THOMAS T. HAWKINS
Is a farmer and stockman of Washington county. He was born in
Wilkes county, North Carolina, September 22, 1829, where his family
had lived from colonial times. His father was Elisha Hawkins, of Wilkes
county, farmer and blacksmith, and his grandfather was Burton Hawkins,
who served in both the Revolutionary war and the war of 1812,
and who lived to the advanced age of one hundred and five years. The
mother of Thomas T. Hawkins was Isabel, daughter of Thomas Roberts,
of Wilkes county. The Hawkins family came to Virginia in 1844. During
the years of the civil war Mr. Hawkins followed his trade as blacksmith,
and also was engaged in school-teaching. He was thus exempt
from military duty, which he could not for conscientious reasons have
performed, as he was a strong and uncompromising Union man from
first to last. He had one brother in the Confederate army, in the 37th
Virginia regiment, Stonewall brigade, and many other relatives in the
army on both sides.
The first wife of Mr. Hawkins was Jane Combow, born in Russell
county, Virginia, the daughter of Isaiah Combow and his wife, Mary Ann,
nee Campbell. Isaiah Combow was a wagon-maker, a son of Samuel
Combow of Revolutionary fame, and a school-teacher by profession.
This marriage of Mr. Hawkins was solemnized near Lebanon, Virginia,
January 29, 1851, and the children of the union were: Maria E., George
W., Lafayette I., Thos. Jefferson, Charles Monroe Jasper Newton; and
Mary Jane, who died August 3, 1873.
Mr. Hawkins married secondly, Rachel, daughter of Henry Campbell,
farmer of Russell county, Virginia, whose father was Richard Campbell,
who came from Ireland, and was a soldier of the Revolutionary war.
Her mother was Cynthia, daughter of Samuel Elliott, a Kentuckian,
who settled in Russell county, Virginia, about 1809. The children of
Mr. Hawkins' second marriage are: Laura Virginia, Abraham Lincoln
and Ulysses Grant, twins, Henry Wilson, Victoria Isabella, Thomas
Edward, Margaret Ann, Joseph M. and Nancy Elizabeth.
