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| AMBROSE HAWKINS VS AMBROSE HAWKINS VS AMBROSE HAWKINS | ||||
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There were a lot of men by that name who have lived in Halifax County, NC over
the years. But there are three of them who researchers don't seem to
understand the differences between. One of the first thing that would
help is that researchers take the time to view the records they are using
before deciding which belongs to which. In addition, two of them were
members of the white HAWKINS Family who were slaveowners, and one of them
was not, he was a free person of color, listed as mulatto in his
census starting in 1830. The only thing they all had in common were their
names. I'll start with the oldest. (1) AMBROSE HAWKINS (1775-1843) was white. He was the son of ISHAM HAWKINS (1752-1817 Halifax, NC) and AMY ROANE (1752-bef 1818 Halifax, NC). ISHAM was the son of JOHN HAWKINS, b. ca 1722, who first showed up in the area purchasing land near Roanoke River in 1745. A genealogy of his early family can be viewed at "Descendants of John Hawkins of Halifax County". AMBROSE & his siblings were mentioned in his father's will: Daughters PATSY DAVIS, NANCY BAGBY, CHARITY PARKER & POLLY HAWKINS; Sons AMBROSE, GABRIEL & JOHN HAWKINS, as well as son WILLIAM HAWKINS, who was deceased by the time of ISHAM's will, written April 26, 1817. ISHAM's will is transcribed here: https://www.ncgenweb.us/halifax/wills/wills3-halifax.htm#hawkins AMBROSE was married to MARTHA "PATSY" BAGBY. He appeared in the Halifax County Census from 1810-1840. AMBROSE didn't leave a will, but by 1843 when he died, there are various papers from his estate including the distribution of his Slaves, which identify his family members. His widow PATSY HAWKINS, sons JAMES & BENJAMIN W. HAWKINS; daughters ELIZABETH GREEN (m: ELISHA P. GREEN), MARY ZOLLICOFFER (mar: JEROME B. ZOLLICOFFER), MARTHA HAWKINS (mar: ELISHA P. GREEN, after sister's death), and AMY FULGRAM (mar: TURNER FULGRAM). https://www.ncgenweb.us/halifax/wills/wills8-halifax.htm#hawkins-a (2) AMBROSE HAWKINS (abt. 1803-bef. 1890) was a Free Person of Color (FPOC). He was the son of HENRY & PENNY HAWKINS of Halifax, NC. He's listed with various occupations in each census, laborer, shoe drummer (shoemaker & salesman), farm hand and farmer. AMBROSE was married in 1823 to CHINA HARWELL (1794-abt 1836), who was also from a FPOC family, the daughter of SALLY HARWELL. He first appeared in the 1830 Census, then from 1850 thru 1880, always in Halifax County. He also was well respected by most people since at the request of a neighbor, JOSEPH J. GRAY, a prominent landowner and slaveholder, he agreed to travel to Liberia, Africa in 1832 to find out more about whether or not it would be a good place to emigrate to. GRAY was planning on freeing his slaves and was arranging with the American Colonization Society to have them transported to Liberia. AMBROSE & other FPOC had apparently also expressed some interest in going there, and he ended up being the one who was sent to check out the colony. AMBROSE did visit and returned to Halifax, apparently giving good reviews because a number of families, including some of his own in-laws, did move to Liberia, but he'd decided to not go himself. Unfortunately, many of those who did move, died of disease in Liberia, and since it was around the same time that AMBROSE's wife, CHINA, also died in about 1836, it could have been why he and his family didn't leave Halifax. (Thank goodness or I wouldn't be here!) AMBROSE remarried to LUCY LYNCH, b.1814, a member of the FPOC families of Halifax, but I don't know for sure who her parents were. AMBROSE & CHINA HARWELL- HAWKINS were the parents of SUSAN HAWKINS (m: JOSEPH COPELAND), FRANCES HAWKINS (m: BENJAMIN COPELAND), SALLY ELIZA HAWKINS (m: ROBERT COPELAND; HILLIARD HULIN), HARRIET HAWKINS (m: GARDNER RUDD), HIRAM HAWKINS (m: ELIZABETH WIGGINS), JOSEPH J. HAWKINS (m: SALLY ANN WIGGINS; LUCY REYNOLDS), WILLIAM HILLIARD HAWKINS (m: MARY E. HULIN; MALINDA BOONE), TEMPY HAWKINS, & ZEDOCK HAWKINS (m: REBECCA ELIZABETH BARNES). There is a "JOHN HAWKINS" born 1866, who first shows up in 1880 listed as "son" to AMBROSE & LUCY. He was 14 years old at the time, and wasn't in the 1870 Census with them, and I have many doubts about him really being their son, first of which is that LUCY would have been too old to have given birth to him. It's highly probable that he was another child that they took in, because each previous year since 1860, there were grandchildren & young cousins living with them. I haven't found anything else on that "JOHN HAWKINS", so his identity still remains a mystery. AMBROSE didn't leave a will or Estate record. There are no known photos of either him or his wife, CHINA. (3) AMBROSE HAWKINS (1836-1901) was white. This AMBROSE was the son of WYATT HAWKINS (1800-1877) & MARTHA WILLIAMS (1806-abt 1840). WYATT was the grandson of ISHAM HAWKINS & AMY ROANE. AMBROSE first appeared listed as age 12, in the 1850 Census living with his father WYATT HAWKINS and stepmother/aunt TEMPY (WILLIAMS), along with his siblings. WYATT's wife, MARTHA, had died sometime around 1840 and he then had married her sister, TEMPERANCE. AMBROSE was a Civil War Soldier with the Confederacy, who enlisted in Halifax County, NC in 1862. He first married in December 1866 to ELIZABETH BUTTS, which marriage only lasted a fairly short time since he remarried on April 21, 1870 to MARY ELIZABETH BARNES (1847-1934). AMBROSE and MARY E. were together in the Halifax County Census through 1900. He died March 8, 1901. MARY died Decembr 22, 1934 in Roanoke Rapids, Halifax, NC. AMBROSE's children were LUCIUS MONTGOMERY, EUGENIA, CHARLIE, WILLIS, HILDA, FRANCES ARIZONA, NORA & ELIZABETH HAWKINS. For those doubting TEMPERANCE's identity, since most trees have combined WYATT's wives into one person, the answer is in her Estate file in 1878. A page from her administrator reads: "The undersigned Administrator of TEMPIE HAWKINS, deceased, has paid unto the next of kin of his intestate, the amount ($145.21) due by him to her estate. & has taken their receipts which are herewith filed. Said intestate died without issue & her next of kin are AMBROSE HAWKINS & MARGARET HAWKINS children, & WM W. HAWKINS & RICH'D D. HAWKINS, grandchildren of a deceased sister. All of which is respectfull submitted, this the 23d day of April 1880." (AMBROSE & MARGARET were the surviving children of WYATT & MARTHA; WILLIAM WYATT & RICHARD HAWKINS were the 2 young children of WYATT's deceased son HOWELL REDDIN HAWKINS.) Although AMBROSE HAWKINS & ELIZABETH BUTTS were only married a short time, there is a photo of them. It has been widely circulated on Ancestry .com, where many have incorrectly attached it to AMBROSE HAWKINS & CHINA HARWELL! I know for a fact who it was because when the photo was first put online about 9 or 10 years ago by the original owner, I contacted her and asked her about it. She told me who it was, and the fact that it had been taken as their marriage photo. Since then, unfortunately the image has been downloaded & re-uploaded thousands of times, each time being renamed, cut in half & mislabeled as "AMBROSE HAWKINS & CHINA HARWELL" by anyone who saves it. I've constantly told people that the photo is NOT them, most often they don't want to believe me. More recently, I came across another image shared on Ancestry which states "from A History of Hawkins Chapel United Methodist Church by Cleveland M. Hawkins", a page which was put online in 2013. It is a page from that church's book, a white church in historical times, which includes the same image of AMBROSE HAWKINS (1836-1901) and a listing of his children. Obviously this is good evidence of the identity of the person in the photo, so I hope more people will also read the info on it. So, for anyone who have any of these families in their trees, please take some time to review them to get it right. These are the photos in question. They are AMBROSE HAWKINS and ELIZABETH BUTTS.
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©2023 to present by Deloris Williams, the NCGenWeb Project, Inc., and/or individual contributors. No portion of this or any document appearing on this site is to be used for other than personal research. Last updated 10/23/2023
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