John Hawks (1643 - aft. 1722)

Born 10 Aug 1643 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut Colony

Husband of Martha (Baldwin) Hawks — married 26 Dec 1667 (to 1676) in Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Husband of Alice (Unknown) Hawks — married 20 Nov 1696 in Deerfield, Franklin, MA

Descendants

Died after Jan 1722 after age 78 in Waterbury, New Haven, Connecticut Colony

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Steven Barcomb [send private message], Cheryl Bostrom [send private message], and Fay Poe [send private message]

Biography

John Hawks was born on 10 August 1643 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut Colony, and he was baptized there on 13 August 1643. His parents were John and Elizabeth (Unknown) Hawks.^[1][2]

While in Windsor John apprenticed as a carpenter and possibly as a cabinetmaker. John's family moved to Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1660. His father died there in 1662, leaving John, age 19, the oldest of the eight surviving siblings.

John is believed to have made cabinets, several of which existing ones have been attributed to him. See The cabinetmakers of America for details.^[3]

John married Martha Baldwin, daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Whitlock) Baldwin, on 27 December 1667, in Hadley.^[4][5] The marriage was recorded in Hatfield vital records. Hatfield was created from Hadley in 1670, and John's land was in the Hatfield division, across the Connecticut River from Hadley.

John and Martha had children:

1. Hannah (1668-1744), married Jonathan Scott
2. John (ca 1671), d. 6 July 1671^[4]
3. John (ca 1673-1704), married Thankful Smead, killed by Indians

In 1668 John signed a petition against the imposition of taxes on imports into Massachusetts Colony, on the assumption that Connecticut Colony would retaliate with their own taxes.^[6]

In 1675 John Hawks moved his family to Deerfield, Hampshire (now Franklin), Massachusetts Bay Colony, where he occupied land of Col. John Pynchon of Springfield.^[7] However, Deerfield was totally destroyed several months later in an Indian attack prompted by the outbreak of King Philip's War. The Hawks family survived and moved back to Hadley, probably initially moving in with one of their parents.

John's wife Martha died on 7 January 1675/6, in Hadley.^[4][8] John was left with two young children, and judging by John's subsequent military history, his children were probably initially brought up in one of their grandparents' homes.

On 18 May 1676 John and his brother Eliezer served with Capt. William Turner in an attack (the Falls fight) on an Indian encampment at Peskeompskut, which included women and children. The attack was successful but Turner and many others were killed during a disastrous retreat.

Eleven days later, in response to the Peskeompskut attack, Pocumtuck Indians attacked Hatfield. John and other Hadley residents spotted the attack and crossed the river to give aid. They landed and took cover behind trees, as did the Indians. Supposedly, during this encounter John and a Pocumtuck Indian mutually recognized one another, each calling the other out. John stepped out from behind his tree and pretended to aim in a different direction. The Indian stepped out with his gun cradled, anticipating an easy shot. John quickly turned and shot the Pocumtuck. The fighting continued, and John was later seriously wounded. He required twelve weeks to recover from his wound.^[7] On 30 May 1679 the General Court of Massachusetts Bay voted him compensation for his valor.

In 1683 John Hawks again moved to Deerfield with his children, now ages about 15 and 10. He bought land from Colonel John Pynchon and built a house on it. However, by 1687 John must have defaulted on his agreement with Pynchon, as Pynchon sold the property to another man that year. John apparently had other land in Deerfield, as he later sold a lot to his brother Eliezer. In January 1684/5 John and two other men were ordered by the town to measure all of the lots in Deerfield. In 1685 John helped to construct the minister's house. In 1688 John appears on the list of men allocated wood lots.^[7]

John's children were both married in Deerfield, Hannah in 1694 and John Jr. in 1696. After their wedding Hannah and her husband Jonathan Scott moved to Waterbury, Connecticut Colony, where Jonathan lived. On 20 November 1696 John Hawks Sr. married, second, Alice (Unknown) Allis, widow of Samuel Allis, a fellow soldier.^[9][10]

John and Alice had a daughter:

1. Elizabeth (1697-1704)^[11]

Queen Anne's War started in 1702, and Indian activity was strongly supported by French soldiers from Canada. On the night of 29 February 1703/4 a large French and Indian force attacked and breached the palisades behind which most Deerfield settlers were sleeping. John and a few other men who were warned by the noises managed to escape, probably to regroup and form a resistance force. The families they left behind were almost all killed. John's son John and his wife and their three children were killed. John's wife and her children were killed, and his daughter Elizabeth, about six years old, was made a captive and perished on the way to Canada..^[12] John's extended family most likely died when their house was set afire, either by burns or by suffocation.^[7]

In July 1704 John was riding alone from Deerfield to Hatfield. He was shot at and wounded in the hand during an attempted ambush.^[7]

John left Deerfield for Waterbury in 1705, to live with his daughter Hannah and her family. He did not escape Indian troubles, however, as in about 1708 Hannah's brother-in-law Joseph Scott was killed by Indians not far from her home, and in 1710 Hannah's husband Jonathan Scott and their son John were captured by Indians and taken to Canada. Jonathan's right thumb was cut off to incapacitate him, and he remained in Canada for two years, returning by October 1712. Their son John apparently never returned.

John's last record is the sale of land in Deerfield to his brother Eliezer in January 1721/2. He may have sold the land to help support his daughter and son-in-law, as in 1621 Jonathan Scott petitioned the courts for support because "while he was a captive and prisoner at Canada, he was under distressing circumstances, and necessitated to take up money upon credit for his subsistence and relic, and had taken up ten pounds and prudently spent the same."^[13]

John's death record has not been found. He has a Find A Grave: Memorial #125357340.

Research Notes

There was a Sergeant John Hawks of Deerfield who was active militarily in the 1740s. The John Hawks of this profile was active in militias and impromptu skirmishes, but there is no record of him being a sergeant, or of being addressed as such.

Sources

1. ↑ Welles, Edwin. Births, Marriages, and Deaths Returned from Hartford, Windsor, and Fairfield, and Entered in the Early Land Records of the Colony of Connecticut (Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., 1898) GoogleBooks
2. ↑ Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630-1870 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928. NEHGS member site
3. ↑ Hall, Ethel, The cabinetmakers of America, pp,121-122. HathiTrust
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 Hatfield, v.1 pp.229, 293 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). NEHGS member site
5. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29L-2183 : 20 May 2022), John Hawks, 26 Dec 1667; citing Marriage, Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 004325917.
6. ↑ The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. v.9 p.91 Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.) NEHGS member site
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4} Sheldon, George, A History of Deerfield, Massachusetts: the times when the people by whom it was settled, unsettled and resettled, 1895, pp. 45, 170-171, 194, 302-308, 321 InternetArchive
8. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29L-LVLR : 20 May 2022), John Hawkes in entry for Martha Hawkes, 7 Jan 1675; citing Death, Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 004325917.
9. ↑ New England Marriages to 1700. Torrey, v.2 p.722 (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. NEHGS member site
   • Text: "HAWKES, John (1643-1721+) & 2/wf Alice (____) ALLIS, w Samuel; 20 Nov 1696; Hadley/Waterbury, CT {Deerfield 2:189; Sv. 1:42; Allis Gen. 9; Baldwin 488}"
10. ↑ "Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1925", database with images, FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FC4H-72B : 29 December 2022), John Hawks, 1696.
11. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQXL-W3L : 15 January 2020), Jno. Hawks in entry for Elizabeth Hawks, 1697.
12. ↑ The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.) NEHGS member site
13. ↑ Pritchard, Sarah, The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, 1896, Joseph Anderson, editor, v.1 p.165, pp.257-263 HathiTrust