Martha (Baldwin) Hawks (abt. 1646 - 1676)

Born about 1646 in Milford, New Haven, Connecticut Colony

Ancestors

Wife of John Hawks — married 26 Dec 1667 (to 1676) in Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 7 Jan 1676 at about age 30 in Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Biography

Martha Baldwin was born in early 1646, based on her baptism in March 1645/6 by the Rev. Peter Prudden, in Milford, New Haven, Connecticut Colony.^[1] Her parents were Joseph and Hannah (Whitlock) Baldwin.^[2]

Martha's mother died about 1661,^[3] and her father moved the family to Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony by about 1663. In 1666 Joseph Baldwin married, second, Isabelle (Ward) (Catlin) (Northam), as her third husband.

Martha married John Hawkes 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 Hawks' land was in the Hatfield division, across the Connecticut River from Hadley. Later Baldwin records indicate that they were also in the Hatfield division.

Martha and John 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 1675 John Hawks moved his family to Deerfield, Hampshire (now Franklin), Massachusetts Bay Colony, where he occupied land of Col. John Pynchon of Springfield.^[6] 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.

Martha died on 7 January 1675/6, in Hadley.^[4][7] 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.

Martha predeceased her father, who died in 1684. In his will dated 1680 he remembers his daughter Martha Hawks, deceased, and gives five pounds each to her children John and Hanna, when they come of age.^[8]

Martha has a Find A Grave: Memorial #125364153, (which has several errors).

Sources

1. ↑ Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630-1870 Milford, p.12 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928. NEHGS member site
2. ↑ "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V2SC-T29 : 7 January 2020), Martha Baldwin, 1646.
3. ↑ "Connecticut, Charles R. Hale Collection, Vital Records, 1640-1955", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89F5-37M6?cc=2658554 : 20 June 2023), > image 1 of 1.
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. ↑ 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
7. ↑ "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.
8. ↑ Hampshire County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1660-1889. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2016, 2017. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives and the Hampshire County Court. Digitized mages provided by FamilySearch.org) NEHGS member site

See also:

• Daniel White Wells and Reuben Field Wells. A History of Hatfield, Massachusetts, in Three Parts. Springfield, Massachusetts, F.C.H. Gibbons, 1910.

• Lucius Manlius Boltwood. Genealogies of Hadley Families: Embracing the Early Settlers of the Towns of Hatfield, South Hadley, Amherst, and Granby. Metcalf printers,1862. Courtesy of Google Books, https://play.google.com.