Hawkins grandfather of Davey Crockett

 Ryan McDaniel is a descendant of Nathan Hawkins.  He offered the following information about Rebecca Hawkins and her son, Nathan.  Nathan is the grandfather of Davey Crockett.  If you have questions, Ryan can be reached at ryan.d.mcdaniel@gmail.com

Who Was the Father of Nathan, son of Rebecca Hawkins?

Nathan Hawkins was born 16 Nov 1722 in Baltimore County, Maryland, to Rebecca Hawkins, and died 1781-1783 in Sullivan County, North Carolina (now Tennessee).  He was the ancestor of many of the Hawkins lines that moved south and west, and was the maternal grandfather of Davy Crockett. [1]  His mother Rebecca had been orphaned (with her older siblings) in 1705, and had lived since then with her paternal uncle Joseph Hawkins in Baltimore. [2]  Rebecca was presumably unmarried at the time of Nathan's birth, as she is listed by full name, and his father's name is given in the church records simply as "John." [3] As a result, Nathan's parentage is not entirely clear, but previous research, especially by Jeanne Bornefeld, as well as the advent of yDNA relationship testing, has narrowed things down considerably. [4]

A "Double Hawkins"

In particular, Jeanne noted that "We have the male Hawkins line through the YDNA of Nathan's sons and his mother, Rebecca's, brother's male descendants." [5]  This statement is somewhat unclear, but after discussion with Jeanne, she clarified that "[A] direct male descendant of Rebecca's brother, Matthew ... matches YDNA to Rebecca's son, Nathan," but that "I do not know the strength of relationship between Nathan and a male of Rebecca's kin, his father." [6]

If the yDNA of his descendants matches that of his uncle Matthew, then Nathan's unknown father was also part of Hawkins Family Group #5, and thus a first- or second-generation descendant of John Hawkins I, "Mariner of New England" (died 1675 O.S., Anne Arundel County, Maryland). [7]

Candidates for Nathan's Father

Because Nathan's father has to have been a descendant of John Hawkins I, the list of potential candidates is short.  John I is known to have had 5 sons: John II, Matthew, Augustine, Joseph, and Thomas.  All together, there are 13 known male descendants of John Hawkins I through the second generation. [8]  Of those, 6 can be ruled out immediately as they either were already dead, or were too young at the time of Nathan's conception (abt. Feb 1722) to have been his father.

• John II (uncle, also called John Sr.): roughly 60yo, living either in Anne Arundel County or Baltimore County
  
• John III (cousin, also called John Jr.): about 28yo, living in St George's Parish, northeastern Baltimore County
  
• Joseph (cousin): was only ~10yo in Feb 1722
• Matthew (father): died in 1705
• Matthew (half-brother): about 28yo, living in Baltimore County
  
• Augustine (brother): about 20yo, whereabouts unknown
  
• Augustine (uncle): died in 1700
• had only daughters
• Thomas (uncle): died in 1715
• Aaron (cousin): was ~16yo in Feb 1722, prob. living in Anne Arundel County
  
• Joseph (cousin): was ~14yo in Feb 1722, prob. living in Anne Arundel County
• Joseph (uncle): about 47yo; Rebecca was living at his house in Baltimore
  
• John (cousin): was ~8yo in Feb 1722
• Augustine (cousin): was only 1yo in Feb 1722

Speculation

None of the other candidates can be conclusively ruled in or out based on either age or location, as they all seem to have been living within about 30 miles of Baltimore, where Rebecca was living with her uncle Joseph.  Recalling that the Maryland Births and Christenings database listed Nathan's father simply as "John" (see Note 3), there are two possibilities:

1. If the database is accurate, then Nathan's father must have been either Rebecca's cousin John III/John Jr., or perhaps less probably, his father John II/John Sr.
2. If the database is wrong, and "John" was just a random name, then Rebecca's uncle Joseph is probably the most likely candidate, as the two were living in the same household.  One of her brothers could be Nathan's father -- it was after all a descendant of her half-brother Matthew whose yDNA provided the match for Nathan's descendants -- but (purely subjectively) that seems less likely than for Rebecca to have become pregnant by her uncle.  In any event, Rebecca's cousins Aaron and Joseph seem the least likely options, as they were both the youngest, and lived the farthest away.

Summary

Nathan Hawkins's father was a close relative of his mother, Rebecca Hawkins, and was one of 7 men, all descendants of John Hawkins I the Mariner.  Any specific identification is speculation unless and until yDNA can conclusively establish that one male line is a stronger match to Nathan's descendants than the others.

Notes:

[1] Robert W. Barnes, Baltimore County Families, 1659-1759 (Baltimore: Clearfield, 1996), 323.  Jeanne Bornefeld, "Family group #5," Hawkins DNA project, 23 Jun 2019, https://hawkinsdna.blogspot.com/2019/06/family-group-5.html.   Jeanne Bornefeld, "Family Group #5," Hawkins DNA project, 8 Feb 2015, https://hawkinsdna.blogspot.com/2015/02/family-group-5.html.

[2] Bornefeld, "Family group #5," 2019.

[3] "Maryland Births and Christenings, 1650-1995", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HYGJ-QRPZ : 12 February 2020), Nathen Hawkens, 1722.  NB: This is a database entry only; no original image was available and the author has not checked the physical repository to verify the information.

[4] On this website, see Bornefeld, "Family group #5," 2019.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Jeanne Bornefeld, email correspondence with the author, 7-8 Nov 2021.  Note Jeanne's use of the word "matches" should not be read as "is exactly equal to," but rather as "is familially related to."  The author's understanding, based on this correspondence, is that all of Group 5 is potentially ruled in as Nathan's father, and there is insufficient genetic data to explicitly rule out any Group 5 male of the appropriate age.

[7] See "Outline Trees, History, and Photos / Family Group-05," Hawkins Worldwide DNA Project, 14 Oct 2021, http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~hawkinsdnaproject/genealogy/tree_g-1.html#Group-05.

[8] Barnes, Baltimore County Families, 321.  Bornefeld, "Family group #5," https://hawkinsdna.blogspot.com/2019/096/family-group-5.html.  "A John Hawkins Hiding in the Records of Colonial Maryland," White Hat Descendant, 16 Aug 2014, http://whitehatdescendant.blogspot.com/2014/08/.