I have had on my mind a lot lately that my magic segment on Chromosome #13 may or may not have come down from the John Hawkins who died in the epidemic c.1715 in Richmond County, Virginia. The one fact that I know is that a great many of my matches in this spot on chromosome #13 seem to connect to participants whose tree includes one of the children of Benjamin and Sarah Willis Hawkins. I am not clear at this time if I have matches who believe that they descend from a different orphan of John and Elizabeth (Butler?) Hawkins. And it is that puzzle that I am working on this week. What would be really exciting is if it is not a Hawkins segment at all.....but is from Elizabeth and then we would have proof that Elizabeth's maiden name was indeed Butler. But this would have to be proved by finding a person who is a match to one of Elizabeth's siblings....but has no Hawkins connection. It may be too far back in the tree to ever happen. However, I find it very interesting that this segment on Chromosome #13 has stayed so strong for as many generations as it has in my own line.
But as part of this puzzle solving process, I am looking at the children of John and Elizabeth. There are six orphans who are clearly named in the will of John Hawkins. The four boys are Benjamin, William, James and John. This is not a correct birth order. William may have been the oldest. It is possible that William was not Elizabeth's son. That he was the son of a first wife to John. Others tell me that he was born in 1698 while the other five were born in the 1700s....just a bit later ....like 1706 to 1715.
http://marshamoses.blogspot.com/2012/11/will-of-john-hawkins-of-richmond-county.html
In John's will he asks the Butler men to take five of the children. He asks Henry Wood to take William and teach him the trade of plaster. It is possible that this is just because William is older than the others, but it is also possible that William was not a Butler. Perhaps John's first wife had been related to either Henry Wood or his wife at that time: the much married Sarah. Craig Kilby believed that Sarah had been Sarah Rosser. I don't know if there is proof of this. Her four husbands were:
1. William Willis
2. Henry Wood
3. Rush Hudson
4. Edward Turberville
I took the following from a Brockman book that I read via Family search:
.... He was the son of William and Sarah Willis of Richmond and King George Co. VA. His mother as the young widow of William Willis married a 2nd time to Henry Wood by whom she had one son, Henry Wood. As her third husband Rush Hudson, she had other children named in her will. This Sarah maiden name unknown married a fourth time, as his 2nd wife, Mr. Edward Truberville. Edward Turberville had one daughter by his first wife, who married Walter Shropshire of King George Co., VA, the widow Mrs. Sarah Turberville, received one third of his estate and Walter Shropshhire received the other two thirds in right of his wife. The will of Sarah Turberville is recorded in Book 2, page 210, Orange Co. VA dated June 18, 1760 and probated may 28, 1761. She names her children as follows: My son John Willis 1 shilling, my son William Willis, 10 shillings, my son, Henry Wood 1 shilling, my son David Hudson, 1 shilling, my son Joshua Hudson, 1 shilling. To my daughter, Sarah Hawkins, all my wearing clothes. To Rich Hudson’s daughter, Sarah 1 sheet, to Rush Hudson’s daughter, 1 trunk. My son Rush Hudson to be Executor of my estate. Wit Benj Hawkins, Moses Harwood, Kezia Rosser.
There is no doubt in my mind that Sarah Willis who married the orphan Benjamin Hawkins must have been the same Sarah Willis Hawkins who was named in Sarah Turberville's will. And also I feel sure that this same Sarah Willis was living in the home of Henry Wood when the orphans were being raised. Henry likely married the oft married Sarah after John Hawkins' will was written.
So, the two Sarah's were not in the household at the time of the death of John and Elizabeth Hawkins....but very soon after. But these dates would suggest that William's mother (which might have been Elizabeth as was the mother of the other five) might have been related to Henry Wood....
[note: I am looking at a few trees on Ancestry. The one that is owned by wolfpackmom and labelled Journigan Family Tree shows Sarah Willis Wood Turberville to have father David Rozier (1669-1698) with wife Sarah Sherwood (1664-1698). I took the time to look at the owners of the trees who include Sarah and Henry Wood....and I am not a DNA match to anyone who owns one of those trees]
The two daughters of John and Elizabeth Hawkins married Morton brothers. Sarah married John Morton. Elizabeth married Elijah Morton. As I have written this blog post I realize that I know that son, Benjamin, married Sarah Willis. But I know very little about William, John and James. Janet had told me that John married Margaret Jennings, but I have no proof of this. Craig Kilby suggested that the will of William Hawkins in Orange County in 1776 was the will of this man. In it he names wife, Elizabeth, and sons John, William and Benjamin. Others suggest that he had first been married to Mary Margaret Smith......perhaps from deed records he was married to Mary until about 1760. I know absolutely nothing about James. But if he is as unimaginative in the naming process, he is likely to have had a William, Benjamin, John and James as well......just don't know how to sort all of these men out!
Ok. I now have a place to work on sorting out this group! Can I do it?
