Hawkins Family Page
Welcome to The Hawkins Family Page, which furnishes historical detail beyond the site index, exploring two generations of Hawkins in the line of Steven D. Hawkins of Edgecombe Co. NC.
8. (Sarah) Elizabeth Hawkins (Lee) --The mother of Betty Lee and wife of John Washington Lee, Elizabeth was born in Edgecombe Co. in early 1794, just before her father, Stephen Hawkins, passed away. She married J.W. Lee around 1812 and had 8 known children, starting with Sarah, George W. and Betty Lee. She lived to be 90 years old. Her mother was Fanny Bonner, born probably between 1770-1775, either in North Carolina or Scotland (Scotland is given as the birthplace of Elizabeth Hawkins' parents in the 1880 census). There are records of a Fanny Bonner (born in 1774 in Chowan Co. NC.; daughter of Henry Bonner and Leah Jordan) who married a James Satterfield in 1795 in Chowan Co., near Edgecombe Co. Also the genealogical notes of Marcia Sizemore Lee (John W. Lee's daughter-in-law) do mention the name Satterfield, but without further explanation. Thus this could be a second marriage of our Fanny Bonner as it is the year after Stephen died, but as Fanny is thought by Marcia Lee to have died in Tennessee, not North Carolina, and the maiden name Bonner, rather than Hawkins, is listed on the 1795 marriage record, the likelihood favors this being a different Fanny Bonner. The 1830 Stewart Co. TN census shows that the household of John W. Leigh has a female age 30-39 (presumably his wife, Elizabeth Hawkins Lee) as well as a female age 50-59, which is the right age to be Elizabeth's mother, Fanny Hawkins. Again in 1840 the same females appear as 10 years older. I have not found evidence of Fanny Hawkins in the 1850 or later censuses but as a photograph of Fanny was passed down to posterity through Marcia Sizemore Lee, Fanny must have lived until at least into her seventies in the late 1840s when photography first came into common use.
9. Stephen D. Hawkins --The father of only one known child, Elizabeth Hawkins Lee, Stephen Hawkins appears in the 1790 census in Edgecombe Co. NC. and in the court records as having deceased during or before November 1794, after which his widow Fanny Bonner Hawkins sold off his estate. As Elizabeth Hawkins was thought by Marcia Lee to have been related to her husband, John W. Lee, as some kind of cousin, this would imply that perhaps Stephen was a brother-in-law of John’s father, or else that John’s mother was a Hawkins or a Bonner. Either Stephen or his parents (who are unknown) probably immigrated to America from Scotland.
Note: There is another Stephen Hawkins in Onslow County, NC who married Holly Harrington in 1796 and had a daughter named Elizabeth. His will is dated 1799. He appears on the 1790 census and is a separate individual from the husband of Fanny Bonner.