Hawkins Creek?

I just received the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Vol 121.  No1 published by the Virginia Historical Society.  The cover shows a reproduction of part of a map drawn by Jefferson and Frye in 1751.  I copied the book reviews because the books this month were of particular interest to me.....and then decided to scan the map on the cover to see if I could zero into some of the small print if I scanned at a high resolution and then zoomed in.  I realize that one can access this map on-line....but it was right there in my hand...then to test, I did exactly that....I zoomed into the area of the Northern Neck to take a look.  

Directly across the Rappahanock river from Sabine Hall (Sabine is in Richmond County) is a creek that has two forks.  And between the two forks is the word Hawkins Creek?  To locate it without Sabine Hall, go to the word Essex in large letters with Dangerfield just under it.  Go down river to the very next creek to find the Hawkins Creek designation.

Has anyone come across a reference to Hawkins Creek?  Am I reading this correctly?

I found a clearer view by using the American Memory Site

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl

It seems that it is Hoskins Creek....anyone know anything about this area?  Named in a land record of some sort in Essex?  Or old Rappahanock County in an earlier time?  

Will of John Hawkins of Richmond County

I was working on my Northern Neck slide show last night when I found a slide about the will of John Hawkins.  Because my NN mail list has been particularly active, some of the names jumped out at me that had been less meaningful in the past.  I wanted to capture my thoughts about this will.  I don't think that I have ever seen the original of the will.  I am working from a transcription that was not made by me.

In 1692, Rappahannock County disapeared and the part of the county that was north of the Rappahannock River became Richmond County.  The part that was south of the river became Essex County.  So it is possible that some of these people would be found in Old Rappahannock County 20 years before.  

John Hawkins will in Richmond County Wills and Inventories  1709-1717 p 235 names now wife,  Elizabeth Hawkins, sons, William, John, and Benjamin.  Asks Richard Butler and James Butler to take 6 children.  If Henry Wood Will take William and teach him trade of plasterer.  Asks Richard Butler to take son John, daughter Sarah, and daughter Elizabeth.  Asks James Butler to take son Benjamin and son James and that they live with him until they reach 20 years.  Asks John Suttle, his freedman, to complete crop.  Will proved 7 March 1715.  He names friend Isaac Arnold executor and the will was witnessed by Isaac Arnold, Rebecca Butler, and John Suttle.  Richmond County Court Minutes 1711-1715 p. 485 at a court of May 1715 John Davis has suit against Isaac Arnold ex of John Hawkins for 700 pounds of tobacco to be paid out of the estate of the deceased.


So one big question here is if Elizabeth's maiden name was Butler.  Certainly it would seem that that would be most likely.  No one in the Hawkins family is asked to take children.  Many Butler family members are asked to take children.  Richard and James Butler are likely to have been either brothers to Elizabeth or a brother and a father.

A google search found the following information on Mike Marshall's website:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mrmarsha&id=I28343

Richard Butler:

Birth: 1666 in Westmoreland County, Virginia

Death: 7 MAR 1734/35 in Hanover Parish, King George County, Virginia - Probate

Continuing to read Mike's website, one is struck by how interelated this Richard Butler is with the Hawkins family.  I HAVE the right man!

WILL OF RICHARD BUTLER
In the Name of God Amen. I Richard Butler of Brunswick Parish in the County of King George being sick and weak of body but of perfect mind and memory do make and ordain this my last Will & Test ament in manner and form following. 
Item: I give and bequeath unto my loving son William Butler all the estate which I was possessed of at the time of my marriage with my now wife Mary, all my debts being first paid out of the sd part by my Executor hereafter named.
Item: I give and bequeath unto Elizabeth Newport, wife of Peter Newport, thirty five acres of land lying in King George County joyning upon William Settles to her and her heirs forever.
Item: I give and bequeath unto my loving wife Mary Butler all he rest and residue of my estate unto whome I give the tuition and keeping of my son William Butler until he arive to age of twenty one years. I do hereby ordain and appoint Benjamin Hawkins whole and sole Executor of this my last Will & Testament utterly revoking all wills before at any time made, do acknowledge this my last Will & Testament. As Witness my hand and seale this twenty sixth day of January One thousand Seven hundred Twenty four five [1724/5] (sic).
Ejus *******
Richard [R] Butler *Seale* Signum *******
Signed Sealed & Acknowledged in the presence of
John Gilbert James Hackley James Hawkins
At a Court held for King George County the 7th day of March Anno Dom: 1734 [1734/5].
The last Will & Testament of Richard Butler, Dece., was presented into Court by Benjamin Hawkins his Executor who made oath thereto and the same was proved by the oath of John Gilbert, James Hackley and James Hawkins and admitted to Record.
Copia Vera Test T: Turner Cl:Cur: 

Then scrolling down on Mike's page I find another person's interpretation of this will:

On the website it says:  Contributed by: James Hughes  Janet Shamiri has indicated that the below is taken from her information.  To see more information by Janet, go to: 
 http://jaceychasinghistory.blogspot.com/search?q=John+Hawkins

URL: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mysouthernfamily/myff/d0055/g0000 022.html
URL title: My Southern Family

There is strong circumstantial evidence. John b. ca 1675 and Elizabeth Hawkins lived in Richmond County, Va and they both died in 1715 in an epidemic. John left a will and named 4 sons and 2 daughters. His oldest son Wm is apprenticed to Henry Wood; his younger children Benjamin, John, James, sarah and Elizabeth are given to James and Richard Butler -- from this we assume that Elizabeth, John's wife is a Butler. Rebecca Butler witnesses the will, widow Peter Butler d. ca1698. James Butler dies shortly thereafter and the children are raised by Richard Butler. We first find Wm, oldest son, in court records in 1718 in Richmond County, indicating he must be 21 and extrapolating back we give him birth ca 1697 and in 1715/6 when his father died he would have been 18. We also think John had a first wife as he refers to Elizabeth as "now wife" in the will. When Benjamin first shows up in court records it is 1729, extrapolate back and you have b. ca 1708. then John shows about 1727, thus b. ca 1706 and James shows up around 1731, thus b. ca 1710. In several court procedures John Willis stands up for the orphans - securing them in court and so forth. John's son Wm is married to Sarah Hawksford(?). Wm died shortly thereafter and his widow marries Henry Wood - the gentleman Wm is apprenticed to. Hawksfords are also neighbors as are both Willises - father and son. When Benjamin and brothers show up later in Orange Co. -- Benj is married to Sarah Willis, living near by his mother-in-law, brother-in-law and his brothers. Interesting thing also is that Wm that everybody likes to attach Benjamin to as his father is I suspect his big brother Wm b. 1697 -- who has sons Benjamin, John, and James. I also think they may have attached Wm's other brother James onto him as a son possibly- less sure on this one. Wm lives also lives near Benjamin in Chestnut Mt area in Orange Co.

I am rereading this entire blog post in 2019.  I am struck by the possibility that orphan William Hawkins may have been a son from the first wife.  Could the first wife have been related to Henry Wood?  While the other orphans are children of Elizabeth who is likely related to the Butler men?

Chestnut Mt is called Clark Mountain in the below:

There is excellent information about this family on Janet Shahmiri's blog:

http://jaceychasinghistory.blogspot.com/search?q=John+Hawkins

Janet has narrowed land on which John Hawkins lived to a place near to the Carter land....at least that is what I am understanding with quick looking this morning.  I will try to read this more closely and see just exactly what that corresponds with in my own research.


I will add information from Paticia J. Hurst's book tomorrow to this space.  I changed my mind this morning.  I will start a new blog dated Nov 28 with information on this Hawkins line in Orange and Culpeper Counties.  That way a reader can continue with Northern Neck information on this blog entry and switch to a separate entry for the different location.

Hawkins in the Northern Neck

While working on an article for Phil Hawkins' Hawkins DNA Newsletter for the month of May, I found myself talking about the ancestry of my dad's closest DNA match, Gene Hawkins.  Here is what I sent to Phil for his newsletter:

The month of May held a very special event for me!  I visited Gene Hawkins in Warren County, Ohio.  Gene is my dad's closest DNA match.  The celebration took place over dinner at the Golden Lamb with Gene's wife and several of his family and friends.  It was a VERY special evening!  I was in Cincinnati for the National Genealogical Society's Annual Conference only a 35 minute from Warren County.  Gene and I do not yet know who our common Hawkins ancestor will prove to be.  Gene connects to James and Jane Bourne Hawkins who were married in Culpeper, Virginia probably 12 April, 1781.  This couple moved to Kentucky after the Revolutionary War where James Hawkins died 2 Mar 1819 in Anderson County, Kentucky.  

James was the son of Benjamin and Sarah Willis Hawkins.  Benjamin Hawkins died c.1782 in Culpeper County, Va.  My Hawkins line has earliest ancestor, Thomas R. Hawkins who was born c. 1797 in the same general area of Virginia as Gene's early ancestors.  Thomas R. Hawkins lived most of his life in Orange County, Virginia which adjoins Culpeper.  He married Matilda Pinkard in Culpeper County in 1823.  

I believe that it is almost a certainty that Gene and I will find common ancestors in the Northern Neck of Virginia one, two, or three generations before what we know now. Perhaps our connection will be as early as the 17th Century.  Other researchers have told me that Benjamin Hawkins who married Sarah Willis had father, John Hawkins who died bef 1716 in Richmond County, Virginia (a part of the Northern Neck of Virginia).  The below information may or may not relate to Hawkins DNA group #1.  I am mostly brainstorming to see if anyone in DNA group #1 or any other Hawkins DNA group recognizes anyone or anything that might be a clue for all of us.

I found myself wanting to explain a bit about the Northern Neck and Hawkins connections to that area and decided to do that in a new Blog article.  In its most common definition today the Northern Neck consists of the four counties between the Rappahannock and Potomac River, which are Northumberland, Lancaster, Richmond and Westmoreland Counties.

However, for genealogical purposes, we might not want to be so narrow in our looking at the area.  So I am going to include Essex County in my information on this Blog which is just south of the Rappahanock River.  In these very early years Rivers were used for transportation and a neighbor who lived just across the river might be closer in proximity than someone who lived in a place that would have had to be reached via land roads.

You can see where Gene's possible ancestor, John Hawkins,  is said to have died in Richmond County.

Other early Hawkins men that I have looked at are Thomas Hawkins who I call Thomas of Old Rappahanock County.  Since my earliest proven Hawkins ancestor  is Thomas R. Hawkins, you can guess why I might like to look at early men named Thomas Hawkins.  This Thomas Hawkins died in Rappahanock County, Virginia in 1677.

The County of Rappahanock disappeared in 1692.  The part of the County that was north of the Rappahanock River became Richmond County.  The part that was south of the river became Essex County.

There is also a well documented Hawkins family that I call the John and Mary Long family.  It is doubtful that Mary actually had Long as a maiden name.  However,  Hawkins researchers called John's wife Mary Long for so many years that everyone immediately recognizes the family by this title.  This family seems to be found in Spotsylvania County in 1740 when John died.  Other researchers have told me that John migrated to these shores sometime between 1705 and 1720 and settled first in St. Anne's Parish in Essex County, Virginia.  He bought land in Spotsylvania County from Thomas and Larkin Chew 1723-1725.  He is said to have moved to Virginia with his brother, Philemon Hawkins.  This is idea is reinforced by the fact that he named a son Philemon.  Others say that both John and Philemon and their families lived first near Todd's Bridge over the Matapony River in what was then King and Queen County.  If you start at Tappahannock on the Rappahanock River in Essex County on the map below and travel in your mind south on Rt 340 to the Mataponi River, it crosses about the site of Todd's Bridge according to the research that I have done thus far.  If you have trouble seeing the below map, try single clicking on it to get a better view.