For descendants of the
John Hawkins who signed his will in Abbeville District, South Carolina on July
18, 1797,[1] verification of his
parents’ identities has been challenging. That he was born in Maryland of
parents named John Hawkins and Elizabeth Jones has been consistently reported
as family lore by members of widely dispersed descendant lines. In this discussion of several men named John
Hawkins, I will refer to him as John of Abbeville (LWT 1797).
Thanks to the large
number of Hawkins descendants participating in the Hawkins
Worldwide DNA Project, we now have Y-DNA evidence defining more than two
dozen lineages of Hawkins men. The study has grouped two descendants of John
of Abbeville (LWT 1797) with other closely matching participants, designated as
Family Group 5. At least one of the participants in this group had
previously traced his ancestry to a Quaker Hawkins family in early Colonial
Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Robert W. Barnes identified this Hawkins
family group in his Baltimore County Families, 1659-1759 as
"The Hawkins Family of Hawkins Hills and Hawkins's Desire."[2] Since many other researchers interested in
these Hawkins family members refer to Barnes’ work, I will add his Hawkins surname
numbers for clarification. The immigrant
progenitor, John Hawkins (#3), is known through the will he signed on February
3, 1670, an inventory filed in 1676, mention in records pertaining to at least
two land tracts (see below), and also attribution in Quaker marriage records as
the father of Ann Hawkins who married Charles Gorsuch in 1715.[3] Thanks are due
Jeanne M. Bornefeld, who encouraged several family members to become
participants in the Y-DNA study and also gathered a plethora of records
pertaining to this family in her work, Once
a Hoosier, Volume II: The Hawkins Book.[4] Some of the participants have since found documentary
evidence to trace their descent from John Hawkins (#3), others are still searching
for evidence of their connection.
Even though closely
matching Y-DNA haplotypes, coupled with a common surname, indicate a there was
a common ancestor, only though the analysis of documentary evidence, or
inferences made thereof, can the common ancestor be determined with any degree
of confidence. The immigrant John Hawkins (#3) would have shared his
Y-DNA haplotype, exactly or closely matching, with his male ancestors, any
brothers, paternal uncles, or paternal male cousins. We do not know the
number or identities of these theoretical male relatives, but must allow the
possibility that they existed and they may have had descendants. Of those individuals who might have been
contemporaneous to John Hawkins (#3), some may have lived in England but some
may have also immigrated to the North American British Colonies. So, when looking at the genealogical summaries
provided by some of the participants, it is not a surprise to find at least one
who have traced their lineage to a colonial era Hawkins ancestor with no
apparent link to John Hawkins (#3) – at least, no link has yet been reported. It is possible that all the Group 5
participants descend from the immigrant John Hawkins (#3), but it is not
necessarily so. In fact, we can only
hope that one or more participants placed in Family Group 5 descend from
relatives of John Hawkins (#3), since other lines might provide clues to the
English origins of our common Hawkins line.
Similarly, while children of the immigrant John Hawkins have been carefully
identified by Robert Barnes, including sons John, Matthew, Thomas, Joseph and daughter Anne, we also cannot be entirely certain that these were
his only children. He did not mention the names of his children in his 1670 Will. Some researchers have inferred an additional son, Augustine. When considering how
all the Group 5 participants might be related, it seems wise to keep an open
mind and continue searching for evidence.
Initially, the
discovery of these close genetic relatives caused a bit of a conundrum. I was alerted to the development by Edith Hawkins Griffin, a fellow descendant of John of Abbeville
(LWT 1797). In partnership with Joann Powers, Edith had published in 1997
Randolph-Hawkins and related families[5]
which presents findings strongly suggesting that this John of Abbeville (LWT
1797) was the descendant of the Hawkins family identified in Barnes' Baltimore County Families as "The John and Rebecca Hawkins
Family."[6]
Robert Barnes previously detailed this group in an article, "The
Em(er)son--Cobb--Hawkins Connection.”[7] Barnes’ defined this Hawkins family as being
of two known generations: John Hawkins (#11)
who married Rebecca Emson on December 28, 1718 and his father, John Hawkins (#10)
who died July 22, 1733, who had married first the unknown mother of this son
and a daughter, Ann, and had subsequently married the mother of his son’s wife.[8] When a Hawkins cousin closely related to
Edith Griffin recently received Y-DNA test results placing him in Family Group
5, the genetic results seemed to be in conflict with the historical evidence
she had accumulated. Robert Barnes noted the John and Rebecca Hawkins
family group had no known relationship with the Hawkins of Hawkins Hills and
Hawkins Desire. Though we now know that both
family groups resided first in Anne Arundel County and later in Baltimore
County, Province of Maryland, they inhabited opposite corners of the latter county.
The evidence Edith had found clearly pointed to the younger of the two
John Hawkins, the son who had married Rebecca, daughter of James Em(er)son or
Emison, as the father of John of Abbeville (LWT 1797).
Happily, further
analysis of the early Maryland records reveals that these two Hawkins families
Barnes had presumed to be unrelated are actually one: The John Hawkins (#10)
for whom his widow Rebecca served as the executor of his estate in 1733[9] is evidently the same man as the John
Hawkins (#4), the eldest son of the immigrant John Hawkins (#3). Land
records provide the majority of the data supporting this conclusion, but only those land
records bearing on the question of whether the John Hawkins who died in 1733 (#10)
and his son John Hawkins (#11) descend from John Hawkins the Immigrant (#3) are
included here. Barnes noted in the introduction to his study of Baltimore
County families that while he consulted many sources, land records were not
completely abstracted.[10] I suspect Robert Barnes would not be at all
surprised that evidence of these relationships had been hiding in the
records.
In 1661, the immigrant
John Hawkins (#3) acquired a tract of land called Great Bonnerston[e] from
James Bonner, who had patented in tract in 1659. On the reverse of the patent was recorded
assignment of the property by James Bonner to Jno. Hawkins. Below that
notation, John Hawkins signed on November 11, 1661 a conveyance
of half the parcel to William Cole.[11] By separate a deed re-recorded in 1709,[12] John Hawkins confirmed on April 11, 1663 the
conveyance of 75 acres of Great Bonnerston(e) to William Cole, who then later
transferred that portion of the tract to Samuel Galloway.[13] In 1668, John Hawkins (#3) acquired the 100
acre tract, Bolealmonack.[14] In 1676, a will and inventory were filed for John Hawkins the Immigrant (#3).[15] His will designated Mary, his wife, as sole
beneficiary and as Executrix. His real
properties, Great Bonnerston and Bolealmonack, descended directly to his eldest
son by primogeniture, then in effect in the Province of Maryland.
On August 12, 1684,
John Hawkins (#4) "of Ann Arundell in the Province of Maryland Planter
Ldest Sonn & heire of John Hawkins late of said county" transferred a
tract called "Bolealmanack neck" in Baltimore County to Henry
Constable, Merchant of the same county.[16] This transaction verifies that John Hawkins (#4),
son of the immigrant John Hawkins (#3) who was formerly in possession of
this tract, was living in 1684 and of age to sell property. No release of
dower was included in this very detailed document, so he may not yet have
married.
The 1707 Rent Rolls of
Anne Arundel County include payment made by only one individual named John
Hawkins, and that man was then in possession of 75 acres of "Bonnerston,"
located in West River Hundred. The other 75 acres of this early tract
were in the possession of Sam[uel] Galloway.[17] John Hawkins (#4), son of John Hawkins (#3),
was active in Anne Arundel County at that time and still in possession of the
tract, Bonnerston, that passed to him after his father's death.
The next mention of the
“Bonnerston” in recorded land transactions occurs after July 28, 1726, when John
Hawkins Senior, Baltimore County, Planter, conveyed to Peter Galloway of Anne
Arundel County two properties located in the latter's county of residence.[18] One was a 78 acre tract called "Favour
Indeed," which had been patented by John Hawkins in 1714.[19] This tract is described in the 1726 deed as
being "on the south side of parcel called Bonnerston, bounded by
Cumberstone, by Galloway's Enlargement." The second property
included in this 1726 conveyance was “the moiety of another tract called
Bonnerston, containing 75 acres." His wife, Rebecca Hawkins, acknowledged
her release of dower. This is the same property for which John Hawkins
(#4) had paid quit-rent in 1707, having inherited it from his father.
This transaction confirms that the same John Hawkins who inherited
Bonnerston had married a Rebecca and that he was older than another John
Hawkins with whom he might have been confused – most likely this would have
been own son, John Hawkins.
We can thus confirm
that John Hawkins (#4), son of the immigrant John Hawkins (#3), is the same man
as John Hawkins (#10) who married a Rebecca and was senior to another John Hawkins. As Robert Barnes has clarified in his 1981
study, in 1725, John Hawkins (#10) wed the much married Rebecca (___) Darnell?
Emison Cobb, his son's mother-in-law.[20] I have not found any other couples comprised
of a husband named John Hawkins and a wife named Rebecca appearing in the land,
court or parish records in either Baltimore or Anne Arundel Counties during the
period covered above. All mentions of a John Hawkins with a wife Rebecca
refer to one or the other of these two couples, who are referenced in Barnes Baltimore County Families as John
Hawkins (#10) and his second wife Rebecca (___) Darnell(?), Emison Cobb or John
Hawkins (#11) and his wife Rebecca (Emison), daughter of James and Rebecca (___)
Emison.[21] The wording of the 1726 conveyance also
reveals that John Hawkins (#4/#10), Senior, had changed his residence to
Baltimore County.
Now that we have
established the direct paternal line connection between John Hawkins Senior,
husband of a Rebecca as of 1726, and his father, the immigrant John Hawkins
(#3), what of John Hawkins “Junior”? In
1717, Joseph Hawkins conveyed the tract "Intent" in Baltimore County
to "John Hawkins junior of Ann Arundell county." Joseph's
wife, Elizabeth, released her right of dower.[22] [23] Barnes has identified
this Joseph Hawkins (#5) as a son of John (#3) and wife Mary Hawkins. He was, therefore, a brother to the John
Hawkins (#4/#10) who sold both “Favor Indeed” and “Bonnerston” in 1726 and was
married to a Rebecca. The grantee in
this conveyance of “Intent” cannot have been Joseph Hawkins's (#5) own son named
John, who had been born December 23, 1713[24] and in 1717 was far too
young to be the recipient of a land conveyance in his own right. The
appellation alone would not necessarily confirm that "John Hawkins
junior" was the son of Joseph's brother, John, if other evidence were
absent.
The identity of the
recipient of the tract ”Intent” is revealed in a 1735
deed in which John Hawkins, Planter, conveyed that same property to Joseph
Baseman. He is no longer denoted as “junior,” his father having died two
years prior. John Hawkins (#4/#10)
Senior died on July 22, 1733, as recorded in St. George’s Parish register.[25] Notation was made on the back of this deed
that Rebecca Hawkins, wife of John Hawkins, Planter, relinquished all right of
dower on November 6, 1735. This John Hawkins who sold “Intent” in 1735
was indeed a grandson of the immigrant John Hawkins (#3). As the confirmed son of John Hawkins (#4/#10)
who died in 1733, we also now know that a land transaction connected John
Hawkins (#11), husband of the former Rebecca Emison, to Joseph Hawkins (#5), who
had conveyed the same tract to him in 1717 and who we now know was his paternal
uncle.
I hope that more
evidence awaits discovery that will bear further witness to these relationships
– or dash the conclusions definitively should the evidence here have been
misconstrued.
Further evidence supports the hypothesis that the John Hawkins who
migrated to western North Carolina and later to Abbeville District, South
Carolina (LWT 1797) is a son of the John Hawkins and Rebecca (Emison) Hawkins
who sold “Intent” in 1735. But that is a
discussion for another post.K.R.L. Brauer
White Hat Descendant
Permalink:
Permalink:
http://whitehatdescendant.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-john-hawkins-hiding-in-records-of.html
[1]
"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.
[2]
Robert W. Barnes, Baltimore County
Families, 1659-1759, (Baltimore, MD:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988), p. 311-312.
[3]
Henry C. Peden, Jr., M.A., Quaker Records
of Southern Maryland: Births, Deaths,
Marriages and Abstracts from the Minutes, 1658-1800 (Westminster, MD,
Family Line Publications, 1992), p. 15.
[4]
Jeanne M. Bornefeld, Once a Hoosier,
Volume II: The Hawkins Book (Utica,
KY: McDowell Publications, 2007).
[5] JoAnn
Powers and Edith Hawkins Griffin, Randolph-Hawkins
and related families, (Decorah, Iowa: Anundsen, 1997).
[6]
Robert W. Barnes, Baltimore County Families,
1659-1759, p. 312.
[7]
Robert Barnes, "The Em(er)son--Cobb--Hawkins connection", Maryland
Magazine of Genealogy 4 (Fall 1981):
67-73.
[8]
Robert W. Barnes, Baltimore County
Families, 1659-1759, p. 312.
[9] ibid.
[10]
Robert W. Barnes, Baltimore County Families,
1659-1759, p. x.
[11]
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).
[12] The subsequent recordation
of the deed was necessary because on the night of October 18, 1704 a fire
consumed the courthouse in Annapolis, destroying nearly all of early Anne
Arundel County's accumulated court and land records. Only the then
current volumes of records escaped the flames, presumably because they were
stored elsewhere. In 1709 there was a call to re-record deeds, resulting
in a series of volumes that partially reproduce those missing early land
records.
[13]
ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY COURT (Land Records), Maryland, Liber WH 4. p. 0016, MSA CE 76-4 (accessed
19 July 2014); digital images, Maryland State Archives, MDLANDREC.NET
(http://mdlandrec.net/main/index.cfm).
[13]
BALTIMORE COUNTY COURT (Land Records), Maryland, Liber RM HS, pp. 0103-0106,
MSA CE 66-1 (accessed 19 July 2014).
[14]
" Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Land Survey, Subdivision, and
Condominium Plats ", Plats.net [Maryland State Archives] (www.plats.net),
MSA S1581-659: 1688, Patent Record 11,
p. 193; MSA S 1581-660: 1668, Patent
Record 11, p. 405; Bolealmonack, 100 Acres; Patent Developer/Owner: Hawkins, John.
[15]
V. L. Skinner, Jr., Abstracts of the
Inventories and Accounts of the Prerogative Court of Maryland 1674-1678 and
1699-1703 (Libers 1-5) (Westminster, MD:
Family Line Publications, 1992), p. 28. John Hawkins, Anne Arundel
County. Inventory totaling #11185
[pounds of tobacco] recorded in Liber 2, folio 159 on June 8, 1676. Appraisers:
Robert Francklyn [and] Walter Car.
[16]
BALTIMORE COUNTY COURT, Maryland, Liber RM HS, pp. 0103-0106, MSA CE 66-1 (accessed
19 July 2014). digital images, Maryland State Archives, MDLANDREC.NET
(http://mdlandrec.net/main/index.cfm).
[17]
___, Maryland Rent Rolls: Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties,
1700-1707, 1705-1724; Excerpted from the Maryland Historical Magazine, 1924-1931.
(Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1976,
reprinted 1996), p. 141.
[18]
ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY COURT (Land Records), Maryland, Liber SY 1. p. 0232-0234, MSA CE 76-12 (accessed
19 July 2014); digital images, Maryland State Archives, MDLANDREC.NET
(http://mdlandrec.net/main/index.cfm).
[19]
" Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Land Survey, Subdivision, and
Condominium Plats ", Plats.net [Maryland State Archives] (www.plats.net),
MSA S1581-1562: 1714, Patent Record EE
6, p. 104; MSA S 1581-1563: 1714, Patent
Record CE 1, p. 154; Favour Indeed, 78 Acres; Patent Developer/Owner: Hawkins, John.
[20]
Robert Barnes, "The Em(er)son--Cobb--Hawkins connection", p, 68.
[21]
Robert W. Barnes, Baltimore County
Families, 1659-1759, p. 312.
[22]
Barnes, Robert. Baltimore County, Maryland Deed Abstracts 1659-1750. (Westminster, MD: Family Line Publications, 1996), p. 108.
[23]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).
[24] St.
Thomas Parish Baptisms: Owings Mills,
Maryland, 1732-1995 (Westminster, MD,
Family Line Publications, 1996), p. 93. "John Hawkins son of Joseph
Hawkins and Elizabeth his wife was born 23 December 1713.".
[25]
Bill Reamy, Martha Reamy, St. George's Parish Registers, 1689-1793 (Silver
Spring, MD: Family Line Publications,
1988), p. 39.
