches Mary Pruitt Thompson’s unsourced list of John of Abbeville and his male siblings on only two names: John, Jr. and Joseph.[xiii] But we now know he was a grandson of the Quaker immigrant John Hawkins (d. by 1676)[xiv] [see my August 16, 2014 post]. This John Hawkins had taken up land in the northeastern region of Baltimore County with his wife, the former Rebecca Emson, after their marriage in 1718. Following his father’s death in 1733[xv] he conveyed “Intent”, the tract he had purchased from his uncle, Joseph Hawkins (d. 1725).[xvi] The grantee of that transaction was Joseph Baseman, who may have been the husband of his paternal aunt, Elizabeth.[xvii] In 1743, this John Hawkins and his wife sold a 100 acre property Rebecca had inherited from her father, part of the tract “Elburton”[xviii] and a 100 acre tract called “Hawkins Change,”[xix] both located on the west side of the Susquehanna River. The deed for the second tract includes the provision: “reserving sixteen feet of square ground being the place where the father of said John Hawkins is buried.” There is no entry in Baltimore County land records for a subsequent purchase of land by this John Hawkins, grandson of the immigrant Quaker John Hawkins (d. by 1676). Only a few years later, in 1746, John Hawkins sold three slaves he had inherited following the death of his father, John Hawkins, in 1733. This succession of property sales without subsequent purchases may signal economic problems, or perhaps that John Hawkins was preparing to migrate from the county. If so, his plans were interrupted.
On March 19, 1752, an
inventory for the estate of John Hawkins was filed by William Cox (“Quaker”), administrator.[xx] The inventory was dated July 22, 1751. The widow Rebecca Hawkins and son John Hawkins each signed with
their mark as next of kin. No further land records or church
records have yet been found in Baltimore County, MD concerning the late John
Hawkins, his widow Rebecca, their son John, or any of their other
children. According to his inventory, John Hawkins’ assets totaled less than 25% of the estate
his father held at his death 18 years before.
The family might have suffered a reversal
of fortune, though it is also possible that some assets had been distributed to
the children. If all survived, his
children would have ranged in age from 27 to 14. Personal matters to which we are not privy
may have contributed to their financial woes, but Maryland’s tobacco-based economy
had been severely challenged for several decades. Fluctuating tobacco prices caused periods of
depression in the first half of the 18th century. Planters were increasingly cultivating
grains rather than relying solely upon tobacco.
Some successfully adjusted to the changing times. Many others from Maryland chose instead to
set their gaze down the Old Wagon Road.
It appears that the fourth John Hawkins in this paternal line, son of
the John Hawkins who died before July 22, 1751, was among them.
In February of 2010,
Edith (Hawkins) Griffin laid out the most direct evidence connecting John
Hawkins of Abbeville, SC (d. 1799) to his family of origin in Maryland in a
message posted on the Hawkins Family Forum on Genforum.com.[xxi] My discussion here includes the same elements. The crux of the documentary evidence is
straightforward:
John Hawkins of
Baltimore County, Maryland made his personally distinctive mark -- “IH”[a replication in typed font] -- on his father’s estate
inventory July 22, 1751. The then recently deceased John Hawkins is now established
as a grandson of John Hawkins (d. 1676).
John Hawkins made the
same personally distinctive mark -- “IH” -- on a deed dated July 13, 1790 when “John Hawkins of Abbeville
District, SC,” conveyed land in Lincoln County, North Carolina to his son, James
Hawkins. [Thanks to Jeanne Bornefeld for
providing a photocopy of the recorded deed bearing this identifying mark in her
book, Once a Hoosier.[xxii]]
Finally, John Hawkins
of Abbeville District, SC validated his will on 1797 with a spidery version of the
same distinctive mark (“IH”).[xxiii]
Historians assume that
those who were able to sign their name in full would have done so on official
documents. Those entirely unschooled in
penmanship traditionally made their mark with an “X”. Others, who might have mastered a degree of
literacy, though perhaps quite limited in scope, styled marks for themselves
which they used consistently as their identification on legal instruments.
Several members of the
extended Hawkins family of Quakers living first in Ann Arundel County, Province
of Maryland, followed this same practice.
The progenitor, John Hawkins (d. 1676) signed his name as “Jno. Hawkins”
on a 1661 deed.[xxiv] On his 1670 Will he signed “John Hawkin.”[xxv] However, his sons each signed deeds and,
finally, their wills consistently using their own distinctive versions of their
initials. Their father had died when
the children were quite young, so he was not available to provide
tutoring. The demands of life on a
Chesapeake tobacco plantation likely afforded his sons little time for formal
education.
Of the third and fourth
generations of this Hawkins family, we may not have examples of the signatures
or signatures marks of every male born in Maryland. Some apparently migrated prior to conducting
a land transaction or witnessing an event for which a signature or signature mark was
required. In addition to
the John Hawkins who made his mark on his father’s 1751 Inventory, his 2nd
cousin James Hawkins signed the inventory of his own father’s estate in 1790
with a full signature.[xxvi] James’ father, John Hawkins (son of Joseph
Hawkins (d. 1725), son of John Hawkins (d. by 1676)), signed his 1790 will as
well as several earlier deeds as “Joh. Hawkins.” John Hawkins of Orange County, NC, another
son of John Hawkins (d. 1790 MD), must also have been a fully literate man,
else he would not likely have served in various public offices with
bureaucratic responsibilities prior to his death in 1786. Hopefully this can be confirmed in Orange
County, NC records.
And so we have identified
two John Hawkins great-grandsons of the John Hawkins whose Maryland estate was
proved in 1676. Nothing in the
historical evidence yet found contradicts the DNA determination that John
Hawkins of Orange County, NC was the son of the John Hawkins who died in Anne
Arundel County, MD in 1790 and the John Hawkins of Abbeville, SC who signed his
Will in 1787 with “IH” was the same John
Hawkins who used to “IH” sign his father’s 1751
Inventory in Baltimore County, MD.
Permalink:
http://whitehatdescendant.blogspot.com/2014/09/who-was-father-of-john-hawkins-d-1799.html
K.R.L. Brauer
White Hat Descendant
http://whitehatdescendant.blogspot.com/2014/09/who-was-father-of-john-hawkins-d-1799.html
[i] Robert
N. Hawkins, " JOHN HAWKINS' FAMILY
OF ORANGE, ROWAN, AND RANDOLPH COUNTIES NORTH CAROLINA", Robert N. Hawkins,
GENEALOGY OF ONE HAWKINS FAMILY, Jan 24, 2012 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hawkinsphd/index.html
[accessed 18 Sept. 2014].
[ii] Edith
Warren Huggins, Burke County, North
Carolina Land Records, 1778: Volume 1
(Southern Historical Press, Inc., 1985), p. 64.
[iii] "South
Carolina Probate Records, Bound Volumes, 1671-1977," images, FamilySearch,
South Carolina, Abbeville > Wills, 1787-1815, Vol. 01 > images 145-146 of
257 (accessed 12 Jul 2014). Pages in
original volume 229-230, citing Department of Archives and History, Columbia,
SC. Will signed July 18, 1797; recorded by Benjamin Hawkins, executor, on March
25, 1799.
[iv] Robert
N. Hawkins, "JOHN HAWKINS OF
BALTIMORE COUNTY MARYLAND", Robert N. Hawkins, GENEALOGY OF ONE HAWKINS
FAMILY, Jan 24, 2012 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hawkinsphd/index.html
[accessed 17 Sept. 2014].
[v]
Harry C. Peden, Jr. Quaker Records of Southern Maryland:
Births, Deaths, Marriages and Abstracts from the Minutes, 1658-1800
(Westminster, MD: Family Line
Publications, 1992), p. 5.
[vi] Moses and William Pruitt, Indiana Pioneers,
Reba Gephart, Ruth Pruitt, Chelsea Dinn (1973), p. 3; Digital images of
original pages, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/).
[vii] Marriages
of Rowan County, North Carolina 1753-1868, Brent H. Holcomb (2001), original
page 31; online version image 39 of 516 [accessed 2014 09 08]. "Berry,
Richard & Rebina Hawkins, 22 Sept. 1767; William Simpson, bondsman; Thom.
Frohock, wit. ()."; [database online], Ancestry.com
(http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=49251).
[viii]
Marriages of Rowan County, North Carolina 1753-1868, Brent H. Holcomb (2001),
original page 364; image 373 of 516 [accessed 2014 09 08]. "Simpson, Will
& Eliz. Hocking (Hawkins), 28 Jan 1768;
Moses Sherrell, bondsman; John Frohock, C. C. wit. Consent from John and Elizabeth Hocking, wit
by Moses Sherill."; [database online], Ancestry.com
(http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=49251).
[ix] [ix]
JoAnn Powers and Edith Hawkins Griffin, Randolph-Hawkins and related families, (Decorah,
Iowa: Anundsen, 1997), p. 168.
[x] Robert
W. Barnes, Baltimore County Families,
1659-1759, (Baltimore, MD:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988), p. 311.
[xi]
Jeanne M. Bornefeld, Once a Hoosier,
Volume II: The Hawkins Book (Utica,
KY: McDowell Publications, 2007), p.
266, reproduction of photocopy of original document, citing Anne Arundel County
(Wills) Box H fld 53, all 4 pgs John Hawkins, 15 Oct. 1790.
[xii] Robert
W. Barnes, Baltimore County Families,
1659-1759, (Baltimore, MD:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988), p. 312.
[xiii]
Robert W. Barnes, Baltimore County
Families, 1659-1759, (Baltimore, MD:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988), p. 312.
[xiv]
See my previous blog post, “A John Hawkins Hiding in the Records of Colonial
Maryland,” August 16, 2014.
[xv] Bill
Reamy, Martha Reamy, St. George's Parish
Registers, 1689-1793 (Silver Spring, MD:
Family Line Publications, 1988), p. 39. "John Hawkins d. 22d July
1733.”
[xvi] BALTIMORE
COUNTY COURT, Maryland, 1672-1718 Liber TR RA, p. 0465-0467; MSA CE 66-5
(accessed 19 July 2014); digital images, Archives of Maryland, MDLANDREC.NET
(http://mdlandrec.net/main/index.cfm).
[xvii]
Robert W. Barnes, Baltimore County
Families, 1659-1759, (Baltimore, MD:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988), p. 311.
[xviii]
BALTIMORE COUNTY COURT, Maryland, Liber TB C, p. 0396-0398; MSA CE 66-5
(accessed 19 July 2014); digital images, Archives of Maryland, MDLANDREC.NET
(http://mdlandrec.net/main/index.cfm).
[xix] BALTIMORE
COUNTY COURT, Maryland, Liber TB C, p. 0399-0400; MSA CE 66-5 (accessed 19 July
2014); digital images, Archives of Maryland, MDLANDREC.NET (http://mdlandrec.net/main/index.cfm). “Hawkins Change” was a portion of the early
tract “Phillips’ Purchase.”
[xx] Maryland,
PREROGATIVE COURT (Inventories) 1718-1777, SM11, Liber 48, 1751-1752, SR 4348-1
(Scanned), pp. 280-281. Inventory of
John Hawkins, dated 22 July 1751.
Appraisers: Charles Worthington
& Joseph Hopkins. Creditors: Jacob Giles & Garrett Garrettson. Next of kin:
Rebeccah Hawkins (widow) & John Hawkins (son). Administrator: William Cox (Quaker); Maryland State Archives.
[xxi] JOHN
HAWKINS OF ABBEVILLE. SC, Posted By: Edith Griffin, Post Date: February 27,
2010 at 12:52:03, Message URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/hawkins/messages/9357.html,
[accessed 2014 09 24], Hawkins Family Genealogy Forum, discussion list (http://genforum.genealogy.com/hawkins/).
Edith Griffin was the first researcher I encountered who proposed John Hawkins
(d. by 1751) and Rebecca Emson of Baltimore County, MD as the parents of the
John Hawkins who died 1799 in Abbeville District, SC.
[xxii]
Jeanne M. Bornefeld, Once a Hoosier,
Volume II: The Hawkins Book (Utica,
KY: McDowell Publications, 2007), p.
290-291.
[xxiii]
"South Carolina Probate Records, Bound Volumes, 1671-1977," images,
FamilySearch, South Carolina, Abbeville > Wills, 1787-1815, Vol. 01 >
images 145-146 of 257 (accessed 12 Jul 2014).
Pages in original volume 229-230, citing Department of Archives and
History, Columbia, SC. Will signed July 18, 1797; recorded by Benjamin Hawkins,
executor, on March 25, 1799.
[xxiv]
ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY COURT (Land Records), Maryland, Liber WH 4. p. 0044, MSA CE 76-4 (accessed
19 July 2014); digital images, Maryland State Archives, MDLANDREC.NET
(http://mdlandrec.net/main/index.cfm).
[xxv] Jeanne
M. Bornefeld, Once a Hoosier, Volume
II: The Hawkins Book (Utica,
KY: McDowell Publications, 2007), p.
269, reproduction of photocopy of original document, citing Maryland Hall of
Records Photoduplication Service. The
original is filed in Box H, Folder 53 of Original Wills in Colonial Probate
Records held in the Maryland State Archives.
[xxvi]
Jeanne M. Bornefeld, Once a Hoosier,
Volume II: The Hawkins Book (Utica,
KY: McDowell Publications, 2007), p.
269, reproduction of photocopy of original document, citing Anne Arundel County
(Testamentary Papers) Box 19 fld 69 Inventory – John Hawkins, 11/4/1790.
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