Jacob Eaton Hawkins First Marriage
These notes were originally made by Charles H. Hawkins, 1936 W. Morse Avenue, Chicago IL. in the 1940s. He corresponded extensively with my grandfather, Ed McCarrel, in 1949. Luckily, all these notes were saved and are now in my possession. (I have taken the liberty of editing some of the syntax and grammar).
Jacob Eaton Hawkins was born Jan. 27,1800 on an island in Squam Lake in the town of Center Harbor, New Hampshire. This island was just large enough for two farms. One part of the island belonged to the town of Center Harbor. The other half was in the town of Holderness, and was owned by William Hawkins, brother of Elijah. About 1810, the family moved to the mainland of Holderness and remained there for several years. Jacob's sister, Mary Hawkins, married Ebenezer Smith Cotton in Holderness, and (the Cottons) removed to the town of the Vershire, Vermont. The records of Vershire state that Thomas W. Davenport; Justice of the Peace married Jacob E. Hawkins and Eliza Scribner, both of Vershire, in the absence of the Town Clerk, on the 27th day of February 1820. There is no record of Jacob's owning any property in Vershire, or of any children being born in Vershire.
The next that this writer knows about Jacob Eaton Hawkins is that he was taxed in Hartland, Vermont in 1838, 1839, and 1840, and was probably living there, but did not own property, from about 1836 to 1845. In 1845 his brother stated in a letter that he did not know where he was. There is a family tradition that he went to sea and was not heard from afterwards. At that time of the disappearance there were two young children in the home, Emaline Edes Hawkins and George Clinton Hawkins, both of whom were born between 1825 and 1836.
Emaline Hawkins married Moses Clint Brown on Sunday, September 24, 1848 in the First Methodist Church, Dracut, Massachusetts, in the presence of the congregation. At some time the Brown family moved to Lowell, Massachusetts and they operated a rooming house. Eliza Scribner Hawkins and her son, George moved to Lowell with them. Soon thereafter, there came to the Brown's rooming house a Mary Eliza Hayward who had come with several other young people from a Saint Albans, (Thetford), Vermont, to work in the mills at Lowell. George and Mary Eliza fell in love and were married at Lowell on March 18, 1854, when he was 18 and she was 17 years old. Subsequently, the Brown family moved to Lee County, Iowa, near Fort Madison. Eliza Scribner Hawkins, George Clinton Hawkins, and his young wife, Mary Eliza Hayward Hawkins went with them.
On the 1860 Federal Census of the State of Iowa, Lee County, Pleasant Ridge Township, adjoining Denmark, George Clinton Hawkins is designated a farmer, and living with him is his mother, Eliza, age 64. He later served in the Civil War, applying for a pension in 1877. On his application he states that he was 41 years old, born in Hartland, Vermont, and that his parents were Eliza and Jacob Eaton Hawkins.
Jacob Eaton Hawkins may have been named for Jacob Eaton, one of the earliest settlers of Meredith, New Hampshire, which adjoins Center Harbor to the south. Jacob Eaton's wife was Mary Dudley, whose relationship to Sarah Dudley, of our family, is not known at this time.
It is not know where Jacob Eaton Hawkins lived from 1820 to 1835. The federal census of 1830 does not list his family in either Vermont or New Hampshire. However, he lived in Hartland, Vermont in 1840. The 1840 Federal Census lists his age 40 to 50 years; wife ( Eliza Scribner) of 40 to 50 years; a son (George Clinton) 5 to10 years; a daughter (Emaline Edes)10 to 15 years; a daughter 15 to 20 years. The name of the older daughter is not known. It may have been Mary Ann. Perhaps there were other children.
During the summer of 1838, Jacob worked for his brother James M. Hawkins, who carried freight by boat on the Connecticut River, and on land to the town's adjoining.
Addendum by Robert M. Souda, M.D.
The timing is right for his encounter with Louisa. It is 1838. Jacob is away from home, working on the Connecticut River, and is familiar with boats, the seaport, shipping, etc. (James O. Hawkins is born in 1839).
In 1845 his brother stated in a letter that he did not know where Jacob was. There is a family tradition that he went to sea and was not heard from afterwards. It seems that he was known to the "first family" until the middle1840s.
So, it is possible that Louisa and James O. lived alone for some years in Connecticut. Obviously, there is a reunion with Jacob at some point. Jacob, Louisa, and James O. are enumerated in the 1850 Federal Census, Harris County, Texas --- and, as they say, the rest is history!!!!!!!!!!