William Hawkins, my 5-gr-grandfather

 My huge breakthrough in finding the father of Thomas R. Hawkins leads next to thinking about the grandfather of T.R.  The consensus of opinion is that the father of James Hawkins (father of T.R.) was William Hawkins who married Elizabeth Bourne.    

I have done the research on the children of Benjamin and Sarah Willis Hawkins.  This was low hanging fruit that I worked on many years ago.  Benjamin and Sarah had four sons.  Benjamin Jr married Nancy/Ann Bourne, James married Jane Bourne, and William married Elizabeth Bourne.  These women were sisters and were the children of Andrew Bourne and his wife Jane Morton.  Son Moses married Susannah Strother.  Moses wrote a will.  He died in the Revolutionary war at the battle of Germantown.  The paper work that was thus created about the care of his children made it quite easy to sort this family out.  There were in addition to the sons, five daughters.  I have information about them, but am not going to share it in this post as this is a post about one of the sons.....William.....my ancestor.

I know almost nothing yet about the early years in which William and Elizabeth were raising their family.  When Andrew Bourne wrote his will in 1788, Elizabeth was already deceased and he says so in the will.

Here is a transcription of the will of Andrew Bourne (taken from http://www.sherrysharp.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I91849&tree=Roots)

• WILL OF ANDREW BOURNE WILL BOOK C. PAGE 357, 1790.
  Culpeper County, Va. COPY
  
  In the name of God, Amen, I Andrew Bourne of the county of Culpeper being sound of mind, do make this my last will and testament: Viz. Imprimis. I give my soul to God and my body to the grave in hope of a resurrection to eternal life through the merits of a redeemer.
  
  Item: I give and bequeath unto the children of my dau. Elizabeth Hawkins, deceased, James and Winnie and increase to them and their heirs forever.(Wm. Hawkins DGB)
  
  Item: I lend to my daughter, Anne Hawkins, during the life of the children of Jude that died in her possession and increase and at her death equally divided between her children and her heirs. (Benjamin Hawkins DGB)
  
  Item: I lend to my dau. Sarah Price during her life, Molly and increase and at her death for them to be equally divided between her children and their heirs forever. (Col. John Price. DGB)
  
  Item: I lend to my daughter, Jane Hawkins, during her life, Winnie, wife of Bill and increase and at her death for them to be equally divided between her children. (Capt. James Hawkins of Orange County, Va. DGB)
  
  Item: I give and bequeath to my daughter, Frances Newman, Dinah to her and her heirs forever. (Ensign Alexander Newman b. Oct. 11, 1740 Orange County, Va. he was her first cousin as their Mothers were sisters, Jane Morton Bourne; and Elizabeth Morton Newman, DGB)
  
  Item: I lend to my daughter, Judith Zimmerman, during her life Nell and her heirs forever. (Frederick Zimmerman, Esq. of Culpeper County, came to Jessamine Co. Ky. DGB)
  
  page two WILL OF ANDREW BOURNE WILL BOOK C. P. 357, 1790 CulpeperCo., Va.
  
  Item: I lend to my daughter, Polly, during her life, Terry, FAnne and little Dick an increase to be divided between the heirs of her body at her death. But if she should die without issue of her body to be equally divided. between my two sons, Andrew and William. (married George Newman Sept. 10, 1790, marriage Book - page 70. Culpeper County, Va. DGB)
  
  Item: I lend unto my wife, Jane Bourne, during her life Milly, Judge, Tom of old Lackey and Simpson, her my wife by will or otherwise at her decease to give the said Negro to my daughter, Frances Newman, or any of her legal children, she may choose in case she should fail to give them to my daughter Frances
  
  Newman, or her grandchildren, by will or otherwise. Then they shall be equally divided between my two sons Andrew and William.
  
  Item: I give and bequeath to my son Andrew Bourne, Kuffy, George and Fielding to him, his heirs forever, and in case he should die without lawful issue of his body then for them to be divided equally between all my children. (Wm. Bourne married Elizabeth Robertson, dau. of Wm. Robertson; she died and he married 2nd Eleanor Bourne, his first cousin, daughter of John Bourne. DGB)
  
  Item: I give and bequeath- to my son, Andrew Bourne, all my land whereon I now live together with all my flat ground land which I bought of Alexander Spottswood to him and his heirs forever, provided he pays unto my executor or executress, hereinafter named, the sum of L 100 for the discharge of my debts after my death, and in case he should fail to pay the above said L 100 when demanded from them, my exrs. or exrts., are hereby impowered to sell and convey the whole of any part of said land to raise the said sum of 100 pounds for the purpose of discharging my debts. (Wm. Bourne m. Mildred Helms. DGB) Page 3 Will of Andrew Bourne, of Culpeper County, Va.
  
  Item: It is my further will and pleasure that all of my personal estate be equally divided between my wife, my son, Andrew and my son, William.
  
  Lastly, I constitute and appoint William Morton and William Pannell, to he the executors of this my only will and hereby revoke all former wills by me or at any time heretofore made and declare this to by my last will and testament; in witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this 22nd day of August in the year of our Lord 1788.
  Signed, sealed and-acknowledged in the presence of John Bourne; Benjamin Thornton, Reuben Newman and William Bourne.
  
  At a court held for Culpeper County, the 18th day of Jan., 1790, the last will and testament of Andrew Bourne, deceased, was exhibited to the court by Wm. Morton, one of the executors therein and was proved by the oath of Benjamin Thornton and John Bourne two of the witnesses thereto and in order to be recorded and on motion of the said executors, certificate is granted him for attaining a probate thereof in due foam; he having made other thereto and gave Bond and Security according to law. Liberty being reserved for the other executor to quality when he shall think fit. Teste: John Jameson CCC.
  findagrave

[In looking for the will, I came across an URL that I don't want to loose so I will put it here to look at another day: 

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/taliaferro/1534/ ]

Now, I know who Elizabeth and William's children are because of a document that I saw many years ago. I was negligent when I made my notes and did not say which county.  Other researchers tell me that it is Jessamine County.   I will add that fact at a later date:  

Deed Book B. Pg 328 John, Benjamin, and James Hawkins, Polly Barnett, Willis Hawkins, and Sally Hawkins children of Elizabeth Hawkins daug of Andrew Bourne of Culpeper Co, VA to our brother Moses Hawkins P of A to recover slaves left us by our grandfather, Andr. Bourne: Feb 1808 s and ack. by John Barnett and Willis and Sally Hawkins only and rec. same.”

So what do I know about William so far?  He grew up in the home of Benjamin Hawkins and his wife Sarah Willis Hawkins.  He and his brothers seem to have been adults during the Revolutionary War.  He married Elizabeth Bourne and had seven children with Elizabeth.  Elizabeth died before 1788.  But a new piece of information has come to light.  Elaine actually sent it to me a while ago, but my year has been busy and I only this week began to look at William.  The information is from the British Mercantile Claims.  I asked Elaine to send a photo of the explanation of what the British Mercantile Claims were from the Virginia Genealogist that ran copies of these documents in the 1900s in case anyone who is reading this is not familiar with these notes:

The document that Elaine has sent me is from the Virginia Genealogist

William Hawkins was not a Junior.  His father was Benjamin.  However, it is possible that there was an older William Hawkins in the area that the report was trying to differentiate.  But this is indeed a question in the information.   I also do not believe that William was living on the Green River in Kentucky.  He is said to have lived in Jessamine County.   I am starting to have doubts about my theory.  Dolly Gaines is said to have died in Barren County in Kentucky.  The Green River would be closer to Barren rather than Jessamine.  I need to look at the son of William Hawkins and wife Dolly Gaines:  Francis Gaines Hawkins to see what I can find out about him.

Is this the right William....go back up to read Andrew Bourne's will, you will see that Sarah Bourne is named as Sarah Price in the will and that the person who put this will on the internet believed Sarah to be married to John Price.  But then I have the doubts from the previous paragraph.  

Ok....I am going to put bits and pieces in next of possible facts.  From a website I have found that William was born 1749 and died in Jessamine County, Kentucky in 1836.  I will start with these dates to just limit the William Hawkins' that are in the "books".  

In the Deed Books of Culpeper County there is a William Hawkins and Elizabeth his wife selling land 10 OCt 1764.  If the date for his birth is close to being accurate this is not my William and Elizabeth as William would have only been 15 at the time....not likely to have been married.  I will not copy this deed until I have worked on birth date a bit.  The question in my mind is who could this couple be if it is NOT my William and Elizabeth?  Again in 1760 there is a deed in which William Hawkins is buying land in Culpeper.  And one more in 1765 in which William Hawkins is named as having a cover near Devil's Run to land being conveyed by James Sims of Culpeper County to his son Robert Sims for love, good will and affection. and for his better support and maintanance.  1765  I have filed the transcriptions for these deeds in a "basket file" in my closet in folder labelled Culpeper County.