Family Group #14

Dolores and I were chatting a bit when I realized that we have almost nothing on this site about family group #14.  And it is a family that is of great interest to me!  Dolores' Peter Hawkins was living very near my McKinsey family in Newberry County, SC circa the Revolutionary War.  (I just checked via the Dutch Fork Atlas and it looks to be literally walking distance)  In addition to that fact, Doloris' Peter Hawkins was married to Prudence Thomas.  Prudence is almost certainly connected to the Thomas family that I looked at for many years both in the Old Frederick County area of Virginia and then in both the Orange County, NC area and then in Newberry County, SC.

I have copied information from Dolores at some point:

PETER HAWKINS came to 96 before Rev War. He was born in Va, married there, and

settled in the Stoney Hills of Newberry district. Children were: Edward, JACOB, Peter,

William, Prudence Dennis, Elizabeth Rankin. He died about 1800-1802. Jacob married

Jane Hunter (was Jane Ganter) and had children, George, Peter, Eliza, Sallie Young. from

Other Pioneers  ORIGINAL IRISH SETTLEMENT CALLED STONEY HILLS

Looking through notes that I have about Peter I find:  

20 Oct 1795 Peter Hawkins swore an oath regarding set of titles transferred in 1774 from EDWARD THOMAS TO TIMOTHY THOMAS.  Recorded 2 Jan 1796

This note certainly collaborates the fact that Peter is married to the site of these two men, but it also reminds us that Peter was probably not Quaker as he would have affirmed rather than have sworn an oath if he were Quaker.  

Harriet Imrey sent the following to the Bush River mail list:  

The other person of interest would be Peter Hawkins, who petitioned for 150 acres "In South Carolina" on 2 Oct 1770.  He wasn't "with" anybody who settled where he did (Young's Fork of Bush River, Hilbern to west, McTeer to north, Israel Gaunt to east--latter tract purchased by Peter Hawkins so he was then adjacent to Edward and Timothy Thomas.  He had wife Prudence Thomas in tow by Oct 1770, their first child Jacob was born ~1770 (per 1850 Newberry census).  He needn't have brought Prudence with him from Lunenburg Co VA however--he could have met her after arriving in SC (e.g., in the household of Edward Thomas).  Peter Hawkins's brothers and cousins settled in Greenville and Spartanburgh, so his choice of location sounds like wife Prudence had some Bush River roots already.  His 1801 Newberry will is online at www.archivesindex.sc.gov.  He lists his two surviving daughters under their maiden names, but both were married by 1800 (even the will notes that they were living in different locations).  Prudence II (daughter of Peter and Prudence Thomas Hawkins) had married James Dennis; her sister Elizabeth Hawkins married John Rankin II, son of the John Rankin who'd arrived in 1767 with Edward and Nehemiah Thomas, and who'd sold his grant to Abel Thomas.  So who was the first Mrs. Rankin?  Abel Thomas named four primary heir-lines, including the children of his brothers Isaac and Timothy, those of his sister Prudence Thomas Hawkins, and the heirs of one "Elizabeth Rankin".  If he was trying to be systematic about that, sure sounds like the wife of John Rankin I must have been his sister Elizabeth Thomas!  (John Rankin II and wife Elizabeth Hawkins Rankin would have gotten a double portion, if first cousins who were nephew and niece, respectively, to Abel Thomas).  BTW, Peter and Prudence Thomas Hawkins named their second son Edward--from her side of the family, no doubt!

Children of Peter and Prudence Thomas Hawkins:

Jacob who married Jane Ganter

                     had children Peter, George, Eliza and Sallie Young 

Peter Watson Hawkins married Mary Devall and moved to Tennessee.  He took his sons Jacob and Simeon Peter with him.  But Jacob returned to SC and became a prominent Lutheran Divine.  He married Mary Harman and now (1892) lives in Orangeburg County. 

 Simeon Peter married Isabella Taylor.  The reason the Hawkins family may have moved to Tennessee might have to do with the will  of Isabella

Dominick Taylor's grandmother , Margaret Fellers Dominick, widow of Revolutionary soldier, Henry Dominick.  When Margaret died in 1844, she left her estate to her children, which was assumed to be her surviving children.   That meant that her grandchildren from deceased children such as Isabella Taylor Hawkins would not inherit anything.  Isabella Taylor Hawkins' mother was Elizabeth Dominick Taylor and she (Elizabeth) died in 1836.  At any rate, my understanding is that Simeon Peter and wife, Isabella, along with other grandchildren sued for their share of Margaret's estate.  They won their case but the losers may not have loved them.  They might  have moved on as land was cheaper in Dyer County, Tn.  I don't know what motivated them, but they do move on after 1844 and can be found in Tn census by 1850.  

         Here's what I have on Margaretha Fellers Dominick.  

2nd wife.  First wife was her younger sister, Agnes.  Margaret’s will caused problems in the family.

1841 taxation at $1.94; Henry Dominick son was $37.82

 Henry Dominick apparently never liked William W Taylor, and showed it in 

later actions.  When he gave land to his other sons-in-law, he refused to give land to William and 

went to considerable legal effort to set up Elizabeth to where she could own land and then gave 

the land to her.  (And yet when Isabella Taylor Hawkins' father dies in 1848, already a widower, his younger sons go to his sister, Isabella,  in Tennessee, become wards of Simeon Peter Hawkins, eventually marry two of his daughters, and will  join the Confederacy army from Tn and fight with Simeon Peter.  Simeon Peter died in 1863  in an Atlanta hospital and is listed in the Confederate Army.   

If this is confusing, here is the line.  Peter and Prudence Hawkins have son, Jacob who married Jane Ganter.  Jacob had son, Peter Watson Hawkins, who had son, Simeon Peter Hawkins, who married Isabella Taylor, who was daughter of William W Taylor and Elizabeth Dominick Taylor.  Elizabeth Dominick Taylor was daughter of Henry Dominick and Margaret Fellers.   

Remember that there is a tree of this family on the Hawkins DNA website:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hawkinsdnaproject/tree_g-1.html#Group-14

Y-DNA: Why men with different surnames have a Y-DNA match

Ron Hawkins sent me a very interesting article to read that tells about why participants with differing surnames may have a yDNA match.

You can read the article for yourself at:

http://genealogy.about.com/od/dna_genetics/a/other_surnames.htm

Ron went on to tell about his own experiences with his research on his wife's ancestors which is enlightening.  Here is the information that Ron sent:

The information above I found online.   I was curious about on how the exact and close matches in Y-DNA and different surnames occur. I ran across how this could have happened while doing my wife’s family tree at the same time I was working on mine. Her family roots trace back to Norway and had I not found her relatives over there I would not have made the connection on how surnames changed. In a matter of fact they changed numerous times back in the day.  The naming patterns quite sometime ago back in Norway was different then they are now. Now the surname stays the same but was not the case years ago. Let me explain, and here is an example.


In Norway and I assume it was in other countries as well in Europe most of the people lived on farmlands, and each farm had names as well. In tradition when a family had a farm the farm was first offered to the eldest child of the family, if they did not want to live there then it was offered to the next eldest child and so on which would then become the owner of the farm. Then the parents would move into the house to live out the remainder of their lives. Most of the farms had either 1 large house or 2 houses on the farm. As I stated earlier on the naming patterns I see how the surnames changed however the Y-DNA stayed the same. Back in time in some parts of Europe the naming pattern was quite different. If the eldest child or whoever took over the farm from their parents was a male the surname and Y-DNA would stay the same, however if the eldest child that took over the farm was female this is how the Y-DNA and surname changed because of the naming pattern back then. The naming pattern back then was a little confusing if you are doing research because of this.

For a example of what I mean is as follows. Let’s assume there was a father named Nils Rustad in Norway and his wife just gave birth to a son and they named him Tor. The child’s name would end up being Tor Nilson Rustad. Tor being his given name, his middle name Nilson, means son of Nils, and his last name comes from which farm they lived on, as I stated each farm had a farm name as well as most still do yet today. So if the next generation taking over a farm in the family was a female from the family even though her husband may have had a surname such as Kraby, when they started a family the children’s surname would end up becoming Rustad because they lived on the Rustad farm. A little confusing in doing genealogy work but hope this sheds some light to other Hawkins researchers out there. I believe this is the number one cause of Y-DNA and surname changes, followed by adoption, then followed by children born to un-wed mother’s who’s children took their mother’s surname and not the father’s.