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| Doris Christensen/Find a Grave |
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| Doris Christensen |
The death earlier this year --- on Feb. 9 at Mount Ayr --- of the Rev. Charles Hawkins at age 86 brought back a lot of childhood memories from the days our parents were neighbors and close friends in the neighborhood south of Trinity Church, near Russell.
Charles was considerably older, but I remember him as the kindly older kid who was patient with a little brat who turned 4 the year he graduated from Russell High School. He went on to study for the Baptist ministry and for a time, my parents along with his, Cecil and Alice Hawkins, were among his groupies, traveling from church to church to hear him preach.
I can't say that I remember any of the church services, but I do remember visiting after an evening service the big fancy house in Monroe --- his first call --- where he and wife, Phyllis, were living temporarily with parishioners. And the painted baptistry backdrop --- a mountain scene --- at Prairie Flower Baptist Church, north of Washington, his next call. For better or worse, I've always been more interested in decor than sermons.
This isn't about Charles, however, but about his great-great-uncle and aunt, Samuel and Perninah (Barton) Hawkins, who were only 35 and 27 respectively when they died in the 1870s --- a considerable age contrast to the age attained by Charles --- also buried in the Russell Cemetery. (For the genealogical record, Charles was the only son of Cecil Hawkins who was a son of James Harvey Hawkins who was, in turn, a son of James Clayton Hawkins --- Samuel's elder brother; most if not all of the Russell Hawkins family descends from James Harvey.)
Samuel penned a brief will just days before he died on March 3, 1879, that resulted in erection of a fine tombstone at his mother's grave in Des Moines County, the removal of his young wife's remains from their initial resting place half a state away to Russell and the fine tombstone erected after that in the Russell Cemetery to mark their graves. It's a distinctive document, offering insight into this young man's final concerns nearly 140 years ago.
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The Iowa pioneers responsible for this branch of the Hawkins family were William and Mary Ann (Coover) Hawkins, who married during 1839 in Fayette County, Ohio, and brought their three older children --- William H., James C. and Samuel --- to the vicinity of Danville, northwest of Burlington in Des Moines County, Iowa, during the early 1840s.
William Hawkins died relatively young during 1849, leaving Mary Ann to raise their family alone. Daughter Mary E. was born posthumously during 1850.
The sons were old enough when William died to farm so the family did OK. Samuel, as the youngest, was the last of the children at home with his mother when the 1870 federal census was taken.
Two years later, on the 14th of March, 1872, Samuel married Perninah Barton; a month later, on April 17, Mary Ann Hawkins died and was buried in what now is called the Blakeway Cemetery near Danville.
Samuel and Perninah moved after that to Fremont County in southwestern Iowa, but she died there on Jan. 22, 1876, at the age of 27 and was buried initially in the Riverton Cemetery.
Also during the late 1860s and 1870s, Samuel's brothers and sister (Mary was by this time married to Martin V, Barton) had settled near LaGrange, on the Lucas-Monroe county line. As Samuel's health began to fail, they most likely encouraged him to move to Russell in order to be nearer to them.
Little more than a week before he died, Samuel wrote the following will, witnessed by his brothers:
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| Find a Grave |
"I Samuel Hawkins of lawful age and sound mind do make this my last will as follows, viz: First, the grave of my mother in More graveyard in Desmoines County, Iowa, to be enclosed with iron fence and marked with good head stone at a cost of $100. Second, the body of my departed wife which is in Raverton Semetery in Freemont County, Iowa, to be taken up and intered beside my body and the graves to be fenced with iron fence and marked with good stones at a cost of $100 each. The balance of my property to be divided as follows: $25 to J.C. Hawkins my brother and the balance divided between W.H. Hawkins and Mary E. Barton, my brother and sister ...."
The tombstone placed on Mary's grave appears to date from soon after Samuel's death, so that part of the bequest apparently was fulfilled promptly. Why Samuel made no effort to memorialize his father, I can't say.
The fine monument in the Russell graveyard that marks the graves of both Samuel and Perninah appears to be later and does not quite meet specifications --- one stone instead of two, for example. But it is a fine, expensive monument (granite was just coming into use and often was combined with marble, as is the case here, about 1890). So I think Samuel would be satisfied.
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