Sunday, December 2, 2012

Land at Mallory's Ford between Orange and Louisa Counties

I am going through some of my Hawkins files.  I have a piece of information from the Diary of Robert Rose that I am trying to figure.  Of course, I can not find my copy of the book this morning to double check that I have copied the information correctly....but it is on my mind and I want to start a blog entry with what I have.  Rev Robert Rose seemed to have moved between  the Northern Neck of Virginia and his home in Albemarle County frequently.  


THE REVEREND ROBERT ROSE DIARY, 1746-1751

MS 1941.9
part of 1 vol., [116] pp.
Diary of the Rev. Robert Rose (1704-1751), minister of St. Anne's Parish, Essex County, Va., 1727-1748, where he succeeded the Rev. John Bagge, and of St. Anne's Parish, Albemarle County, Va., 1748-1751. The fact that Rose was named an executor of his estate by lieutenant governor Alexander Spotswood adds to the impression that Rose was a friend, and perhaps a protégé, of the governor.
The diary reveals Rose as a planter, businessman, surveyor, doctor, and lawyer, as well as a minister and a frequent traveler between Albemarle and Essex counties. In making these trips he passed through Stafford, Spotsylvania, Louisa, Orange, and Culpeper counties, visiting the leading families and sometimes preaching, performing marriages, or baptizing. He visited
friends in western Virginia, going as far as the Cow Pasture River, sleeping out in cold weather, and drinking "wretched" whiskey for want of something better. There are three entries for visits to Williamsburg. Most of the entries are brief, but there is a long exposition, dated August 28, 1750, on the curing of tobacco.
The diary fills the second half of the volume which also contains the Edmund Bagge Account Book.
Ralph Emmet Fall, ed. The Diary of Robert Rose: A View of Virginia by a Scottish Colonial Parson, 1746-1751 (Verona, Va., 1977).
Microfilm (M-47), photostat (PH/02/10), and transcript (TR/26) copies available.

From the Colonial Williamsburg site:
http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary/Special_Collections/SpecialCollectionsDocs/RobertRoseDiary.cfm





The next information is from an old e-mail I had sent to the Hawkins mail list in 2006:


Milly Farmer in her book Bits and Pieces of the Hawkins Puzzle
mentions the Diary of Robert Rose in her bibliography.
At the bottom of page 46 she says:
There were several men named Nicholas Hawkins in early Virginia.
One owned an Ordinary on the Orange County side of Mallory's Ford
where a road crossed the North Anna River.  The road cleared between
the Orange Court House and the Green Springs area of Lousia
County, Virginia.  The Hawkins Tavern was still recorded in 1860.  This 
information from the Diary of Robert Rose.  
Milly Farmer adds to this information:  One of Thomas Hawkins' 
daughters said that she was born near Springfield which is located 
close to the Edwards family.  This was the granddaughter of Nicholas
Hawkins, Jr. [a note later:  This may have been Springfield near Louisville, Ky that was the boyhood home of Zachary Taylor and have nothing to do with the Mallory Ford land]

What makes this particularly interesting to me is that my 2-gr-grandfather, Thomas R. Hawkins lived on Mallory's Ford, . You can see on map above Izard map from Library of Congress Collection where Thomas and Martha Bibb Hawkins lived in Orange County as it is marked as Hawkin's tannery.  Thomas R. Hawkins was a tanner as is shown in census enumerations.  This map is circa Civil War in time period.  This land


T.R.Hawkins' second wife, Martha Bibb, used money that she had inherited from her father to obtain land that I believe would have been just where Nicholas Hawkins' ordinary would have been.  If you read the below do you interpret this to mean that MY Thomas Hawkins had used land that he owned as collateral for a loan and not repaid?  Thomas and family were living near Barboursville before the death of Matilda Pinkard Hawkins (first wife).  After his marriage to Martha Bibb (second wife) he and his family lived at Mallory's Ford.  Martha Hawkins paid property taxes on the land until she sold the land to Thomas after many years of marriage. 

Deed Book 47 page 245 [This land transaction describes very well where they live];
This deed made this twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three between
Martha P. Hawkins formerly Martha P. Bibb of the first part, Robert Collins who by an order of the County Court of Louisa County has been appointed a substitute as trustee in the place of John Ellis in a deed of marriage settlement between the
Said Martha P. and Thomas R. Hawkins her present husband bearing date the 21st day of February 1839 and recorded in
the Clerks Office of the County court of Louisa County of the second part and Thomas R. Hawkins of the third part. Where
as the said Martha P. Hawkins with the approval and consent of the said Robert Collins trustee as aforesaid has agreed to sell and convey to the said Thomas R. Hawkins a tract of land lying and being in the Counties of Orange and Louisa near
Mallory's Ford on both sides of the North anna River on which the said Thomas R. Hawkins and Martha P. his wife now
reside containing about one hundred acres, seventy of which lies in the County of Louisa and the residue in the County of Orange, it being the same tract or parcel of land sold under a deed of Trust executed by the said Thomas R. Hawkins to
John Scott to secure a debt to the late John Heaston and purchased by John Ellis as trustee under the said marriage
settlement for the benefit of the said Martha P. Hawkins and conveyed by deed bearing the date the 18th day of March
1847 duly recorded in the Clerk's office of Orange County Court by John Scott trustee as aforesaid the said John Ellis for
the use and benefit of the said Martha P. Hawkins and paid for out of the funds secured to her, by the said settlement.
Now this deed witneseth that the said Martha P. Hawkins by virtue of the power retained and vested in her by the said
marriage settlement and the said Robert Collins the acting trustee therein at her instance and request for and in
consideration of the sum of five hundred dollars to be paid to her trustee personal representative or assigns after
the death of the survivor of the said Thomas R. hawkins and Martha P. Hawkins, without interest on the sum of one dollar paid to the said Martha P. Hawkins and Robert Collins trustee as far said by the said Thomas R. Hawkins the receipt
whereof is hereby acknowledged have granted bargained and convey all their right title and interest both at law
and in equity in the said tract or parcel of land under the said deeds of marriage settlement and from John Scott as
trustee and the order of the County of Louisa aforesaid appointing Robert Collins as trustee in the place and stead of
John Ellis to him the said Thomas R. Hwkins his heirs and assigns forever, reserving to the said Martha P. Hawkins a life
estate therein for her use and benefit and the power to dispose of the said sum of five hundred dollars for the purchase
of said land either by deed or will, as is given and reserved to her under the provision of the said marriage
settlement.



This land is located on the below modern map.  It would have been where Mallorys Ford Road crosses the North Anna River:  


There is a bridge located at Mallory's Ford now.  However, I have chatted with a man on a mail list who remembers no bridge in his lifetime.  It was just a place in the river that was shallow enough to cross.  He remembered that in his young days people would drive their car into the ford to wash the car. However, it has always been a crossing for the road that ran from Orange Courthouse to Louisa County and beyond.

To put this in better perspective, I add a modern map below showing Mallory's Ford Road, and Doctor's Road in relationship to Gordonsville and to the Forest Hill Baptist Church whose location is shown by red marker.  This is the church that Thomas R. Hawkins and his son, Edward Pinkard Hawkins were involved with for much of their lives.  You may need to click on the map to see it better.  Mallorys Ford Road will be in the top right quadrant of the map while Forest Hill Baptist Church will be in the middle and Gordonsville in the upper left quadrant.  The town of Louisa would be off the map from the bottom right quadrant. 


I will add photos of Forest Hill Baptist Church and also photos of E.P and T.R. but I want to get back to the subject that I began on. 


Deed book M. Spotsylvania Jan 1, 1790.  Nicholas Hawkins, Sr. Deed of gift to his son, Thos.  Hawkins 133 a in Spts. Co. whereon sd Nicholas Hawkins now lives, etc.  Geo. Cammack, Henry Gatewood,sr. Richd Todd  July 6, 179

Here is the what I found about Springfield notation by Milly Farmer:


Oh, wait, I see another possibility for Springfield:

Boyhood Home, Springfield, Louisville, Kentucky
As an infant, Zachary Taylor first came with his family to “Springfield,” the 400 acre Taylor family farm, in the Beargrass Creek region near Louisville, Kentucky, in the spring of 1785. His father, Colonel, Richard Taylor, originally came to this region in the late fall of 1784. The Springfield property was located in Jefferson County, Kentucky, and was east of the Louisville city limits.

Don't know....need to give it up for the day. Maybe someone who has more ideas 
can add to my thoughts.  contact me at mosesm@earthlink.net



Saturday, December 1, 2012

Hawkins in Orange County Virginia in 1813

Oh, my gosh, I guess that I knew this in 2006, but I sure had forgotten it by 2012.  I sent the following e-mail to myself in Jan 2006.

The men listed in the personal property tax list of 1813 in Orange County, Virginia are:

Reuben
Benjamin
Nicholas
James
Elijah

I'll start with the easy ones first.  Elijah is almost certainly Elijah married to Elizabeth Scott with sons; Henry, Elijah, Elias, William and John.  John is said to have been born in 1809 and William in 1811, so they are young children and still in the home.  I don't have birth dates for the others, but I think that is a reasonable guess.

James is almost certainly James son of Benjamin and Sarah Willis Hawkins and married to Jane Bourne.  This James is said....no I am wrong....James married to Jane Bourne is in Ky by this date.  This is another James.

Is Elijah's father still alive?  He could be....he was born in 1749 according to Ancestry.  It is not unlikely that he is Nicholas in the tax record.  Some reliable researchers say that Elijah's father is NOT Nicholas ....that his father is Benjamin who died in 1773 in Orange County and had son John who died the same year.

Benjamin is Benjamin married to Mary/Polly Bickers.  He has no children.

So that leaves James and Reuben and Nicholas.

Then I have hand written on the bottom of the page:

When go to Va, look at Reuben's material possessions in Orange County.  Millie Farmer says he died in 1812 with no will but that his possessions were inventoried. and then Witnessed by James Hawkins, and Reuben Hawkins and Thos Hawkins his security.  But this would have been a bit early for MY Thomas Hawkins....hmmmmm could this Thomas Hawkins have been part of the Zion Church beginnings instead of MY Thomas Hawkins?  But why would this Thomas Hawkins not have been on the tax list in 1813?

I think that I know why I sent the e-mail to myself instead of posting the information. .....too  many mysteries.  I just don't want to forget this information....I am filing the piece of paper before Christmas.