The Hawkins Family of Bradford, Pennsylvania

This family came from Pittsburgh to Bradford, but for two or more generations had been residents in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. Originally an agricultural family, the next generation followed the holy calling of the minister, while the present representative has passed a long and useful life in business pursuits. The family records give no trace of the ancestry, nor do Westmoreland county records.

(I) Thomas Hawkins

Thomas Hawkins settled at an early day in Westmoreland county, on a farm at Youngstown, where he passed the greater part of his life, died and is buried in the Youngstown cemetery with others of his family. He married, November 29, 1803, Jane Riley, who also died and is buried in Youngstown. They were both members of the Presbyterian church.

Children

1. James. Born October 13, 1804; married Jane Boyd.
2. Matthew. Born February 17, 1806; married Mary Boyd.
3. Thomas. Born October 3, 1807; was an itinerant decorative painter, finally settling in Arkansas.
4. David Riley. Of whom further.
5. Ann. Born June 27, 1812; married Alex Ross.

(II) David Riley Hawkins

David Riley, son of Thomas and Jane (Riley) Hawkins, was born at Youngstown, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1810. He learned the tailor’s trade, continuing until twenty years of age in his native town. He then began studying for the ministry and was ordained, joining the Pittsburgh conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. He filled many charges most acceptably, his last being Asbury Chapel in Pittsburgh. He died in July, 1850, at the age of forty years. He was an earnest, faithful minister and pastor, greatly beloved by his congregations and useful in his Master’s cause. He was a Whig in politics and strongly opposed to human slavery. He married Charlotte Boyd, born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, November 3, 1807, died in Pleasantville, Pennsylvania, 1897, a farmer’s daughter, a faithful devoted Christian and a great help to her husband in his pastoral work. She remained his widow twenty-nine years.

Children

1. Adam Clarke. Of whom further.
2. Richard Watson. Born in Youngstown, Pennsylvania, March 16, 1835, now deceased; he followed in his father’s footsteps, studied theology and was a regularly ordained minister of the Methodist Episcopal church; he married, March 19, 1856, in Pittsburgh, Laura H. Smith, who died in Buffalo, New York, in January, 1912, leaving issue.
3. Emma Jane. Born in Canton, Ohio, December 19, 1840, died in Greenville, Pennsylvania; married George Kerr Anderson, of Rochester, Pennsylvania, an oil producer and a prominent public man, serving as state senator; children:
   1. Lottie. Born June 24, 1860.
   2. Luella. August 8, 1861, died February 2, 1864.
   3. Emma Laura. Born May 8, 1863.
   4. Olive. July 23, 1864.
4. David Riley. Born in Bridgewater, Pennsylvania, November 24, 1842, died in San Francisco, California; he served in the civil war, later becoming an oil operator; he married, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, Harriet Kirly, who died in Philadelphia in 1911; children:
   1. Fred W. Now living in New Jersey.
   2. Bessie. Now living in New York City.

(III) Major Adam Clarke Hawkins

Major Adam Clarke Hawkins, eldest son of David Riley and Charlotte (Boyd) Hawkins, was born in Youngstown, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, September 23, 1833. He attended the public schools until thirteen years of age, but was a student and reader all through his early manhood and middle life, acquiring in the great school of experience an education that now bespeaks him the cultured, refined gentleman. His first position was as a boy of thirteen in a store at Freeport, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, where he remained three years. At age of sixteen years he was a salesman for the large iron and machinery house of Scafe & Atkinson in Pittsburgh. He later became bookkeeper for Young, Stevenson & Love, a Pittsburgh firm. He had widely improved his opportunities during these years and built up a good reputation as a trustworthy, capable, young business man. He now graduated from land employment to the river boats, plying the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, between Pittsburgh and New Orleans. He continued as clerk on the “Paul Jones” and other river boats for six years, then located in Rochester, Pennsylvania, again becoming a merchant, going thence to New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in the same business. About 1865 he engaged in mercantile business in Pittsburgh on his own account, continuing successfully until 1879. In the latter year he disposed of his Pittsburgh interests and settled in Bradford and began his long and successful career as an oil producer. He was one of the original stockholders of the Tide Water Pipe Line Company and has been connected with many of the corporate oil enterprises of Bradford as well as conducting large private operations. He has now practically retired from active business, but views with satisfaction a long and well spent life of honorable business activity. His commercial career has only been interrupted by his service during the war between the states with the Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment. He has been an active Republican all his life, and may claim to have been one of the founders of that great party, having cast his first presidential vote for General John C. Fremont. He has served with honor in many political offices and positions of trust, including that of delegate to many state conventions and alternate and regular delegate to national conventions of his party. Major Hawkins has taken an active interest in educational matters and has been a member of the Bradford school board for the past fifteen years and for ten years the president of the board. He is a prominent member of the Masonic order, belonging to lodge, chapter and commandery. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His clubs are the Merchants and Country of Bradford. In religious faith he is an Episcopalian.

Major Hawkins married (first) January 10, 1855, Elizabeth Stiles, born in Rochester, Pennsylvania, died December, 1893, daughter of John Stiles, of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and his wife Jane (Pollock) Stiles, a native of Allegheny county, both deceased. He married (second) April 27, 1904, Cora Belle Sweet, born at Alfred Center, New York, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Sweet, a practicing physician.

Children by first marriage

1. Harry Stiles. Born May 14, 1857, now superintendent in charge of his father’s business; he married, May 11, 1880, Elizabeth Babbett, born November 11, 1857; two children:
   1. Adam Clarke. Born February 11, 1882, now engaged in the oil business near Lepulpa, Oklahoma.
   2. Howard. Born May 10, 1884, died February 11, 1889.
2. Frank Watson. Born 1859, now in the employ of the Hope Gas Company of Pittsburgh; his wife died without issue.
3. George Kerr. Born in 1860, died in Bradford, 1889, unmarried.

See: Genealogy of the Allegheny Valley Pennsylvania

Source

Jordan, J. W. 1840-1921. (1913). Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co.

This genealogy is based upon the source cited above. Only the structure and formatting have been changed for clearer presentation; the genealogical and biographical content