Harriet Terrill was born ca 4 Apr 1812, in New Milford, CT, the daughter of Phebe Knowles and Curtiss Terrill. (Date according to headstone in 5 Corners Cemetery lists "Harriet wife of E. Hawkins d. 31 Aug 1865 53y 4m 27d" [b. 4 Apr 1812].
She came to Knox Co, OH ca 1816-17 with her parents, Terrill grandparents and several Terrill and Knowles aunts and uncles. Harriet and two of her siblings were born in CT and were under the age of five when they traveled over 600 miles to their new home in central Ohio. Her father died within a few years of their arrival in Ohio, leaving his widow with five young children to raise, Harriet being the eldest. Her siblings included Almira (md Tabor Sharpe,) Emaline (md. John Stevens,) Henry (md Lydia) and Ira (md Martha Bingham.) A few years later, Phebe Terrill remarried a man named Simmons (first name unknown) and had another child.
On Christmas Day of 1834, 22 year old Harriett married a neighbor boy, Ephraim Hawkins, probably at her mother's home. The Hawkins family had moved to Knox Co from Rhode Island a year after the Terrills had settled there.[ Knox Co, OH Marriages Records 1808-1838, p322 and Knox Co OH Marriage Certificates #2314.]
About nine months before the wedding, Ephraim and his friend, Platt Beardsley, together purchased 160 acres of land in the southwest quarter of Section 10, not far from the Terrill farm where her mother and sisters lived. The land was divided by Sycamore Road, with Ephraim and Harriet taking the 111 acre portion on the north side of the road. They built their brick house -- which still stands today (1999) facing the road. Three years later, their first daughter was born and named Phebe--for both of her grandmothers. For the next seven years, almost every other year, three more daughters followed: Eliza, Celestia M. and Rosannah Lucretia. Five years later, their final child was born -- a long awaited son, George Ephraim. Harriet was then 38.
Land inherited from Harriet's father later sold to her cousin and brother-in law
The Hawkins family was typical of most farm families in the area. Harriet and her daughters, when they were old enough, took care of the domestic chores--cooking, making clothes, feeding the livestock, gardening, milking, making bread and butter, as well as the jam, drying or smoking meat and other foods. During the the winter months, the children attended school nearby. When the new babies were born, the older girls took care of the younger ones. With only one young son, Ephraim hired other young men or older boys to help him with the planting and harvesting. One of these young men was Erial Stevens, a neighboring farm boy who had moved to Ohio from NY in 1855.
In 1841 when the citizens of Milford Twp, organized a company of volunteer infantry, Ephraim was chosen captain. "This company made quite a soldierly appearance, and for several years was one of the institutions of the township." (Hill p. 517). His two younger brothers, Harris and Charles were part of the township's martial band, which played for military musters, 4th of July celebrations and other occasions, thus beginning a tradition of both military service and musical talent carried through by Ephraim's Stevens grandchildren and great grandchildren.
In 1851, a railroad company was organized to raise funds for the building of a railroad from Pittsburg to Springfield, OH via Mt. Vernon to be located near the northern township line. Such a railroad would greatly increase property values and allow farmers of the area to more easily ship their produce to market and receive goods in return. Many local farmers pledged their support including Ephraim Hawkins and several of his cousins, as well as young Erial Stevens and his father Arnold H. Stevens. [Hill p. 518]. The railroad was never completed but the pledges had to be paid.
In 1857 and 1858 respectively, the two older daughters, Phebe and Eliza, married John and Abram Jackson, two brothers who lived on a neighboring farm. In the fall of 1861, both young couples bought adjacent farmland in Delaware County, the next county over.
When the Civil War started in 1861, son George was too young to participate but their hired hand, Erial Stevens, did join and was away for most of the 4 years of the war. Within months of his return in 1865, Harriet, Celestia and Roseannah all fell victim to scarlet fever. Harriet and daughter Celestia, then 23, both died within a month. Mother and daughter are buried side by side in the little 5 Corner Cemetery in Milford Twp, Knox Co. Her mother and sister, Emeline Stevens, are buried in the same cemetery. A few years after her death, the remainder of the family--husband Ephraim, her 3 married daughters and young son George--moved west to Montgomery Co, IA and settled on farms in the same neighborhood. Ephraim never remarried.
Marriage: Date: 25 DEC 1834, Knox Co, OH
N.N. Hill Jr., History of Knox County Ohio: Its Past and Present (Mount Vernon, OH: A.A. Graham & Co., 1881)
WPA Project, Knox County Cemetery Records (Knox County Historical Society) Five Points-Disney Cemetery, Milford Township [dates are birth dates based on death dateand age on head stone] --Harriet (Terrill) w/o Ephraim Hawkins d. 31 Aug 1865 53y 4m 27d [b. 4 Apr 1812] ----Celestia M. d/o Ephraim and Harriet Hawkins d. 27 Sept 1865 23y [b. 1842]
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Harriet is 23 degrees from Herbert Adair, 21 degrees from Richard Adams, 18 degrees from Mel Blanc, 25 degrees from Dick Bruna, 19 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 31 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 21 degrees from Sam Edwards, 17 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 22 degrees from Marty Krofft, 15 degrees from Junius Matthews, 15 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 20 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.