According to census records, William Hawkins was born in North Carolina circa 1805. He died in Talbot County, Ga., in 1875. On December 16, 1829, William Hawkins married Serena Millen. (The bride's name was, in fact, very likely "Miller." See below.) The certificate of marriage was recorded in Upson County, Ga. At the time of the 1830 census, Serena and William Hawkins were living in Pike County, Ga., and their household was enumerated "next door" to that of Jesse Hawkins, who was almost certainly William Hawkins's father. By 1840, according to census records, Serena and William Hawkins had moved to Talbot County, Ga., and were the parents of five children under age 10.
Jesse Hawkins, probably with son William, was living in Wilkinson County, Ga., at the time of the 1820 census. However, he was in Pike County as early as 1825, when he was included in tax digest records of the county (with a reference in his 1825 entry to land in "Wilkerson" County, a misinterpretation of "Wilkinson" County). In the following year, 1826, Sarah Hawkins (one of Jesse's daughters) married John Johnson in Pike County.
Because Wilkinson is the county in which Jesse Hawkins (as well as, again, presumably son William) is first found in Georgia (at least as far as I know), it is in Wilkinson County records that more research should be done for clues associated with this branch of the Hawkins family. An especially pertinent notice, which was published in "The Georgia Journal" (Milledgeville), May 27, 1823, refers to the sale of property in Wilkinson County to settle in Jesse Hawkins's favor a dispute involving Shackelford & Bainbridge. Court records related to transactions such as these could lead to more information about Jesse Hawkins's life before his arrival in Wilkinson County.
When the 1850 census was taken in Talbot County, William Hawkins was described as a 44-year-old farmer born in North Carolina (circa 1806). In that same census, his household included the following members: Serena (age 43, born in Ga.); George (age 20, born in Ga.); James (age 17, born in Ga.); Tilman (age 15, born in Ga.); Josiah (age 13, born in Ga.); Martha (age 11, born in Ga.); William (age 9, born in Ga.); and Serena (age 4, born in Ga.).
In 1860, the census (Talbot County) indicated that William Hawkins was a 55-year-old planter born in North Carolina, making his year of birth circa 1805. Others in the household in 1860 were: Serena A. (age 55, born in Ga.); William (age 18, born in Ga.); William T. (age 10, born in Ga.). There is little doubt that 10-year-old William T. Hawkins was one of Serena and William Hawkins's grandchildren; William Tillman Hawkins, quite clearly the same child, was the son of George Hawkins and his first wife, Frances Waller, who were married on Valentine's Day in 1850. (Interestingly enough, W.T. Hawkins, the small child in William Hawkins's household in 1860, is also reported as a member of the George Hawkins household in the 1860 census of Claiborne Parish, La.)
The 1870 census (Talbot County), which was the last census in which William Hawkins was found (with his death coming five years later), describes Hawkins as a 66-year-old farmer born in North Carolina (circa 1804). Living with him in 1870 were his wife, Serena (age 64, born in Ga.), and William Hawkins (age 19, born in Ga.), who, again, is believed to be a grandson (son of George Hawkins).
Although an exact date of death is not available, it is clear from probate records and advertisements published in local newspapers that William Hawkins died in 1875. According to a Hawkins descendant who spoke to me (RTH) in the 1970s, Serena and William Hawkins were buried in the small cemetery close to their house. Their graves were not marked.
For clarity, the precise names of the seven "known" children of Serena and William Hawkins are listed below. These identities are based largely on information from the 1850 census (Talbot County, Ga.):
(1) George M. J. Hawkins, who had at least four wives: Frances Waller, Mary A. E. Brown, Epsy Caroline Hough, and Henrietta Hambrick; "George M. J. Hawkins" is the name that appears on the 1850 marriage license recorded in Talbot County.
(2) James W. Hawkins, who married Mary A. R. Lumpkin
(3) Tilman Hawkins, also known as "Elijah Tilman D. Hawkins," who married Margaret Ingram
(4) Josiah E. Hawkins, M.D., who married Charity Alford (mother of Dr. Hawkins's three children) and later Isabella ("Bella") Butchee
(5) Martha Hawkins, who married William Bethea
(6) William Hawkins (who wrote July 1864 letter during Civil War to tell sister-in-law, Margaret, about death of Tilman Hawkins, her husband and William's brother, at Battle of Atlanta); William and E.T.D. Hawkins (Elijah Tillman D.) were privates in Company I, 46th Georgia Infantry (known as "The Talbot Grenadiers"). Six letters, including letter from William to his sister-in-law, comprise the "Elijah T.D. Hawkins letters, 1861-1864" collection, which is housed in special collections at Duke University.
(7) Serena Hawkins, who married John Ingram
***
Since several names were used repeatedly in the Hawkins family, it is sometimes not clear "which" William Hawkins, for example, is being discussed. Also, because spelling of names is many times inconsistent, "Serena," among others, has been reported (incorrectly) as "Luvena," "Surretha," and as other such misinterpreted names. The name "Tillman" is one that persists in this branch of the Hawkins family over the generations, and it is spelled in multiple ways. The significance of "Tillman" in the Hawkins family is not documented; it is entirely possible, though, that the name was introduced by Serena Millen/Miller Hawkins as a tribute to Tillman Davis Oxford, a minister who was executor of her father's estate and very likely an unusually devoted family friend. (Tillman D. Oxford lived in Jones County, Ga., for years, but he died in Pike County, where Hawkins family members were also living.)
Researchers with an interest in the William Hawkins family will want to know that the 1834 will of Serena Hawkins's father was recorded in Jones County, Ga., under "George MILLER." Likewise, the 1816 property tax digest of Jones County shows "George MILLER" and identifies him as "guardian for the heirs of Nancy Lacey." Moreover, a newspaper notice published at least nine times between January and April of 1836 in the "Southern Reporter" (contains "George Miller, of Jones [C]ounty, deceased" and a reference to "Martha Miller, deceased" (George Miller's wife). The notice was posted by Tillman D. Oxford, executor of George Miller's estate.
Other references to "MILLER" appear in the context of details related to Serena Hawkins's sister, Winiford—especially the biographical clues published in Jeff Carter's "Ancestors of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter" (McFarland & Company, 2012, p.42). George W. Carter (son of Eleanor Duckworth and James Carter), according to Jeff Carter, "married Winiford T. Miller on November 22, 1837, in Talbot County, Georgia." Winiford and George Carter were the parents of Georgia Ann (who married Thomas Beach) and Martha (who married Joseph Biggs). Both daughters were married in Talbot County.
Even though DNA research concerning the forebears of William Hawkins is the subject of its own study, I will mention briefly—for the sake of those willing to do what will amount to extraordinarily intricate investigations—that available genetic data (i.e., "Y" DNA test results) suggest that William Hawkins was a descendant of men in the male line named "Spruill." Various researchers have tried to attach Jesse Hawkins of Pike County, Ga., the likely father of William Hawkins of Talbot County, to a William Hawkins in North Carolina. To my knowledge, any specific association between "this" Jesse Hawkins and earlier Hawkinses in North Carolina is far from certain.
Indeed, as of this writing, it seems altogether feasible that the Talbot County (Ga.) Hawkins family shares a genetic relationship with the family of immigrant Dr. Godfrey Spruill, who was born circa 1645 in Scotland, came to Virginia in the 1680s, moved to what is now Tyrrell County, N.C., in the early 1700s, and whose will was probated in Tyrrell County in 1719. Dr. Spruill is believed to be one of the first doctors—if not the first—in North Carolina. (A comprehensive genealogy of Dr. Godfrey Spruill's family was published in four consecutive issues of "The Genealogist" in 2018/2019. The article, "Godfrey Spruill, Planter and Physician of Virginia and North Carolina" was researched and written by Gale Harris, Ph.D., a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists.)
Among Dr. Spruill's descendants are members--by blood or marriage--of Davenport, Dillon, and Spruill families; "Y" DNA test-takers who are descendants of these same families are "matches" (to one degree or another) on "Y" DNA results of test-takers who are male descendants of William Hawkins (Talbot County).
Since the Spruills and Hawkinses were living in and close to Tyrrell County, N.C., as early as the first years of the 1700s, it is quite likely that the answer to the riddle of William Hawkins's place in the Spruill family will be found—if it can ever be found—in the close examination of records in this area of North Carolina and through rigorous parsing of present and future DNA results.
The 1790 census of Tyrrell County, N.C., contains an entry for the household of Thomas Hawkins (the only man by the name "Hawkins" in Tyrrell County at the time of the 1790 census) and an entry for another man named "Thomas Hawkins Spruill." Connections between Thomas Hawkins, Thomas Hawkins Spruill, and other Spruills in Tyrrell County could very well lead to an explanation for the probable descent of William Hawkins of Talbot County, Ga., through a paternal (Spruill) bloodline.
Because children--especially orphans--were passed around often quite casually in the 18th and 19th centuries, many times between family members and friends, it is possible that Jesse (or his father or his grandfather or his great-grandfather, etc.) was even "born" to a Spruill couple and later took the "Hawkins" name when he went to live with relatives or even friends in a Hawkins family. By the same token, it is possible that a male child was born to a Spruill man and his wife, that Mr. Spruill died, that Mrs. Spruill remarried and gave her "Spruill" son the name of her new husband (Mr. Hawkins). It is, of course, also very much within the realm of possibility that a Mrs. Hawkins (Jesse's mother? Jesse's grandmother?) had relations with a man named Spruill and simply pretended that the baby that resulted from her contact with Mr. Spruill was the child of her still-living husband (Mr. Hawkins). And naturally, it could be that a young woman named Hawkins never married, had relations with a man named Spruill, gave birth and used her maiden name (Hawkins) for the child.
While trying to find the exact connection between the ancestors of William Hawkins (the North Carolina native who died in Talbot County, Ga., in 1875) and the family of Dr. Godfrey Spruill, I would like to suggest that these early Hawkinses of Tyrrell County, N.C., as well as the vicinity, be kept in mind for what could be important clues:
Thomas Hawkins (d.1696), of Albemarle County ("precinct of Tyrrell"), N.C., married Elizabeth Blount.
Issue:
(A) John Hawkins (b. circa 1682) named as a grandson in the 1685 will of his maternal grandfather, Capt. James Blount. He is also named in the 1701 will of his paternal grandmother, Alice Hawkins Waide (Wade). Mrs. Waide's will includes references to, among others, Elizabeth Long (her daughter), and four Hawkins grandchildren (children of Elizabeth Blount and Thomas Hawkins): John, Thomas, James, and Elizabeth. Mrs. Waide is identified in the "Dictionary of North Carolina Biography" (William Powell, editor) as the mother of Thomas Hawkins who married Elizabeth Blount.
Also in Powell's DNCB is a separate reference to John Hawkins, son of Elizabeth Blount and Thomas Hawkins: "...John Hawkins, born about 1682 and a resident of Chowan Precinct, was the son of James Blount's daughter, Elizabeth, and her first husband, Thomas Hawkins, who died during his son's childhood. The boy was first made the ward of his paternal grandmother, Alice Hawkins Wade, but subsequently was the ward of his stepfather, Michael Lynch."
In "Related Royal Families" (the book compiled by Marilu Burch Smallwood and published by the author in 1966), especially helpful genealogical details concerning James Blount, his daughter Elizabeth Hawkins Blount, her children and grandchildren are found in the "Blount, Hawkins, Lewis" entry. Information on pages 439 to 442, which addresses—among others--Hawkinses and Spruills, should be studied closely by Hawkins researchers.
Three children named in John Hawkins's 1716 will (Chowan County) were James, Joshua, and Ann:
1. James Hawkins
a. Elizabeth Hawkins (married Isaac Davenport)
b. Mary Hawkins (married James Blount)
c. Ann Hawkins (married Thomas Lewis)
2. Joshua Hawkins
3. Ann Hawkins
(B) Thomas Hawkins, almost certainly the same Thomas Hawkins whose wife, Elizabeth, married Godfrey Spruill (son of Joseph Spruill), made a will in 1730 in Tyrrell County, N.C., in which he mentions "my now wife" Elizabeth; his wife's eldest daughter, Elizabeth; his brother James Hawkins; his son and three daughters:
1. Thomas Hawkins
2. Mary Hawkins
3. Elizabeth Hawkins
4. Sarah Hawkins
(C) James Hawkins
(D) Elizabeth Hawkins
- Roger Harris, a Hawkins descendant, November 28, 2021; revised June 2, 2022.
Jesse Hawkins, probably with son William, was living in Wilkinson County, Ga., at the time of the 1820 census. However, he was in Pike County as early as 1825, when he was included in tax digest records of the county (with a reference in his 1825 entry to land in "Wilkerson" County, a misinterpretation of "Wilkinson" County). In the following year, 1826, Sarah Hawkins (one of Jesse's daughters) married John Johnson in Pike County.
Because Wilkinson is the county in which Jesse Hawkins (as well as, again, presumably son William) is first found in Georgia (at least as far as I know), it is in Wilkinson County records that more research should be done for clues associated with this branch of the Hawkins family. An especially pertinent notice, which was published in "The Georgia Journal" (Milledgeville), May 27, 1823, refers to the sale of property in Wilkinson County to settle in Jesse Hawkins's favor a dispute involving Shackelford & Bainbridge. Court records related to transactions such as these could lead to more information about Jesse Hawkins's life before his arrival in Wilkinson County.
When the 1850 census was taken in Talbot County, William Hawkins was described as a 44-year-old farmer born in North Carolina (circa 1806). In that same census, his household included the following members: Serena (age 43, born in Ga.); George (age 20, born in Ga.); James (age 17, born in Ga.); Tilman (age 15, born in Ga.); Josiah (age 13, born in Ga.); Martha (age 11, born in Ga.); William (age 9, born in Ga.); and Serena (age 4, born in Ga.).
In 1860, the census (Talbot County) indicated that William Hawkins was a 55-year-old planter born in North Carolina, making his year of birth circa 1805. Others in the household in 1860 were: Serena A. (age 55, born in Ga.); William (age 18, born in Ga.); William T. (age 10, born in Ga.). There is little doubt that 10-year-old William T. Hawkins was one of Serena and William Hawkins's grandchildren; William Tillman Hawkins, quite clearly the same child, was the son of George Hawkins and his first wife, Frances Waller, who were married on Valentine's Day in 1850. (Interestingly enough, W.T. Hawkins, the small child in William Hawkins's household in 1860, is also reported as a member of the George Hawkins household in the 1860 census of Claiborne Parish, La.)
The 1870 census (Talbot County), which was the last census in which William Hawkins was found (with his death coming five years later), describes Hawkins as a 66-year-old farmer born in North Carolina (circa 1804). Living with him in 1870 were his wife, Serena (age 64, born in Ga.), and William Hawkins (age 19, born in Ga.), who, again, is believed to be a grandson (son of George Hawkins).
Although an exact date of death is not available, it is clear from probate records and advertisements published in local newspapers that William Hawkins died in 1875. According to a Hawkins descendant who spoke to me (RTH) in the 1970s, Serena and William Hawkins were buried in the small cemetery close to their house. Their graves were not marked.
For clarity, the precise names of the seven "known" children of Serena and William Hawkins are listed below. These identities are based largely on information from the 1850 census (Talbot County, Ga.):
(1) George M. J. Hawkins, who had at least four wives: Frances Waller, Mary A. E. Brown, Epsy Caroline Hough, and Henrietta Hambrick; "George M. J. Hawkins" is the name that appears on the 1850 marriage license recorded in Talbot County.
(2) James W. Hawkins, who married Mary A. R. Lumpkin
(3) Tilman Hawkins, also known as "Elijah Tilman D. Hawkins," who married Margaret Ingram
(4) Josiah E. Hawkins, M.D., who married Charity Alford (mother of Dr. Hawkins's three children) and later Isabella ("Bella") Butchee
(5) Martha Hawkins, who married William Bethea
(6) William Hawkins (who wrote July 1864 letter during Civil War to tell sister-in-law, Margaret, about death of Tilman Hawkins, her husband and William's brother, at Battle of Atlanta); William and E.T.D. Hawkins (Elijah Tillman D.) were privates in Company I, 46th Georgia Infantry (known as "The Talbot Grenadiers"). Six letters, including letter from William to his sister-in-law, comprise the "Elijah T.D. Hawkins letters, 1861-1864" collection, which is housed in special collections at Duke University.
(7) Serena Hawkins, who married John Ingram
***
Since several names were used repeatedly in the Hawkins family, it is sometimes not clear "which" William Hawkins, for example, is being discussed. Also, because spelling of names is many times inconsistent, "Serena," among others, has been reported (incorrectly) as "Luvena," "Surretha," and as other such misinterpreted names. The name "Tillman" is one that persists in this branch of the Hawkins family over the generations, and it is spelled in multiple ways. The significance of "Tillman" in the Hawkins family is not documented; it is entirely possible, though, that the name was introduced by Serena Millen/Miller Hawkins as a tribute to Tillman Davis Oxford, a minister who was executor of her father's estate and very likely an unusually devoted family friend. (Tillman D. Oxford lived in Jones County, Ga., for years, but he died in Pike County, where Hawkins family members were also living.)
Researchers with an interest in the William Hawkins family will want to know that the 1834 will of Serena Hawkins's father was recorded in Jones County, Ga., under "George MILLER." Likewise, the 1816 property tax digest of Jones County shows "George MILLER" and identifies him as "guardian for the heirs of Nancy Lacey." Moreover, a newspaper notice published at least nine times between January and April of 1836 in the "Southern Reporter" (contains "George Miller, of Jones [C]ounty, deceased" and a reference to "Martha Miller, deceased" (George Miller's wife). The notice was posted by Tillman D. Oxford, executor of George Miller's estate.
Other references to "MILLER" appear in the context of details related to Serena Hawkins's sister, Winiford—especially the biographical clues published in Jeff Carter's "Ancestors of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter" (McFarland & Company, 2012, p.42). George W. Carter (son of Eleanor Duckworth and James Carter), according to Jeff Carter, "married Winiford T. Miller on November 22, 1837, in Talbot County, Georgia." Winiford and George Carter were the parents of Georgia Ann (who married Thomas Beach) and Martha (who married Joseph Biggs). Both daughters were married in Talbot County.
Even though DNA research concerning the forebears of William Hawkins is the subject of its own study, I will mention briefly—for the sake of those willing to do what will amount to extraordinarily intricate investigations—that available genetic data (i.e., "Y" DNA test results) suggest that William Hawkins was a descendant of men in the male line named "Spruill." Various researchers have tried to attach Jesse Hawkins of Pike County, Ga., the likely father of William Hawkins of Talbot County, to a William Hawkins in North Carolina. To my knowledge, any specific association between "this" Jesse Hawkins and earlier Hawkinses in North Carolina is far from certain.
Indeed, as of this writing, it seems altogether feasible that the Talbot County (Ga.) Hawkins family shares a genetic relationship with the family of immigrant Dr. Godfrey Spruill, who was born circa 1645 in Scotland, came to Virginia in the 1680s, moved to what is now Tyrrell County, N.C., in the early 1700s, and whose will was probated in Tyrrell County in 1719. Dr. Spruill is believed to be one of the first doctors—if not the first—in North Carolina. (A comprehensive genealogy of Dr. Godfrey Spruill's family was published in four consecutive issues of "The Genealogist" in 2018/2019. The article, "Godfrey Spruill, Planter and Physician of Virginia and North Carolina" was researched and written by Gale Harris, Ph.D., a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists.)
Among Dr. Spruill's descendants are members--by blood or marriage--of Davenport, Dillon, and Spruill families; "Y" DNA test-takers who are descendants of these same families are "matches" (to one degree or another) on "Y" DNA results of test-takers who are male descendants of William Hawkins (Talbot County).
Since the Spruills and Hawkinses were living in and close to Tyrrell County, N.C., as early as the first years of the 1700s, it is quite likely that the answer to the riddle of William Hawkins's place in the Spruill family will be found—if it can ever be found—in the close examination of records in this area of North Carolina and through rigorous parsing of present and future DNA results.
The 1790 census of Tyrrell County, N.C., contains an entry for the household of Thomas Hawkins (the only man by the name "Hawkins" in Tyrrell County at the time of the 1790 census) and an entry for another man named "Thomas Hawkins Spruill." Connections between Thomas Hawkins, Thomas Hawkins Spruill, and other Spruills in Tyrrell County could very well lead to an explanation for the probable descent of William Hawkins of Talbot County, Ga., through a paternal (Spruill) bloodline.
Because children--especially orphans--were passed around often quite casually in the 18th and 19th centuries, many times between family members and friends, it is possible that Jesse (or his father or his grandfather or his great-grandfather, etc.) was even "born" to a Spruill couple and later took the "Hawkins" name when he went to live with relatives or even friends in a Hawkins family. By the same token, it is possible that a male child was born to a Spruill man and his wife, that Mr. Spruill died, that Mrs. Spruill remarried and gave her "Spruill" son the name of her new husband (Mr. Hawkins). It is, of course, also very much within the realm of possibility that a Mrs. Hawkins (Jesse's mother? Jesse's grandmother?) had relations with a man named Spruill and simply pretended that the baby that resulted from her contact with Mr. Spruill was the child of her still-living husband (Mr. Hawkins). And naturally, it could be that a young woman named Hawkins never married, had relations with a man named Spruill, gave birth and used her maiden name (Hawkins) for the child.
While trying to find the exact connection between the ancestors of William Hawkins (the North Carolina native who died in Talbot County, Ga., in 1875) and the family of Dr. Godfrey Spruill, I would like to suggest that these early Hawkinses of Tyrrell County, N.C., as well as the vicinity, be kept in mind for what could be important clues:
Thomas Hawkins (d.1696), of Albemarle County ("precinct of Tyrrell"), N.C., married Elizabeth Blount.
Issue:
(A) John Hawkins (b. circa 1682) named as a grandson in the 1685 will of his maternal grandfather, Capt. James Blount. He is also named in the 1701 will of his paternal grandmother, Alice Hawkins Waide (Wade). Mrs. Waide's will includes references to, among others, Elizabeth Long (her daughter), and four Hawkins grandchildren (children of Elizabeth Blount and Thomas Hawkins): John, Thomas, James, and Elizabeth. Mrs. Waide is identified in the "Dictionary of North Carolina Biography" (William Powell, editor) as the mother of Thomas Hawkins who married Elizabeth Blount.
Also in Powell's DNCB is a separate reference to John Hawkins, son of Elizabeth Blount and Thomas Hawkins: "...John Hawkins, born about 1682 and a resident of Chowan Precinct, was the son of James Blount's daughter, Elizabeth, and her first husband, Thomas Hawkins, who died during his son's childhood. The boy was first made the ward of his paternal grandmother, Alice Hawkins Wade, but subsequently was the ward of his stepfather, Michael Lynch."
In "Related Royal Families" (the book compiled by Marilu Burch Smallwood and published by the author in 1966), especially helpful genealogical details concerning James Blount, his daughter Elizabeth Hawkins Blount, her children and grandchildren are found in the "Blount, Hawkins, Lewis" entry. Information on pages 439 to 442, which addresses—among others--Hawkinses and Spruills, should be studied closely by Hawkins researchers.
Three children named in John Hawkins's 1716 will (Chowan County) were James, Joshua, and Ann:
1. James Hawkins
a. Elizabeth Hawkins (married Isaac Davenport)
b. Mary Hawkins (married James Blount)
c. Ann Hawkins (married Thomas Lewis)
2. Joshua Hawkins
3. Ann Hawkins
(B) Thomas Hawkins, almost certainly the same Thomas Hawkins whose wife, Elizabeth, married Godfrey Spruill (son of Joseph Spruill), made a will in 1730 in Tyrrell County, N.C., in which he mentions "my now wife" Elizabeth; his wife's eldest daughter, Elizabeth; his brother James Hawkins; his son and three daughters:
1. Thomas Hawkins
2. Mary Hawkins
3. Elizabeth Hawkins
4. Sarah Hawkins
(C) James Hawkins
(D) Elizabeth Hawkins
- Roger Harris, a Hawkins descendant, November 28, 2021; revised June 2, 2022.
According to census records, William Hawkins was born in North Carolina circa 1805. He died in Talbot County, Ga., in 1875. On December 16, 1829, William Hawkins married Serena Millen. (The bride's name was, in fact, very likely "Miller." See below.) The certificate of marriage was recorded in Upson County, Ga. At the time of the 1830 census, Serena and William Hawkins were living in Pike County, Ga., and their household was enumerated "next door" to that of Jesse Hawkins, who was almost certainly William Hawkins's father. By 1840, according to census records, Serena and William Hawkins had moved to Talbot County, Ga., and were the parents of five children under age 10.
Jesse Hawkins, probably with son William, was living in Wilkinson County, Ga., at the time of the 1820 census. However, he was in Pike County as early as 1825, when he was included in tax digest records of the county (with a reference in his 1825 entry to land in "Wilkerson" County, a misinterpretation of "Wilkinson" County). In the following year, 1826, Sarah Hawkins (one of Jesse's daughters) married John Johnson in Pike County.
Because Wilkinson is the county in which Jesse Hawkins (as well as, again, presumably son William) is first found in Georgia (at least as far as I know), it is in Wilkinson County records that more research should be done for clues associated with this branch of the Hawkins family. An especially pertinent notice, which was published in "The Georgia Journal" (Milledgeville), May 27, 1823, refers to the sale of property in Wilkinson County to settle in Jesse Hawkins's favor a dispute involving Shackelford & Bainbridge. Court records related to transactions such as these could lead to more information about Jesse Hawkins's life before his arrival in Wilkinson County.
When the 1850 census was taken in Talbot County, William Hawkins was described as a 44-year-old farmer born in North Carolina (circa 1806). In that same census, his household included the following members: Serena (age 43, born in Ga.); George (age 20, born in Ga.); James (age 17, born in Ga.); Tilman (age 15, born in Ga.); Josiah (age 13, born in Ga.); Martha (age 11, born in Ga.); William (age 9, born in Ga.); and Serena (age 4, born in Ga.).
In 1860, the census (Talbot County) indicated that William Hawkins was a 55-year-old planter born in North Carolina, making his year of birth circa 1805. Others in the household in 1860 were: Serena A. (age 55, born in Ga.); William (age 18, born in Ga.); William T. (age 10, born in Ga.). There is little doubt that 10-year-old William T. Hawkins was one of Serena and William Hawkins's grandchildren; William Tillman Hawkins, quite clearly the same child, was the son of George Hawkins and his first wife, Frances Waller, who were married on Valentine's Day in 1850. (Interestingly enough, W.T. Hawkins, the small child in William Hawkins's household in 1860, is also reported as a member of the George Hawkins household in the 1860 census of Claiborne Parish, La.)
The 1870 census (Talbot County), which was the last census in which William Hawkins was found (with his death coming five years later), describes Hawkins as a 66-year-old farmer born in North Carolina (circa 1804). Living with him in 1870 were his wife, Serena (age 64, born in Ga.), and William Hawkins (age 19, born in Ga.), who, again, is believed to be a grandson (son of George Hawkins).
Although an exact date of death is not available, it is clear from probate records and advertisements published in local newspapers that William Hawkins died in 1875. According to a Hawkins descendant who spoke to me (RTH) in the 1970s, Serena and William Hawkins were buried in the small cemetery close to their house. Their graves were not marked.
For clarity, the precise names of the seven "known" children of Serena and William Hawkins are listed below. These identities are based largely on information from the 1850 census (Talbot County, Ga.):
(1) George M. J. Hawkins, who had at least four wives: Frances Waller, Mary A. E. Brown, Epsy Caroline Hough, and Henrietta Hambrick; "George M. J. Hawkins" is the name that appears on the 1850 marriage license recorded in Talbot County.
(2) James W. Hawkins, who married Mary A. R. Lumpkin
(3) Tilman Hawkins, also known as "Elijah Tilman D. Hawkins," who married Margaret Ingram
(4) Josiah E. Hawkins, M.D., who married Charity Alford (mother of Dr. Hawkins's three children) and later Isabella ("Bella") Butchee
(5) Martha Hawkins, who married William Bethea
(6) William Hawkins (who wrote July 1864 letter during Civil War to tell sister-in-law, Margaret, about death of Tilman Hawkins, her husband and William's brother, at Battle of Atlanta); William and E.T.D. Hawkins (Elijah Tillman D.) were privates in Company I, 46th Georgia Infantry (known as "The Talbot Grenadiers"). Six letters, including letter from William to his sister-in-law, comprise the "Elijah T.D. Hawkins letters, 1861-1864" collection, which is housed in special collections at Duke University.
(7) Serena Hawkins, who married John Ingram
***
Since several names were used repeatedly in the Hawkins family, it is sometimes not clear "which" William Hawkins, for example, is being discussed. Also, because spelling of names is many times inconsistent, "Serena," among others, has been reported (incorrectly) as "Luvena," "Surretha," and as other such misinterpreted names. The name "Tillman" is one that persists in this branch of the Hawkins family over the generations, and it is spelled in multiple ways. The significance of "Tillman" in the Hawkins family is not documented; it is entirely possible, though, that the name was introduced by Serena Millen/Miller Hawkins as a tribute to Tillman Davis Oxford, a minister who was executor of her father's estate and very likely an unusually devoted family friend. (Tillman D. Oxford lived in Jones County, Ga., for years, but he died in Pike County, where Hawkins family members were also living.)
Researchers with an interest in the William Hawkins family will want to know that the 1834 will of Serena Hawkins's father was recorded in Jones County, Ga., under "George MILLER." Likewise, the 1816 property tax digest of Jones County shows "George MILLER" and identifies him as "guardian for the heirs of Nancy Lacey." Moreover, a newspaper notice published at least nine times between January and April of 1836 in the "Southern Reporter" (contains "George Miller, of Jones [C]ounty, deceased" and a reference to "Martha Miller, deceased" (George Miller's wife). The notice was posted by Tillman D. Oxford, executor of George Miller's estate.
Other references to "MILLER" appear in the context of details related to Serena Hawkins's sister, Winiford—especially the biographical clues published in Jeff Carter's "Ancestors of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter" (McFarland & Company, 2012, p.42). George W. Carter (son of Eleanor Duckworth and James Carter), according to Jeff Carter, "married Winiford T. Miller on November 22, 1837, in Talbot County, Georgia." Winiford and George Carter were the parents of Georgia Ann (who married Thomas Beach) and Martha (who married Joseph Biggs). Both daughters were married in Talbot County.
Even though DNA research concerning the forebears of William Hawkins is the subject of its own study, I will mention briefly—for the sake of those willing to do what will amount to extraordinarily intricate investigations—that available genetic data (i.e., "Y" DNA test results) suggest that William Hawkins was a descendant of men in the male line named "Spruill." Various researchers have tried to attach Jesse Hawkins of Pike County, Ga., the likely father of William Hawkins of Talbot County, to a William Hawkins in North Carolina. To my knowledge, any specific association between "this" Jesse Hawkins and earlier Hawkinses in North Carolina is far from certain.
Indeed, as of this writing, it seems altogether feasible that the Talbot County (Ga.) Hawkins family shares a genetic relationship with the family of immigrant Dr. Godfrey Spruill, who was born circa 1645 in Scotland, came to Virginia in the 1680s, moved to what is now Tyrrell County, N.C., in the early 1700s, and whose will was probated in Tyrrell County in 1719. Dr. Spruill is believed to be one of the first doctors—if not the first—in North Carolina. (A comprehensive genealogy of Dr. Godfrey Spruill's family was published in four consecutive issues of "The Genealogist" in 2018/2019. The article, "Godfrey Spruill, Planter and Physician of Virginia and North Carolina" was researched and written by Gale Harris, Ph.D., a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists.)
Among Dr. Spruill's descendants are members--by blood or marriage--of Davenport, Dillon, and Spruill families; "Y" DNA test-takers who are descendants of these same families are "matches" (to one degree or another) on "Y" DNA results of test-takers who are male descendants of William Hawkins (Talbot County).
Since the Spruills and Hawkinses were living in and close to Tyrrell County, N.C., as early as the first years of the 1700s, it is quite likely that the answer to the riddle of William Hawkins's place in the Spruill family will be found—if it can ever be found—in the close examination of records in this area of North Carolina and through rigorous parsing of present and future DNA results.
The 1790 census of Tyrrell County, N.C., contains an entry for the household of Thomas Hawkins (the only man by the name "Hawkins" in Tyrrell County at the time of the 1790 census) and an entry for another man named "Thomas Hawkins Spruill." Connections between Thomas Hawkins, Thomas Hawkins Spruill, and other Spruills in Tyrrell County could very well lead to an explanation for the probable descent of William Hawkins of Talbot County, Ga., through a paternal (Spruill) bloodline.
Because children--especially orphans--were passed around often quite casually in the 18th and 19th centuries, many times between family members and friends, it is possible that Jesse (or his father or his grandfather or his great-grandfather, etc.) was even "born" to a Spruill couple and later took the "Hawkins" name when he went to live with relatives or even friends in a Hawkins family. By the same token, it is possible that a male child was born to a Spruill man and his wife, that Mr. Spruill died, that Mrs. Spruill remarried and gave her "Spruill" son the name of her new husband (Mr. Hawkins). It is, of course, also very much within the realm of possibility that a Mrs. Hawkins (Jesse's mother? Jesse's grandmother?) had relations with a man named Spruill and simply pretended that the baby that resulted from her contact with Mr. Spruill was the child of her still-living husband (Mr. Hawkins). And naturally, it could be that a young woman named Hawkins never married, had relations with a man named Spruill, gave birth and used her maiden name (Hawkins) for the child.
While trying to find the exact connection between the ancestors of William Hawkins (the North Carolina native who died in Talbot County, Ga., in 1875) and the family of Dr. Godfrey Spruill, I would like to suggest that these early Hawkinses of Tyrrell County, N.C., as well as the vicinity, be kept in mind for what could be important clues:
Thomas Hawkins (d.1696), of Albemarle County ("precinct of Tyrrell"), N.C., married Elizabeth Blount.
Issue:
(A) John Hawkins (b. circa 1682) named as a grandson in the 1685 will of his maternal grandfather, Capt. James Blount. He is also named in the 1701 will of his paternal grandmother, Alice Hawkins Waide (Wade). Mrs. Waide's will includes references to, among others, Elizabeth Long (her daughter), and four Hawkins grandchildren (children of Elizabeth Blount and Thomas Hawkins): John, Thomas, James, and Elizabeth. Mrs. Waide is identified in the "Dictionary of North Carolina Biography" (William Powell, editor) as the mother of Thomas Hawkins who married Elizabeth Blount.
Also in Powell's DNCB is a separate reference to John Hawkins, son of Elizabeth Blount and Thomas Hawkins: "...John Hawkins, born about 1682 and a resident of Chowan Precinct, was the son of James Blount's daughter, Elizabeth, and her first husband, Thomas Hawkins, who died during his son's childhood. The boy was first made the ward of his paternal grandmother, Alice Hawkins Wade, but subsequently was the ward of his stepfather, Michael Lynch."
In "Related Royal Families" (the book compiled by Marilu Burch Smallwood and published by the author in 1966), especially helpful genealogical details concerning James Blount, his daughter Elizabeth Hawkins Blount, her children and grandchildren are found in the "Blount, Hawkins, Lewis" entry. Information on pages 439 to 442, which addresses—among others--Hawkinses and Spruills, should be studied closely by Hawkins researchers.
Three children named in John Hawkins's 1716 will (Chowan County) were James, Joshua, and Ann:
1. James Hawkins
a. Elizabeth Hawkins (married Isaac Davenport)
b. Mary Hawkins (married James Blount)
c. Ann Hawkins (married Thomas Lewis)
2. Joshua Hawkins
3. Ann Hawkins
(B) Thomas Hawkins, almost certainly the same Thomas Hawkins whose wife, Elizabeth, married Godfrey Spruill (son of Joseph Spruill), made a will in 1730 in Tyrrell County, N.C., in which he mentions "my now wife" Elizabeth; his wife's eldest daughter, Elizabeth; his brother James Hawkins; his son and three daughters:
1. Thomas Hawkins
2. Mary Hawkins
3. Elizabeth Hawkins
4. Sarah Hawkins
(C) James Hawkins
(D) Elizabeth Hawkins
- Roger Harris, a Hawkins descendant, November 28, 2021; revised June 2, 2022.
Jesse Hawkins, probably with son William, was living in Wilkinson County, Ga., at the time of the 1820 census. However, he was in Pike County as early as 1825, when he was included in tax digest records of the county (with a reference in his 1825 entry to land in "Wilkerson" County, a misinterpretation of "Wilkinson" County). In the following year, 1826, Sarah Hawkins (one of Jesse's daughters) married John Johnson in Pike County.
Because Wilkinson is the county in which Jesse Hawkins (as well as, again, presumably son William) is first found in Georgia (at least as far as I know), it is in Wilkinson County records that more research should be done for clues associated with this branch of the Hawkins family. An especially pertinent notice, which was published in "The Georgia Journal" (Milledgeville), May 27, 1823, refers to the sale of property in Wilkinson County to settle in Jesse Hawkins's favor a dispute involving Shackelford & Bainbridge. Court records related to transactions such as these could lead to more information about Jesse Hawkins's life before his arrival in Wilkinson County.
When the 1850 census was taken in Talbot County, William Hawkins was described as a 44-year-old farmer born in North Carolina (circa 1806). In that same census, his household included the following members: Serena (age 43, born in Ga.); George (age 20, born in Ga.); James (age 17, born in Ga.); Tilman (age 15, born in Ga.); Josiah (age 13, born in Ga.); Martha (age 11, born in Ga.); William (age 9, born in Ga.); and Serena (age 4, born in Ga.).
In 1860, the census (Talbot County) indicated that William Hawkins was a 55-year-old planter born in North Carolina, making his year of birth circa 1805. Others in the household in 1860 were: Serena A. (age 55, born in Ga.); William (age 18, born in Ga.); William T. (age 10, born in Ga.). There is little doubt that 10-year-old William T. Hawkins was one of Serena and William Hawkins's grandchildren; William Tillman Hawkins, quite clearly the same child, was the son of George Hawkins and his first wife, Frances Waller, who were married on Valentine's Day in 1850. (Interestingly enough, W.T. Hawkins, the small child in William Hawkins's household in 1860, is also reported as a member of the George Hawkins household in the 1860 census of Claiborne Parish, La.)
The 1870 census (Talbot County), which was the last census in which William Hawkins was found (with his death coming five years later), describes Hawkins as a 66-year-old farmer born in North Carolina (circa 1804). Living with him in 1870 were his wife, Serena (age 64, born in Ga.), and William Hawkins (age 19, born in Ga.), who, again, is believed to be a grandson (son of George Hawkins).
Although an exact date of death is not available, it is clear from probate records and advertisements published in local newspapers that William Hawkins died in 1875. According to a Hawkins descendant who spoke to me (RTH) in the 1970s, Serena and William Hawkins were buried in the small cemetery close to their house. Their graves were not marked.
For clarity, the precise names of the seven "known" children of Serena and William Hawkins are listed below. These identities are based largely on information from the 1850 census (Talbot County, Ga.):
(1) George M. J. Hawkins, who had at least four wives: Frances Waller, Mary A. E. Brown, Epsy Caroline Hough, and Henrietta Hambrick; "George M. J. Hawkins" is the name that appears on the 1850 marriage license recorded in Talbot County.
(2) James W. Hawkins, who married Mary A. R. Lumpkin
(3) Tilman Hawkins, also known as "Elijah Tilman D. Hawkins," who married Margaret Ingram
(4) Josiah E. Hawkins, M.D., who married Charity Alford (mother of Dr. Hawkins's three children) and later Isabella ("Bella") Butchee
(5) Martha Hawkins, who married William Bethea
(6) William Hawkins (who wrote July 1864 letter during Civil War to tell sister-in-law, Margaret, about death of Tilman Hawkins, her husband and William's brother, at Battle of Atlanta); William and E.T.D. Hawkins (Elijah Tillman D.) were privates in Company I, 46th Georgia Infantry (known as "The Talbot Grenadiers"). Six letters, including letter from William to his sister-in-law, comprise the "Elijah T.D. Hawkins letters, 1861-1864" collection, which is housed in special collections at Duke University.
(7) Serena Hawkins, who married John Ingram
***
Since several names were used repeatedly in the Hawkins family, it is sometimes not clear "which" William Hawkins, for example, is being discussed. Also, because spelling of names is many times inconsistent, "Serena," among others, has been reported (incorrectly) as "Luvena," "Surretha," and as other such misinterpreted names. The name "Tillman" is one that persists in this branch of the Hawkins family over the generations, and it is spelled in multiple ways. The significance of "Tillman" in the Hawkins family is not documented; it is entirely possible, though, that the name was introduced by Serena Millen/Miller Hawkins as a tribute to Tillman Davis Oxford, a minister who was executor of her father's estate and very likely an unusually devoted family friend. (Tillman D. Oxford lived in Jones County, Ga., for years, but he died in Pike County, where Hawkins family members were also living.)
Researchers with an interest in the William Hawkins family will want to know that the 1834 will of Serena Hawkins's father was recorded in Jones County, Ga., under "George MILLER." Likewise, the 1816 property tax digest of Jones County shows "George MILLER" and identifies him as "guardian for the heirs of Nancy Lacey." Moreover, a newspaper notice published at least nine times between January and April of 1836 in the "Southern Reporter" (contains "George Miller, of Jones [C]ounty, deceased" and a reference to "Martha Miller, deceased" (George Miller's wife). The notice was posted by Tillman D. Oxford, executor of George Miller's estate.
Other references to "MILLER" appear in the context of details related to Serena Hawkins's sister, Winiford—especially the biographical clues published in Jeff Carter's "Ancestors of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter" (McFarland & Company, 2012, p.42). George W. Carter (son of Eleanor Duckworth and James Carter), according to Jeff Carter, "married Winiford T. Miller on November 22, 1837, in Talbot County, Georgia." Winiford and George Carter were the parents of Georgia Ann (who married Thomas Beach) and Martha (who married Joseph Biggs). Both daughters were married in Talbot County.
Even though DNA research concerning the forebears of William Hawkins is the subject of its own study, I will mention briefly—for the sake of those willing to do what will amount to extraordinarily intricate investigations—that available genetic data (i.e., "Y" DNA test results) suggest that William Hawkins was a descendant of men in the male line named "Spruill." Various researchers have tried to attach Jesse Hawkins of Pike County, Ga., the likely father of William Hawkins of Talbot County, to a William Hawkins in North Carolina. To my knowledge, any specific association between "this" Jesse Hawkins and earlier Hawkinses in North Carolina is far from certain.
Indeed, as of this writing, it seems altogether feasible that the Talbot County (Ga.) Hawkins family shares a genetic relationship with the family of immigrant Dr. Godfrey Spruill, who was born circa 1645 in Scotland, came to Virginia in the 1680s, moved to what is now Tyrrell County, N.C., in the early 1700s, and whose will was probated in Tyrrell County in 1719. Dr. Spruill is believed to be one of the first doctors—if not the first—in North Carolina. (A comprehensive genealogy of Dr. Godfrey Spruill's family was published in four consecutive issues of "The Genealogist" in 2018/2019. The article, "Godfrey Spruill, Planter and Physician of Virginia and North Carolina" was researched and written by Gale Harris, Ph.D., a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists.)
Among Dr. Spruill's descendants are members--by blood or marriage--of Davenport, Dillon, and Spruill families; "Y" DNA test-takers who are descendants of these same families are "matches" (to one degree or another) on "Y" DNA results of test-takers who are male descendants of William Hawkins (Talbot County).
Since the Spruills and Hawkinses were living in and close to Tyrrell County, N.C., as early as the first years of the 1700s, it is quite likely that the answer to the riddle of William Hawkins's place in the Spruill family will be found—if it can ever be found—in the close examination of records in this area of North Carolina and through rigorous parsing of present and future DNA results.
The 1790 census of Tyrrell County, N.C., contains an entry for the household of Thomas Hawkins (the only man by the name "Hawkins" in Tyrrell County at the time of the 1790 census) and an entry for another man named "Thomas Hawkins Spruill." Connections between Thomas Hawkins, Thomas Hawkins Spruill, and other Spruills in Tyrrell County could very well lead to an explanation for the probable descent of William Hawkins of Talbot County, Ga., through a paternal (Spruill) bloodline.
Because children--especially orphans--were passed around often quite casually in the 18th and 19th centuries, many times between family members and friends, it is possible that Jesse (or his father or his grandfather or his great-grandfather, etc.) was even "born" to a Spruill couple and later took the "Hawkins" name when he went to live with relatives or even friends in a Hawkins family. By the same token, it is possible that a male child was born to a Spruill man and his wife, that Mr. Spruill died, that Mrs. Spruill remarried and gave her "Spruill" son the name of her new husband (Mr. Hawkins). It is, of course, also very much within the realm of possibility that a Mrs. Hawkins (Jesse's mother? Jesse's grandmother?) had relations with a man named Spruill and simply pretended that the baby that resulted from her contact with Mr. Spruill was the child of her still-living husband (Mr. Hawkins). And naturally, it could be that a young woman named Hawkins never married, had relations with a man named Spruill, gave birth and used her maiden name (Hawkins) for the child.
While trying to find the exact connection between the ancestors of William Hawkins (the North Carolina native who died in Talbot County, Ga., in 1875) and the family of Dr. Godfrey Spruill, I would like to suggest that these early Hawkinses of Tyrrell County, N.C., as well as the vicinity, be kept in mind for what could be important clues:
Thomas Hawkins (d.1696), of Albemarle County ("precinct of Tyrrell"), N.C., married Elizabeth Blount.
Issue:
(A) John Hawkins (b. circa 1682) named as a grandson in the 1685 will of his maternal grandfather, Capt. James Blount. He is also named in the 1701 will of his paternal grandmother, Alice Hawkins Waide (Wade). Mrs. Waide's will includes references to, among others, Elizabeth Long (her daughter), and four Hawkins grandchildren (children of Elizabeth Blount and Thomas Hawkins): John, Thomas, James, and Elizabeth. Mrs. Waide is identified in the "Dictionary of North Carolina Biography" (William Powell, editor) as the mother of Thomas Hawkins who married Elizabeth Blount.
Also in Powell's DNCB is a separate reference to John Hawkins, son of Elizabeth Blount and Thomas Hawkins: "...John Hawkins, born about 1682 and a resident of Chowan Precinct, was the son of James Blount's daughter, Elizabeth, and her first husband, Thomas Hawkins, who died during his son's childhood. The boy was first made the ward of his paternal grandmother, Alice Hawkins Wade, but subsequently was the ward of his stepfather, Michael Lynch."
In "Related Royal Families" (the book compiled by Marilu Burch Smallwood and published by the author in 1966), especially helpful genealogical details concerning James Blount, his daughter Elizabeth Hawkins Blount, her children and grandchildren are found in the "Blount, Hawkins, Lewis" entry. Information on pages 439 to 442, which addresses—among others--Hawkinses and Spruills, should be studied closely by Hawkins researchers.
Three children named in John Hawkins's 1716 will (Chowan County) were James, Joshua, and Ann:
1. James Hawkins
a. Elizabeth Hawkins (married Isaac Davenport)
b. Mary Hawkins (married James Blount)
c. Ann Hawkins (married Thomas Lewis)
2. Joshua Hawkins
3. Ann Hawkins
(B) Thomas Hawkins, almost certainly the same Thomas Hawkins whose wife, Elizabeth, married Godfrey Spruill (son of Joseph Spruill), made a will in 1730 in Tyrrell County, N.C., in which he mentions "my now wife" Elizabeth; his wife's eldest daughter, Elizabeth; his brother James Hawkins; his son and three daughters:
1. Thomas Hawkins
2. Mary Hawkins
3. Elizabeth Hawkins
4. Sarah Hawkins
(C) James Hawkins
(D) Elizabeth Hawkins
- Roger Harris, a Hawkins descendant, November 28, 2021; revised June 2, 2022.
Gravesite Details
Unmarked grave
Family Members
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
