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Descendants of Philemon Hawkins

Generation No. 1

1.  PHILEMON⁷ HAWKINS  (JOHN⁶, JOHN SIDNEY⁵, RICHARD⁴, JOHN³, WILLIAM², JOHN¹) was born 1690 in Slapton, Devonshire, England, and died 1725 in Charles City Co., Virginia.  He married ANN ELEANOR HOWARD 1714 in England, daughter of CAPT. HOWARD.  She was born 1695 in England, and died 1742.

  Notes for PHILEMON HAWKINS:

p. 36 - Hawkins of Virginia, The Caarolinas, and Kentucky - published by Dorothy Ford Wulfeck. "Queries from Genealogy and History Magazine" #7585 15 June 1943. An answer to #7377 which had been sent in by EPO. Hawkins, Howard, Smith, Craig, Taliaferro, Hayden, Long, Long, Simpson, Prichett, McDonald, Randle, Ellis, Casel; England, Va., No. Car., Ga. "Philemon Hawkins (b. 1695, England) emigrated to America with wife, Eleanor (Howard); to Virginia in the neighborhood of Todd's Bridge, near relatives who had preceded him. (Such is the record of tradition familiar to descendants.) The Reg. Land Office, Richmond, Va., shows Philemon had land granted him in King William Co.: 2 patents in 1719 and 2 in 1725 in that part which is now King and Queen Co. Todd's Bridge was in King and Queen over the Matapony River. The probabilities are that John Hawkins of King William was the relative who had preceded the immigrant in 1714. Philemon d. 1725, and ca 1735, his widow and their children, Philemon, John and Anna, moved to No. Car. where many of their desc. now live."

  More About PHILEMON HAWKINS:

Emigration: 1715, Emigrated to Virginia from England

  Notes for ANN ELEANOR HOWARD:

Anne Eleanor Howard was the daughter of Capt. Howard of Plymouth, England. The family of Howard in England is a prominent one, including Sir Thomas Howard, who commanded the Armada and who recommended that Philemon Hawkins' ancestor, Sir John Hawkins, get knighted after that victory. His descendants included two of the wives of Henry VIII of England, and his family is in my file, though no link has been established to Anne Eleanor. The naval family has me interested in pursuing this, though! She moved from Virginia to North Carolina after the death of her husband, and married an (unknown) Irishman.

     Children of PHILEMON HAWKINS and ANN HOWARD are:

2.                i.       JOHN⁸ HAWKINS, COL., b. Abt. 1720, Gloucestor Co., or Charles City Co., Virginia.

3.               ii.       PHILEMON HAWKINS, COL., b. September 28, 1717, Charles City Co., Virginia at "Todd's Bridge"; d. September 10, 1801, Warren Co., North Carolina.

                 iii.       ANN HAWKINS, b. Abt. 1723; d. Bef. 1742, Warren Co., North Carolina.

  Notes for ANN HAWKINS:

                            Never married.

Generation No. 2

2.  JOHN⁸ HAWKINS, COL. (PHILEMON⁷, JOHN⁶, JOHN SIDNEY⁵, RICHARD⁴, JOHN³, WILLIAM², JOHN¹) was born Abt. 1720 in Gloucestor Co., or Charles City Co., Virginia.  He married MARY WYATT Abt. 1744 in North Carolina. 

Children of JOHN HAWKINS and MARY WYATT are:

4.                i.       MARY⁹ HAWKINS.

                  ii.       WYATT HAWKINS, m. FRANCES BUFORD.

                 iii.       PHILMON HAWKINS IV, m. MILDRED BUFORD.

                 iv.       ANNA HAWKINS, m. JOHN ROOKER.

3.  PHILEMON⁸ HAWKINS, COL. (PHILEMON⁷, JOHN⁶, JOHN SIDNEY⁵, RICHARD⁴, JOHN³, WILLIAM², JOHN¹) was born September 28, 1717 in Charles City Co., Virginia at "Todd's Bridge", and died September 10, 1801 in Warren Co., North Carolina.  He married DELIA MARTIN 1743 in Virginia, daughter of ZACHARIAH MARTIN.  She was born December 15, 1721 in Brunswick Co., VA., and died September 20, 1794 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Notes for PHILEMON HAWKINS, COL.:

PHILEMON HAWKINS BIBLE

THE HOLY BIBLE

Containing The Old and New Testaments

Together with the

Apocryphya Translated out of the

ORIGINAL TONGUES

and with the

FORMER TRANSLATIONS

DILIGENTLY COMPARED AND REVISED

PHILADELPHIA

PRINTED FOR JOHN THOMPSON & ABRAHAM SMALL

(From the Hot Press of John Thompson)

M.DOC.SCVIII

  Text in the front of the document:

  Lucy Hawkins, wife of Philemon Hawkins Departed this life the 29th day of September in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Seven about Six O'clock in the eventing, and it was a very clear evening and she deserved as Great credit in every Respect as any woman I ever saw.

Philemon Hawkins

  Delia Hawkins, mother of Philemon Hawkins of Pleasant Hill departed this life on the 20th day of August, A.D. 1794 respected and esteemed by all her acquaintances. She was the daughter of Zachariah Martin a respectable planter, and native of Virginia. She was one of the first settlers upon six pounds creek in No. Carolina where her husband Philemon Hawkins owned a mill. The country was then a wilderness, which occassioned corn to be extremely scarce, and when the poorest of the people came with their little corn to the mill, instead of taking toal, she would add to their morcell and have it ground into meal gratis. She was universally kind to the poor, the great creator of us all blessed her with a great share of health and wealth and she lived to be 73 years of age.

  Philemon Hawkins father of Philemon Hawkins of Pleasant Hill was born in Vriginia, he removed to the mouth of Six Pound creek in No. Carolina, was one of the first settlers there. He was extremely active indisutrious man anduncommonly good husband and Father. One of the best providers for a family; The creator blessed him with a great share of health and wealth and he lived to be nearly 60 years of age. he dpearted this life 10th day of September A.D. 1801.

  Col. Benjamin Hawkins Agent for the Creek Indians departed this life teh 6th of June at 8 O'clock in the evening 1816, in the 62nd year of his age. He has Seved as a Publick Character in Various departments and always discharged the Trust faithfully for 36 years - A worthy Honest Man.  

George Washington Hawkins departed this life the 26 day of March 1816.

Capt Philemon Hawkins departed this life the 22nd day of March 1817 - Two of as worthy sons as I ever raised.

Mildred Brehon Hawkins died 15th October 1802.

Joseph hawkins Died August 5th 1842

Sarah Polk died December 10 1843

Eleanor Hawood died December 23 1855.

Philemon Hawkins was born December 3rd day at two O'clock in the afternoon 1752.

Lucy Hawkins his wife was born 9th July 1759.

They were married the 31st day of August 1775.

Births of Their Children:

Elinor Hawkins was born 23 June 1776.

William Hawkins was born 106th October 1777

Ann hawkins was born 3rd Sept. 1779.

John D. Hawkins was born 15th April 1781.

Delia Hawkins was born 16th October 1782

Sarah Hawkins was born 6th March 1784.

Joseph Hawkins was born 15th Sept 1785.

Benjamin F. Hawkins was born 28th Oceober 1787.

Philemon Hawkins was born 5th June 1789.

Frank Hawkins was born 23rd March 1791.

George Washington Hawkins was born 20th Oceober 1793

Lucinda Davis Ruffin hawkins was born 26th June 1795.

Mildred Brehon Hawkins was born 13th Dec 1801.

Births of the grandchildren of Philemon and Lucy Hawkins

Ann Hawkins Haywood was born 11 December 1796.

Sarah Lee Haywood was born 15 February 1799

Thomas Person Little was born 26 Oceober 1799

William Rufus Haywood was born 11 July 1801

Mary Ann Little was born 6 December 1801.

Lucius Junius Polk was born 16 March 1802

Thomas Haywood was born 20 of December 1803 and died

Lucy Davis Polk was born 12 of Jan 1804 and died.

Ann Swepson hawkins was born 13th March 1804

Lucy Davis Little was born 22 March 1804

Emily Hawkins was born 12 October 1804 at 6 AM.

Lucy Davis Haywood was born 15 day of June 1805.

Penelope Little was born the 19th day of Sep 11 AM 1805 and died.

Caroline Hawkins was born 22nd Day of Dec 1805.

Alexander Hawkins was born 1st day of April 1806 at 6 P.M.

Phil.... Leonidas Polk was born 10th day of Apl 1806.

Lucy Davis Hawkins, daughter of (JDH) was born 26 Nov 1807.

....(torn)... Ann Hawkins daughter of (WH) was born 29th Feb

...(torn)... Brown Polk was born 1st day of Sept 1808.

....(torn,, may be Benja).. min Hawkins (son of W.H.) was born 10 August 1809.

Thomas Person Hawkins (Son of B. F. H) was born 9 Feb 1808

Francis Philemon Haywood (son of SH W H.) was born 1810

Frances Boyd Hawkins daughter of J.D. H. was born 22 Nov 1810.

George Little was born 27th Feby 1810

.... Dallas Polk Haywood (son of Stp H) was born 1810.

Alexander Hamilton Polk 19th Sept 1810.

Margaret Craven Hawyood was born .... (missing)

Alexander Hawkins (son of JWH) was born 2 August 1812

Robert Williams Haywood born 8th October 1812

John Hawkins Polk born 15th August 1812

...... A Hawkins was born the 20 of September 1811.

This bible is now on file at the North Carolina Department of Arhcives & History, Raleigh, NC (Not the bible itself, but this typed reading).

AN ORATION

Commemorative of

Col. Philemon Hawkins, Senior, Deceased

Who Was

Born on the 28th of September, 1717,

and Which

Was Delivered on the 28th Day of September, 1829

At his late residence in the County of Warren,

North Carolina,

By

John D. Hawkins, Esq.

Raleigh:

Printed by Lawrence & Lemay

Printers to the State

1829

(from the archives at The Library of Virginia)

Colonel Philemon Hawkins, of Pleasant Hill, Warren county, North Carolina, in the 77th year of his age, having for many years entertained the desire to call together his descendants and connexions, as well as those of his late father, Col. Philemon Hawkins, senior, deceased, at his late residence in Warren county, with the view thus assembled to make in whole family union, did, on the 28th day of September, 1829, thus assemble them, as well as health and circumstances permitted; and he invited many respectable friends to associate upon the occasion, having previously caused the old family Mansion House of the deceased to be fitted up. When thus assembled, he called upon his Grandson, Leonidus Polk, and Great Grandson of the deceased, to offer up to the throne of grace a prayer upon the occasion, who delivered an elegant and a very appropriate prayer. And he called upon his son, John D. Hawkins and Grandson of the deceased to deliver an oration commemorative of his history, and his virtues, when he delivered the following:

  My relatives and respected hearers:

I am called upon by Col. Philemon Hawkins, now the elder, to fulfil a trust, which his great desire to greet his relatives and friends, influenced at the same time by the most profound filial veneration, has induced him to impose. It is for me to attempt on this day to do justice to the character and memory of Col. Philemon Hawkins, senior, deceased. The task is a novel one, and the theme requires abler efforts than, I fear, I can bring to the discharge of it. It is therefore with great distrust I attempt to approach it. An assemblage of this sort, and upon such an occasion, is not only new, but unprecedented in our section of country. But, notwithstanding its novelty, what can be more justifiable, or more interesting, than to witness

a large assemblage of relatives and friends, called together by the venerable head of his family association, to pay homage to the great worth of a departed ancestor, who, when living, stood pre eminently at its head? It is an effort, although a feeble one, to arrest from oblivion the recollection of one, whose memory if fast fading away, and era long will be forgotten, because all who knew him will soon have passed by and be forgotten also.

To hold up to view the successful enterprise, the patriotism, and the virtues of the departed dead, is the province of biography, which acts as a mirror to reflect upon the living, examples of wisdom and of worth, from whence may be derived the most salutary lessons. If biography in general produces those conceded results, its benign influence will operate in an increased ratio upon relatives, when contemplating the enviable character of a departed and beloved ancestor.

Col. Philemon Hawkins, senior, deceased, was born on the 28th of September, 1717, on Chickahominy river, near Todd's bridge, in Charles City county, and State of Virginia, this day 112 years ago. He was the oldest child of his parents, Philemon and Ann, and his father died when he was of tender years, leaving three children, Philemon, John and Ann. Although Philemon the elder died, leaving his children a scanty patrimony, he seemed to have entertained particular notions of predilection in regard to them. He felt towards them an unusual confidence; for, by his will, he desired that they should come to the control of their patrimony at the age of 18 years; and this confidence, as regarded the subject of this memoir, was not misplaced.

The widowed mother Ann afterwards intermarried with a native of Ireland; and by the time her son Philemon had reached the appointed age of eighteen, his celebrity for industry and manly deportment excelled all his associates, even those of riper years, and was of extensive circulation, a sure prognostic that he would rise above his then condition. Col. Lightfoot, of Williamsburg, a gentleman of great wealth and discernment, had three plantations in Charles City county, and the fame of our then youthful ancestor had reached him though he lived sixty miles distant, and had deeply impressed him with a desire to place these three estates under his youthful control. He sent for him to come to Williamsburg, and on getting there, they made a contract, the stipulations of which showed at once the confidence of the employer and the great reputation for good management and great ability in the employed. But his mother was unhappily married. It was her misfortune not to find in her husband that conjugal tenderness, affection and forbearance, which the wedded estate should assure to those who enter into it. The ill treatment of her husband had rendered the protection of her son Philemon necessary to her safety. And her husband's embarrassments and difficulties had fixed in him a determined resolution to remove to North Carolina. This was a trying time for the mother. To accompany her husband she was compelled to do, but to leave her son, would bereave her of that protection, which had but only stayed the iron of cruelty but was further necessary to aid her with the necessaries of life, and to dispel the sad gloom of a cheerless fireside. She entreated her son to accompany her, and he pleaded his engagement, and the necessity he was under honorably to fulfil it. Under these distressing and conflicting embarrassments, the unhappy mother repaired to Williamsburg to entreat Col. Lightfoot to let her son off, saying although he was but a boy, he had long desired his services and the pay he was to give him was ample, and that he should not only injure himself, but her son, by letting him off from the contract. With this mortifying and most distressing rebuff the distracted mother retired to a neighboring place to spend the night, having been unwilling to expose to Col. Lightfoot's views the secret motives which so much prompted her to desire the company of her son. There melancholy, with all its accompaniments of distress, harrowed up to her soul, and she resolved to try Col. Lightfoot once more, though mortifying to tell him the cause of her importunities. She gained his presence the next morning, and found upon his brow that particular look, which indicated unwillingness to hear any more from her upon the subject of her errand. But she entreated him to listen to her motives, and unfolded to him her situation; that although her son was but a boy, he was her gallant protector and defender. This changed the scene. Col. Lightfoot, as a man of chivalry, could not permit his interest to weigh against a woman's safety, and a mother's safety too, when that was to be served by the presence of her son. He instantly said, go madam, and take your son. His great worth has caused me to desire much his management of my business; but your need is entitled to the preference and those rare qualities and powers, which he possesses, and which had gained him my confidence and esteem, will insure your protection.

Philemon, together with his brother John and his sister Ann, accompanied his mother and her husband to North Carolina, and they settled upon Six Pound Creek, then Edgecomb, now Warren county. Nearly the whole country was then a wilderness, inhabited by Indians and the wild beasts of the forest. This country was then called a frontier, where civilization had shed abroad but little its influence, and where the first settlers had to share, in a great degree, the privations which attended the first settlers of these United States. Persecution conduced to the first settlements of America, and this though of a different sort, fixed the destiny of this branch of the Hawkins family in this country.

There were other branches from the Charles City stock, which migrated to other parts of the Union: One went to the State of Kentucky, which produced Joseph Hawkins formerly a member of Congress from Kentucky, and who afterwards died in New Orleans. That gentleman traced his connexion with our family in a conversation with our distinguished fellow citizen, Nathaniel Macon, Esq. Who now contributes by his presence to commemorate this occasion, and this day.

This branch of the family came here headed by Philemon, who was but a youth a little toward eighteen years of age, poor in purse, but rich in spirit. By the sweat of his brow he sustained his mother, his sister and his brother with all the comforts their wants required. He cheered the drooping spirits of his mother, and, by every effort in his power, contributed to her wants and her wishes. His filial affection is remembered the more willingly, because it is a virtue he not only practiced, but because his course was such as to inspire his descendants with his kindred spirit; and it is that spirit which gave rise to this assemblage, and it is one of the manifold evisorages of its analogy to the parental stock which gave it birth. May its influence descend to the remotest family generation in parallel with this laudable example!

In the year 1748, he intermarried with Delia Martin, the daughter of Zachariah Martin, Esq. Who lived in an upper county of Virginia. But she lived with her brother, Capt. John Martin, on Sandy creek, then Edgecomb, now Franklin county. They were married in Virginia, at a church in the county of Brunswick by Parson Besty. By her he had Fanny, who intermarried with Maj. Leonard Bullock, Col. John Hawkins, Col. Philemon Hawkins, Col. Benjamin Hawkins, late superintendent of Indian affairs, Col. Joseph Hawkins of the Continental army, and Ann, who intermarried with Micajah Thomas, Esq. All of whom have long since passed to the tomb, except our venerable host Col. Philemon Hawkins, who is also the only survivor of the signers of the Constitution of North Carolina, ratified in the year 1776, and whose laudable desire to see altogether the descendants of his wealthy father, as well as his collateral kindred, has invited us here this day, that his history may be told over, to excite us to inculcate his virtues, and to profit by his examples, at the same time we attempt to do honor to his memory.

Our worthy ancestors lived at the mouth of Six Pound Creek, on Roanoke river, about ten years. They then moved to this tract of land, and not many years afterwards to this place, which was then in the county of Edgecomb. The province of North Carolina was divided at an early period of our history as suited the then Lord Proprietors, and their government, into eight precincts, as they were called, to wit: Beaufort, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Carrituck, Hyde, Perquimons and Pasquotank, to which Bertie precinct was afterwards added, by a division of Chowan. These precincts embraced the whole province, and were afterwards called counties, and were divided and subdivided and other counties erected as the population extended and the resources and necessities of the province developed themselves. The first settlements were made upon the sea shore, and they extended westwardly, as they increased. The metes and bounds of these counties or precincts were but little known, and, owing to the savage inhabitants of the country, their geography could not be better ascertained at that time. Legislative acts were frequently resorted to, to settle occurring disputes about boundary, and to form new counties, where the interests of the inhabitants required them. This section of the country as well as I can now ascertain it, was comprehended within Beaufort precinct, and Edgecomb county spread largely within its limits. From Edgecomb the county of Granville was taken in the year 1758, and the dividing line began at the mouth of Stone House creek, on Roanoke river. Thence to the mouth of Cypress swamp, on Tar river, and from thence across the river in a direct course to the middle ground between Tar river and Neuse river, being the dividing line between Edgecomb and Craven counties. The uncertainty of this latter line now forms the subject matter of an unsettled dispute as its boundary between the counties of Wake and Franklin. In 1764, the county of Bute was taken from the county of Granville; and in 1779 the county of Bute was divided into the counties of Warren and Franklin.

I have been thus circumstantial in the detail of the change and formation of counties, because our ancestor figured in many of them, living the greater part of the time at the same place. In the year 1757, he was elected high sheriff of Granville county, which then consisted of what Granville now is, added to all Franklin and all that part of Warren lying to the south of Roanoke river. In this extensive country, where civilization was far from being complete, and where the arm of the law was weakened by an habitual insubordination, great energy of mind as well as personal bravery was required to perform the duties of sheriff. These qualities he possessed in an eminent degree; and when his deputies were overpowered, as was sometimes the case, by those who threw off the restraints of the law, he repaired at once to the scene of agitation, and, even when threatened to be mobbed would personally attack the leader, having the address at the same time to win over his followers to a more correct course. This once occurred in the Little river settlement, now in the county of Franklin, where one Bud Kade headed a mob to avoid paying taxes. And in the year 1759, when Robin Jones was considered the most eminent lawyer in this country, many of the suiters in Granville Court, whose misfortune it was not to get him on their side, lost their cases, as they supposed, by his superior knowledge, and they fixed the determination to drive him by violence from the Court. A threat to this effect, it was hoped, would deter him from attending the Court; but Mr. Jones was not thus to be alarmed. He felt that he was shielded by his duty to his clients and the laws of the country; and that if the deputies could not enforce subordination, he relied upon the high sheriff. To that end, he privately advised the high sheriff of the machinations planning, and solicited his personal attention early at Court, prepared for events, and to keep order. Accordingly the high sheriff attended Court at an early hour, armed to meet any occurrence. Robin Jones informed the Court of the danger which threatened him, urging at the same time that he was an officer of the Court, and entitled to its protection. The Court ordered the sheriff to keep out of the Court-House all persons disposed to produce a riot. Thus protected by the constituted authorities, and firmly supported by his own inclination, he met at the court house door the ringleaders, and some of them were bold and conspicuous characters; for among them was Col. Benton, the grandfather of Col. Thomas H. Benton, the present Senator from Missouri, who felt himself aggrieved and justified in the course he took. The threatening rioters assembled at the court house door, armed, and made a show to enter; but were prevented by the determined spirit of the High Sheriff, whose look, with arms in his hands, was too convincing that the entrance would be too costly; and, therefore, they desisted from their purpose, and dispersed.

The construction of the government which existed at this period of our history, was one of such discordance between the governors and the governed, that the moral force which is essential to its well being, and to the cementing together of all its parts, did not exist. The idea of subjection to a foreign yoke, of a tributary obligation even of the mildest form, is repugnant to the choice; and although the idea might not at that time have been entertained to throw it off, yet a restlessness and a dissatisfaction prevailed, and a slight matter was calculated to produce a popular ferment. We can trace this jealous, discontented spirit through our history for a long time before it broke out in the Revolution, which cured us of that grievous disquietude. It was that disquietude, but more systematically kept up, which had increased to an unprecedented height, and caused the Regulators to assemble in the year 1771, and which ended in the battle of the Alemance, on the 16th day of May in that year. Governor Tryon, the then Governor of the colony of North Carolina, resided at Newbery and finding that the Regulators were trampling down every thing like government, and, if not resisted, would throw the whole country into anarchy and misrule, and being by education a military man, and of great personal bravery, he resolved to march against them, and called to his assistance a considerable military force. He at the same time called to his assistance as many of the most respectable citizens of the colony, and it had, as was expected, the calculated imposing effect. The number of the side of the Regulators was the largest; but they lacked discipline or unity of action. Upon this occasion his Excellency selected our venerated ancestor as his chief Aid de-Camp and assigned him to the hazardous duty to read to the Regulators his proclamation, which he did promptly. And after the battle commenced, he was the bearer of the Governor's commands throughout the whole action. This so exposed him to the fire of the enemy, that his hat was pierced by two balls, various balls passed through his clothes, and one bullet and two buckshot locked in the breach of his gun, which he carried and used during the action. But he had the good fortune not to be wounded. After the battle was over, he was complimented by the Governor for the very efficient aid he gave him, and for the bravery and ability he displayed during the engagement.

This spirit of dissatisfaction, which had so often manifested itself, although apparently quieted for the time, continued to increase until it burst in open opposition to the British Government, about four years after the battle of Alemance, and terminated in the establishment of the independence of the United States. It is little remarkable, that during this arduous struggle for our independence, those who had been found, during minor conflicts, arrayed against the government and laws, were never found acting conspicuously in support of it. On the contrary, many of them were tories; and those who fought bravely under the banners of George the III against the Regulators, were, during that great struggle, the true whigs of the country. The reason for this difference seems to have arisen from the circumstance that many of the Regulators were enemies to good order and to government generally, and for those causes were unwilling to unite in any systematic efforts to shake off the British yoke.

During this great struggle for American liberty, our ancestor being three score years old, did not render himself conspicuous in a military point of view, except by pushing forward his sons in aid of the good cause by supplying them with all the money and other means which they required for that purpose. But he was offered the command of a Brigadier General, which he declined, prefering to act in a civil capacity. Although he was thus old, he had the industry, activity and enterprise of a younger man, and prefered that his sons should go forth in personal defence of the country, while he stayed at home and made and supplied them with the necessary funds; and this he did largely, as occasions required them, feeling and acting for the good cause more efficiently than he could have done in the field. But after the adoption of the Constitution of 1776, and upon the election of Richard Caswell, who was the first Governor of the State of North Carolina, he was elected by the General Assembly one of the Counsel of State; which station he filled for some time, not only with Governor Caswell, but subsequently with Governor Alexander Martin.

Col. Philemon Hawkins, our ancestor, was a man about five feet nine inches high, very compactly built, and, when in vigorous health, weight about one hundred and fifty eight pounds. He possessed uncommon muscular powers and bodily activity, and a strength of constitution, which enabled him to bear fatigue, and fitted him for hardships. His early education had been scanty, owing to his poverty and the loss of his father; but his natural mind was vigorous and comprehensive, well fitting and qualifying him for correct judgment, for which he was conspicuous. This made him seem to be correct by intuition; although he would make very logical deductions, showing at the same time the possession of strong reasoning powers. His buoyant and enterprising spirit always kept him one of the first men of his time. This, added to his extensive business, gave him the great knowledge of men and things, which he so eminently possessed, and were the great sources of his general intelligence. Not having had the benefit of a more early and a liberal education, and feeling great need of it, an particularly for its concomitants, good language and the free use of words, he resolved at a very early period to acquire the means, and to give his sons good educations. His sons obtained by his assiduity the money, but the patrons of literature were so few, and seminaries of learning so scarce, that there was not a classical school in all this country, to which he could send his two first sons, Col. John and Col. Philemon Hawkins. Under such circumstances, he concluded to send them to Scotland, under the protection of a friend; but Col. John Hawkins was so nearly grown, and unwilling to go, that the idea was abandoned. When Col. Benjamin and Col. Joseph Hawkins arrived at the proper ages, he sent them to Princeton College, which seminary was at that time, owing to the great want of intercourse, much as is now in use, by stages and steamboats, almost as difficult of access as many of the European Colleges. They continued at Princeton, progressing regularly in their collegiate course, and were only prevented from receiving the honors of the College by the war of the Revolution, which waxed warm at Princeton, and in the Jerseys, and suspended the business of that institution.

From the end of the Revolutionary war to the time of his death, our venerated ancestor gave his attention mainly to the pursuits of private life. He was a Justice of the Peace from an early period, as long as he lived, and was a valuable member of the Court of his county. His favorite pursuits from early life, were raising stock, cropping, and the pursuit of some regular profitable business; and, by a steady application to them all, he acquired great wealth. At the opening of the land office under the present government, having the ability, he became largely interested in taking up and acquiring lands, as well as all other property; he became entangled in many legal difficulties growing out of the state of the country and the speculations consequent upon a change of its policy. This new business, calling into action his superior judgment, showed him to possession adaptation for it, for he uniformly prevailed. This latter business, and his often seeking distant markets for what he had to sell, added to his previous very extensive acquaintance, rendered his ear of the most noted men in this country; and, what was calculated to keep up his notoriety, his was a house of unbounded hospitality. It was always open to administer to the comforts of all. And here I may be permitted to say, that no man ever had a helpmate, whose general good sense, good management, and superior domestic economy, exceeded that of Mrs. Delia Hawkins, the wife of Col. Philemon Hawkins, sen'r. deceased. They were both poor originally, and had to resort to all the drudgery of labor attending that condition of life. But, by their good conduct and superior good sense, the scene was soon changed, and as they traveled on through life, increasing in wealth, they also increased in respectability and refinement, till at length their house - this house - was the resort of the fashionable and the gay, the man of business and the literati of the country. All found here a plentiful, an elegant, and a sumptuous repast. Although Col. Philemon Hawkins was not himself a man of science, his sons Benjamin and Joseph were, and they lived here with their parents, and added a zest to all that was agreeable. The style and fashion of the place was noted and exemplary, and the resort to it from many parts of our world considerable. During the French revolution in 1792, there were many men of note from France, who resorted here to enjoy the great pleasure of conversing in their own language, which Col. Benjamin Hawkins, from his classical knowledge of it, was enabled to afford them.

Col. Philemon Hawkins, sen'r, deceased, lived up to the maxim that extended hospitality, properly conducted, did not conflict hurtfully with the true rule of domestic economy; that the additional supply to be laid in for that object, only required an additional effort to procure it, which the company of friends always doubly paid him for. So that he set down these few additional efforts as better and more agreeably requited than those bestowed for the sake of money alone. And as the human character seems generally to the better satisfied, and more regaled by variety, it might be permitted to weigh this maxim and use if its analysis proves its correctness. He pursued the role of being generally employed by some useful business, or to some useful purpose, and by way of innovating upon its monotony, he would put forth his additional efforts to the cause of hospitality, by way of change, and agreeable relaxation is the same pursuit. By this means, though the pursuit be the same, the subject aimed at was different, and that constituted the pleasurable variety. For the variety sought for, is to the sense, and if the same pursuit produces it, which in every other respect is useful, it is more than safe to rely upon this maxim. If this, then, is a logical deduction, in a money making sense, and so it may be, by keeping off worse pursuits, it surely should not be departed from. And to the pleasure and reciprocal advantage afforded by the practice of hospitality, is to be added the sum of advantage to those upon whom it is bestowed.

This house, once animated by the presence of our venerated ancestors, and once the seat of pleasure, of grandeur and of science, has undergone by the work of time a great change; and what is there upon which time will not leave its stamp? For many years it has been almost deserted, and for a long time in a state of dilapidation; and could the spirit of the dead look back upon that earthly tabernacle which was occupied in life. Surely the spectacle to our ancestors must have presented a sad contrast. But the day of resurrection for this spacious old mansion is at hand. Our venerable host has decreed it to be so. Ere long the extensive repairs already begun, and which are far advanced, will be completed, when it will present again its ancient appearance, somewhat modified, and somewhat improved. And one great incentive to this work arises from the holy feeling of reverential regard for its ancient owners; and that appearances should be received here as a tribute to their memory. The example thus set of reverence to parents, if followed, will never fail to rekindle and to keep alive those finer feelings of the soul, which enable our character and our nature, and have been valued in all ages as virtuous testimony of grateful benevolence. History records it as great virtue in Epammonondas, and at the celebrated battle of Leuctra, where be gained nonfading laurels as a General, upon being felicitated for the renown he had won, he showed his greatest pleasure consisted in the pleasure his parents would enjoy at his victory.

This day one hundred and twelve years ago, Col. Philemon Hawkins, sen. Deceased, was born, and he died on the 10th day of September, 1801, having lived nearly eighty four years. He has now been dead upwards of twenty-eight years, and notwithstanding the long time which has railed on since his death, his appearance is still fresh in the recollection of many of us; and his manly perseverance, his steady habits of useful industry, his systematic arrangement of his business and his time, his contempt for idleness and dissipation, will, it is earnestly hoped, never be forgotten by us. He was a great friend to schools. Not having had himself the benefits of a liberal scientific education, but possessing in an imminent degree all the practical good sense which could estimate the worth of it, he was their liberal patron. He was a strong advocate for internal improvements. His comprehensive mind pioneered him through the ways which are now followed, though slowly, to advance the best interests of the country in the way of its improvement. He had himself struggled through the wilderness, had seen the face of the country gradually improve, and he regretted much that all his influence could achieve was to open new roads, from whence great benefit was derived.

When we take a review of his rise and progress in life, and contrast them with the idleness and dissipation of the present day, we are ready to exclaim, that degeneracy is surely among us. He lived within his income, and caused it continually to increase; by which he was not only increasing his ability to live, but to increase his fortune, and to add to his power to be useful. Accustomed to labor in early life, laudable industry was viewed by him as a great virtue, and as the road to honor and usefulness; and he who practiced it, was much exalted in his estimation. He always looked back to the days of his early life with pleasing reminiscences, and the most grateful feelings to the giver of all good for having inspired him with the resolution, and given him the ability and the aptitude for labour and industrious enterprise, by which he had been able to throw off the shackles of poverty, and to acquire an ample fortune; to raise and to sustain his family and himself in his old age. If a similar course was now pursued, much happier indeed would be the condition of this country. Let us then emulate his virtues, and inculcate his habits, and instill into the minds of our children the examples of his prosperous and useful life; and when each rolling year shall bring around the day of his birth, let us hail it as his natal day, and endeavour to imprint it deeper and deeper in their hearts.

Children of PHILEMON HAWKINS and DELIA MARTIN are:

                   i.       DELIA FANNIEL "FANNIE"⁹ HAWKINS, b. 1758; m. LEONARD "LEN" HENLEY BULLOCK.

5.               ii.       JOHN HAWKINS, b. 1745, Bute Co., North Carolina; d. April 11, 1808.

6.              iii.       PHILEMON HAWKINS III, b. December 03, 1752, North Carolina at "Pleasant Hill"; d. January 27, 1833.

                 iv.       JOSEPH HAWKINS, b. 1756; d. Bef. 1779, died on the Canadian frontier during the Revolutionary War.

7.               v.       BENJAMIN HAWKINS, COL., b. August 15, 1754, Bute Co., North Carolina; d. June 06, 1816, Roberta, GA..

                 vi.       ANN HAWKINS, b. 1760; d. March 12, 1781; m. MICAJAH THOMAS.

                vii.       FRANCES HAWKINS, d. 1829, Halifax, North Carolina; m. BURWELL DUKE, 1772.

Generation No. 3

4.  MARY⁹ HAWKINS (JOHN⁸, PHILEMON⁷, JOHN⁶, JOHN SIDNEY⁵, RICHARD⁴, JOHN³, WILLIAM², JOHN¹)  She married NATHANIEL BULLOCK August 12, 1760 in Granville Co., N. C., son of RICHARD BULLOCK and ANN HENLEY.  He was born 1735, and died 1802 in Oglethorpe Co., GA..  

More About NATHANIEL BULLOCK:

Military service: served in the Revolutionary War

Children of MARY HAWKINS and NATHANIEL BULLOCK are:

8.                i.       HAWKINS¹⁰ BULLOCK, b. March 19, 1764, Warren Co., North Carolina; d. November 01, 1833, Madison Co., GA..

9.               ii.       CLARESSA BULLOCK.

                 iii.       NATHANIEL BULLOCK, JR..

                 iv.       JAMES BULLOCK.

10.             v.       FRANCES MARY "POLLY" BULLOCK, b. Madison Co., GA..

5.  JOHN⁹ HAWKINS (PHILEMON⁸, PHILEMON⁷, JOHN⁶, JOHN SIDNEY⁵, RICHARD⁴, JOHN³, WILLIAM², JOHN¹) was born 1745 in Bute Co., North Carolina, and died April 11, 1808.  He married SARAH "SALLIE" MACON February 22, 1765.  She was born 1747, and died 1813.        

Children of JOHN HAWKINS and SARAH MACON are:

                   i.       PHLIMON¹⁰ HAWKINS.

11.             ii.       BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HAWKINS, b. 1772; d. 1827.

                 iii.       ANN "NANCY" HUNT FULLER HAWKINS.

                 iv.       JOSEPH HAWKINS, COL..

                  v.       PRISCILLA MACON HAWKINS.

                 vi.       JOHN HARRISON HAWKINS, GEN..

                vii.       FRANCES "FRANNIE" HAWKINS, b. June 15, 1766; d. February 09, 1853.

6.  PHILEMON⁹ HAWKINS III (PHILEMON⁸, PHILEMON⁷, JOHN⁶, JOHN SIDNEY⁵, RICHARD⁴, JOHN³, WILLIAM², JOHN¹) was born December 03, 1752 in North Carolina at "Pleasant Hill", and died January 27, 1833.  He married LUCY DAVIS August 31, 1775.  She was born July 09, 1755, and died September 29, 1807.

Children of PHILEMON HAWKINS and LUCY DAVIS are:

                   i.       ELEANOR¹⁰ HAWKINS, b. June 23, 1776.

                  ii.       WILLIAM HAWKINS, b. October 20, 1777.

                 iii.       ANN HAWKINS, b. September 03, 1779.

                 iv.       DELIA HAWKINS, b. October 16, 1782.

                  v.       SARAH HAWKINS, b. March 05, 1784.

                 vi.       JOSPEH HAWKINS, b. September 15, 1785.

                vii.       BENJAMIN F. HAWKINS, b. October 28, 1788.

               viii.       PHILEMON HAWKINS, b. June 05, 1789.

                  ix.       GEORGE WASHINGTON HAWKINS, b. October 20, 1793.

                   x.       LUCINDA DAVID RUFFIN HAWKINS, b. June 26, 1795.

                  xi.       MILDRED HAWKINS, b. December 13, 1801.

                 xii.       THOMAS P. HAWKINS, b. August 29, 1807.

7.  BENJAMIN⁹ HAWKINS, COL. (PHILEMON⁸, PHILEMON⁷, JOHN⁶, JOHN SIDNEY⁵, RICHARD⁴, JOHN³, WILLIAM², JOHN¹) was born August 15, 1754 in Bute Co., North Carolina, and died June 06, 1816 in Roberta, GA..  He married LAVINIA DOWNS 1799 in Ft. Hawkins, Pulaski, GA..  She was born May 10, 1781 in Virginia, and died March 22, 1828 in Georgia.

Notes for BENJAMIN HAWKINS, COL.:

Indian Agent for all Tribes south of the Ohio River. Senator from North Carolina. Well published, well-traveled, and many encyclopedia articles. Married when he thought he was on his deathbed, in order to make his children "legitimate." Then survived for a couple of more years. His children may have had more than one mother, though this is a controversial topic in the family (especially immediately after his death).  

Recorded in Declaration Book A, Page 266

January 20, 1837

Georgia, Crawford County

To his Honor Christopher Billups Strong, judge of the Flint Circuit, holding jurisdiction in Chancery etc.; in said County;

Humbly complaining showeth unto your Honor, your Orators, Lewis Lawshe and Cherokee, his wife, formerly Cherokee Hawkins, William Carr and Virginia, his wife formerly Virginia Hawkins, James Madison Hawkins, otherwise called Madison Hawkings and your Oratrix, Muscogee Tiller, formerly Muscogee Hawkins, whose husband Bagwell B. Tiller has separated himself from her and now resides without the jurisdictional limits of the United States of America (to-wit) in the province of Texas. That they, the aforesaid Cherokee, Virginia, Madison and Muscogee are the reputed children of the late Benjamin Hawkins, deceased who departed this life on about the ___ day of ___ in the year of ___ being possessed of at the time of his death a large real and personal estate consisting of lands, negroes, money and household and kitchen furniture, all of which was of great value (to-wit of the value of One Hundred Thousand Dollars or other large sum). That the said Benjamin Hawkins, the reputed father of said Cherokee, Virginia, Madison and Muscogee by his last will and testament gave and bequeathed all of his land, negroes, and property of every description to his wife Lavinia Hawkins, and his reputed daughters (to-wit) Georgia, Muscogee, Cherokee, Carolina and Virginia and his son Madison and his nephew, William Hawkins, of North Carolina, to be divided into eight equal parts to their heirs forever and the said Benjamin, also by his said last will and testament, appointed his wife Lavinia Hawkins and his nephew, William Hawkins to be the executrix and executor thereof which said last will and testament was duly proven and recorded in the Court of Ordinary of Jones County and said William and Lavinia were duly qualified and took upon themselves the execution thereof and lands, negroes and property of every description belonging to the estate of the testator in his life time was according to the tenor and affect of said will and testament divided into eight equal parts, among the several legatees named in said will one eighth of which estate was of the value of Twelve Thousand, Five Hundred Dollars or other large sum. It is further showed to hour Honor that the said William Hawkins, one of the legatees named in the said will and the executor thereof, after the division of said estate, and after receiving his distributive share thereof, returned to his residence in North Carolina and has long since departed this life. It is also represented that at the time of the division of said estate the aforesaid Cherokee, Virginia, Georgia, Carolina, Muscogee and Madison, the legatees named in said will, were very young, being infants under twenty one years of age, and unable to manage or attend to their distributive shares of said estate in any manner whatever. Your complainant charge and say that they have been informed, and so they believe, the fact to have been the said Lavinia Hawkins, the executrix of said last will and testament, after the division of said estate had been affected and a distributive share thereof had been allotted to each of the several legatees named in said will according to the tenor thereof she did arbitrarily and without any authority, whatever take from each of the distributive shares of the legatees hereinafter named (to-wit) Georgia, Carolina, Cherokee, Virginia, Muscogee and Madison, a considerable portion thereof and thereby constituted a large personal estate of the value of Six Thousand Dollars or other large sum, and did then allot and assign the aforesaid large personal estate raised as aforesaid, to the one Jeffersonia Hawkins, her daughter but who was not named in said will, and who was not entitled to any portion of said estate from some of the legatees last aforesaid the said Lavinia executrix as aforesaid, took negroes and from others, money which said money and negroes had been left to them by the last will and testament of the said Benjamin Hawkins, deceased and which had been assigned to them as part of their distributive share of their legacy with the money your complainants are advised and believe, she purchased negroes for the benefit of the said Jeffersonia, which negroes so taken as aforesaid and purchased with the money as aforesaid were allotted and assigned to her the said Jeffersonia Hawkins as her property by her, the said Lavinia, executrix as aforesaid, while the legatees last named were infants and too young to remonstrate against, or oppose such an unwarrantable and unjust proceeding. Your complainants further show unto your Honor that soon after the division of said estate according to the provision of the aforesaid last will and testament, the said Lavinia Hawkins, embarked her share of said estate principally in merchandise with one John Buchanan, and being unsuccessful in trade, which taken together with extravagant hiring and improper management, she became bankrupt and insolvent.

Negroes that were devised by his last will and testament to the legatees therein mentioned which said negroes are great value (to-wit) of the value of six thousand dollars or other large sum to which said negroes or the value thereof and their hire your complainants are entitled as they are advised and believe that said negroes were taken or purchased with money that was taken from each of your Complainant's distributive Share of the legacy left them by the last will and Testament of the said Benjamin Hawkins in the manner as charged and set forth in another part of this bill and your complainants are the more confirmed in this belief in as much as the said Jeffersonia was not named or mentioned in the said last will and testament of Benjamin Hawkins deceased consequently she could not receive any Share of his Estate under the will and inasmuch as the said Lavinia Hawkins became insolvent for a large amount and her distributive Share the aforesaid Legacy was sold in part payment of her debts the said Jeffersonia would not have received any share of her Estate and because at the time of her intermarriage with said Francis Bacon she was quite young and could not have accumulated said property by her industry or labor which said property of the value thereof as well as the hire of right belongs to your complainants.

It is further represented to your Honor that for some time previous to the intermarriage of him, the said Francis with her, the said Jeffersonia, he boarded and resided in the same family with her, the said Lavinia Hawkins, previous to her death so that your complainants are advised and believe that the said Francis knew for a long time before his intermarriage with his wife the exact situation of her property, and that he knew the manner in which she obtained it at the time of his intermarriage with her, and your complainants are also advised and believe that the said Francis and his wife well knew the manner by which they obtained the property now in their possession and that a large portion of it right belongs to your complainants. Your Orators & Oratrix have for a long time indulged the hope that the said Francis Bacon and Jeffersonia, his wife, would come to a fair and equitable settlement with them and account with and pay over their respective shares in the Estate acquired as aforesaid and now in their possession as in justice and equity, they are bound to do, but so it is, may it please your Honor the said Francis, and Jeffersonia, his wife combining and confederating themselves together with diverse persons as present unknown to your complainants, but whose names when discovered they pray may be inserted in this bill with apt and suitable words, to charge them as defendants to cheat and defraud your complainants out of their distributive shares of the estate now in their possession acquired as with and pay over to your complainants any part of the aforesaid estate acquired by them in manner and form as before charged and set forth although your complainants right to receive and have the same is sustained by every principal of equity and good conscience. For as much as your complainants are entirely remidiless at and by the strict rules of the common law and cannot have full ample and adequate relief in the premises save in this Honorable Court where matters of this sort are more popular Cognizable and relievable.  

To the end therefore that the said Francis Bacon and Jeffersonia, his wife, may upon their corporal oaths, truthful and perfect answers, make to all such matters and things as are hereinbefore charged and set forth as fully and particularly as if the same were again interrogated not only as to their knowledge, but as to the best of their information, hearsay and belief, and more especially that they may answer and say whether your complainants are not the legatees named in the last will and testament of Benjamin Hawkins, deceased? Whether the negroes belong to the estate of Benjamin Hawkins, deceased in his life time? Whether the negroes now in their possession are not the same and the issue of the same that were devised by the last will and testament of the said Benjamin Hawkins, to the legatees therein named? What are their names, ages and value? What has been the value of their hire? By what means did said Jeffersonia become entitled to said property before her intermarriage? From what source did she receive it? If it was purchased for her, with whose money was it purchased? Did she received it as one of the legatees of the said Benjamin Hawkins, deceased? Or in what manner did she receive it? Did not the said Jeffersonia receive a share of the negroes and money of which the said Georgia and Carolina Hawkins, died, seized and possessed? If she did received a share, what share did she receive? What number of negroes were allotted

to her as her share and their names and value of each? What has the hire of said negroes been worth since they were allotted to said Jeffersonia as her share of said estate? What amount of money did she receive as her share of the estate of the aforesaid Georgia and Carolina/ At what time was it allotted to her and what has been the interest on that amount since? Has not the negroes which were allotted to her and the said Jeffersonia, as her share of the estate of Georgia and Carolina Hawkins, deceased as aforesaid of their value together with the value of their hire come into possession of the said Francis and his wife since there intermarriage? Has not the amount of money which was allotted to her the said Jeffersonia, as her share of aforesaid come into the possession of her and the said Francis since their intermarriage as well as the interest thereon?

What is the aggregate amount of the many negroes and other property which they the said Jeffersonia and Francis received after their intermarriage? And from whom did said Jeffersonia inherit said property? By what right and by what authority, did she become entitled to the property now claimed by the said Francis Bacon and her rights? Your complainants further represent to your Honor that they are advised and believe that the said Francis Bacon will unless he shall be restrained from so doing by the interposition of this Honorable Court remove both his person and property beyond the jurisdiction thereof and that the same will not be forth coming to answer the judgment of decree that shall be made in the premises, or will dispose of the same for the purpose of defeating the just claim of your complainants to their respective shares thereof. For remedy whereof may it please your Honor to grant unto your complainants the state's most gracious writ of Quiatement to be directed to the Sheriff of said county of Crawford commanding him to arrest the body of him, the said Francis Bacon, and him safely keep until he shall voluntarily enter into his bond with good and sufficient security and such amount as your Honor shall seem meet and equitable conditioned not to remove his property without the jurisdiction of said court and County of Crawford until the further order of said Court. And may it also please your Honor to grant unto your complainants the state's most gracious writ subpoena to be directed to them the said Francis Bacon and Jeffersonia, his wife commanding them personally to be and appear under a certain penalty therein to be inserted at the next Superior Court to be holden in aforesaid County of Crawford on the Third Monday in August next and then and there truthful and perfect answers make to each and every such matter and thing as herein before charged and set forth touching or concerning the premises and also the said Francis and Jeffersonia his wife may be decreed to account with and pay over to your complainant the value of the negroes their hire as well as the amount of money in interest thereon which they have received from your complainants as part of their distributive shares of the legacy left them by the last will and testament of said Benjamin Hawkins deceased and which was acquired by the said Francis and Jeffersonia in manner and form as charged and set forth in this bill of complaint and also that they may be decreed and pay over to your complainants the value of the negroes in their hire which the said Francis and Jeffersonia received and the amount of money and the interest thereon which they likewise received as the pretended heirs of Georgia and Carolina Hawkins deceased and that your complainants may have such other and further relief as to your Honor shall meet and equitable or as the case may acquire. And your Complainants is in duty bound will ever pray etc.

Hiram Warner

Sol. For Complainants  

Georgia Crawford County:

Personally came before me Muscogee Tiller one of the Complainants in the foregoing bill of complaint who after being duly sworn deposeth and says that the statements and charges containing therein so far as the same depend upon her own knowledge are true and so far as the same depends upon the knowledge of others, she believes them to be true.

Muscogee Tiller  

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 30th day of June, 1839

George F. Matthews

More About BENJAMIN HAWKINS, COL.:

Dedication: Fort Hawkins and Hawkinsville, GA. are named after him

Military service: a member of George Washington's staff in the Revolutionary War

Occupation: the first senator of North Carolina

The following document was copied from a typed version at the Macon / Bibb County Library.

Benjamin Hawkins

Sale of his Estate

A list of the sales of Perishable of the Late Col. Benjamin Hawkins, which took place at the Creek agency in the Third Week in October 1816.

  Item  *   Name  *  Amount