victorhawk@cox.net
The Alabama Connection
I had believed it for a lot of years, but it wasn't until the DNA test results came back that I believed it in my bones, so to speak. A few men from the Hawk line that was in Jasper County, Georgia, in the 1820s and 1830s went to Alabama. Today there are 2 major lines of Hawk in Alabama that can be traced back to Jasper County.
First, there is James M. Hawk who married Mary Tucker and went west with Daniel Hawk who married Mary's sister Nancy Tucker. While Daniel settled in Heard County, Georgia, and his descendants remained there, James M. headed further west after 1850, leaving Heard for Coosa County, Alabama. By 1867 his first wife died and he remarried a lady from Elmore County. From that time forward, James and his descendants can be found in the census records of Elmore County.
Second, there is a William H. Hawk who married Martha A. Martin and went west to Troup County, Georgia. Troup is adjacent to Heard and they are both right on the Alabama line. By the 1850 census, however, William was dead, unfortunately. His widow Martha is listed along with their 3 children. Only one of those children can be found in later records, and that child is James Madison Hawk.
Now with a name like that, so similar to the James M. Hawk above, this line would likely have been lost in confusion, were it not for one deteriorated scrap of paper that was saved down the years. Of the 3 children of William and Martha Martin Hawk, no further evidence is known of Williamson McDonald Hawk or Emily Catherine Hawk. Martha remarried in 1845 to Samuel Nabors of Tallapoosa County, Alabama, and from that time forward the descendants of James Madison Hawk resided in Tallapoosa and Marshall counties.
Must be some good water in Alabama. Both these lines have grown thick and numerous. If you have more to add, or spot some mistakes, shoot me an email and I'll get it taken care of.