tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5385252747351023559.post9168364916502526621..comments2024-01-09T15:32:41.869-08:00Comments on Hawkins DNA project: Hawkins autosomal DNA matches in Family Group #1marshamoseshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12638321623337798500noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5385252747351023559.post-58733815961476397462017-01-23T12:14:58.266-08:002017-01-23T12:14:58.266-08:00Our Short Mountain tour a while back was a wonderf...Our Short Mountain tour a while back was a wonderful experience. We found the grave sites of Joseph T and Eliza Hawkins ( my great great grandparents ) buried in the shadow of Short Mt at the Banks Presbyterian Church and Cemetery. Many of their children are buried there too. I held in my hands church records dating back to the 1840's from The Short Mountain Methodist Church, where we all met, that my great great great grandfather, John Hawkins, helped establish, along with many other relatives that married into my Hawkins lineage. Kent Blanton's father ( the Blanton's married into us )in his 80's, remarked how much me and my cousins who joined us for the trip, looked like all the Hawkins he knew growing up on the mountain. Since then, I have made 2 more trips up there, and have found my great great, and great great great, grandparents on my father's mother's side, W.W. Masey and his parents, Micajah and Mary Masey. Micajah's ( pronounced "my cage ah" ) headstone has fallen over and broke in half, and I plan to fix that. They are buried at the Preston Cemetery, and his headstone is facing the peak of Short Mt. I have become all become almost certain that John Hawkins was Joseph T. Hawkins' dad, and therefore my third great grandfather, as he had a land grant for a 100 acre section of Short Mt, right in between the 2 peaks. Relatives of mine had grants for the est of the mt. I have other cousins who I have found through DNA matches that are coming from Virginia and New York in May to visit their ancestral home. One thing is for sure... at least 5 generations of my Hawkins family ( my father, his father, his father, his father, and his father: Jessie Allen, Willie Richard, Joseph Irvin, Joseph T. and John ) all lived on Short Mountain. They were farmers and moonshiners, settled that area, helped create Mechanicsville ( a small hamlet at the base of Short Mt ), started the Short Mt Methodist Church, and many of my Hawkins cousins are still up there. I grew up visiting my aunts and uncles on Short Mt, all the way up to the late 70's. Then all my immediate Hawkins passed away. But it has reclaimed me. The pull is strong. I get up there as often as I can ( it's an hour drive from my house ). If you scratch Short Mountain soil, us Hawkins bleed. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14994179989622984409noreply@blogger.com