Family Group #1 in Mercer County, Kentucky

I was working on the connections between the Barnes family and the Hawkins family this weekend.  I had found a reference to a deed in Mercer County, Kentucky that had Hawkins daughters married to Barnes husbands.  I called Elaine to sort it out.  I have downloaded the deed from Family Search and filed it in Hawkins in Kentucky.

Benjamin Hawkins who married Ann/Nancy Bourne had died in 1811.  My interpretation of this deed is that Abraham has been chosen administrator of Benjamin's estate.  There is no will.  The heirs of Benjamin have come to an agreement for the land.  I only guess that Ann (their mother) plans to live with one of the children.....perhaps Abraham and his wife, Polly Coke.....and that Abraham is paying the others for the land.  The deed states that Abraham is paying $2000 to the heirs.  Five of the heirs receive slaves as part of the deal.  The slaves are named and each heir who receives 1 or 2 slaves is named.  I have taken a screen shot of the signatures.


  

My best interpretation of this screen shot is that the signatures indicate that each heir has given up claim to the land and that they have all agreed to the change in ownership for the slaves named.  And that the people are:

Abraham who is the administrator of Benjamin's will.  According to the research of Joan Horseley who also employed at times, Craig Kilby, Abraham was born in 1776.  Both Joan and Craig are now deceased.  But both were excellent researchers.  Abraham is not the oldest child of Benjamin and Ann, but I think it possible that he was the oldest son.

One of our participants in the Hawkins yDNA project, Patrick Harold Hawkins, believes that he descends from Abraham.

Reuben Boston is husband to Benjamin and Ann's daughter Sarah.  I do have information about their marriage.  From birth date that I received from Joan Horsley, Reuben would have been about 51 at this event.

William Barnes is perhaps the husband of the daughter Ann.  She is the only daughter that I have no marriage information for.  It is also possible that William Barnes is the son of daughter Elizabeth.

Someone else signs for daughter Elizabeth.  Elizabeth was married to either Fielding or William Barnes.  I am not clear on that fact.  My data base on this fact is confusing.  But almost certainly, Elizabeth's husband with last name Barnes is dead in 1811.

John Hawkins.  John Hawkins could be John B. Hawkins married to Ann Ford.  I have always put John B. Hawkins into the family group of Benjamin and Nancy/Ann Bourne Hawkins.  But I have noticed in my digging for this post that not all of the researchers attribute John B. into this family.  Some have him as son of one of the other Hawkins/Bourne families....certainly we all believe that John B. had Bourne grandparents as well as Hawkins.  This could also be a grandson.

Presley White is husband of daughter Lucy.  Lucy is a relative newly wed:

Mercer County marriage records Presley White to Lucy Hawkins with Reuben Boston as surety Nov 30, 1808.  Consent of Ann Hawkins for her daughter.

Francis Hawkins (he may have been called Frank) is the son who eventually ended up with the property described in this deed.

After Benjamin Hawkins’ death, his oldest son, Andrew [I believe this to be a mistake in the book that I was looking at at the time I was doing research on this house...should be Abraham] purchased the property from his siblings in 1811, but it was Andrew’s brother, Francis Hawkins, who eventually bought the farm and lived there.  He and his wife, Permelia, reared all ten of their children including Ann Hawkins who became the wife of John S. MCGee.  Francis Hawkins died on June 14, 1869, and one of his sons, “A”L”” Hawkins, bought out his brothers’ interests and continued to reside on the farm raising another generation of Hawkins family on the home place.....

 The original Hawkins farmhouse is still standing, although no longer used as a dwelling......

 The house and cemetery are located on Short Road just a few miles north of Salvisa.

Quite a few years ago I visited a house that fits this description.  When I have extra time, I will try to pull out my photos and notes to see if indeed this is the house that I saw at that time.

Still talking about Francis/Frank:  One of my autosomal matches says that this man’s name is Francis Gaines Hawkins.

Andrew Hawkins for Benjamin Hawkins.  I could write an entire blog post about the mysteries in my data base for sons Andrew and Benjamin....but I won't.  I do not know why Benjamin was not signing in his own right and not present.

And then Andrew signs for himself.

The last signature on the deed is Ann.  I immediately jumped to the assumption that this was Benjamin's wife, Ann Bourne Hawkins.  But, of course, it is possible that it is a daughter, Ann.  Other researchers tell me that daughter Ann married John Green.  And if that is true, she would have signed as Ann Green.  According to dates given by other researchers, Ann would have been about 27 in 1811 and would have been an old maid according to the judgments of the times if she had still had Hawkins as last name.  But either thing is possible.