My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Columbia County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

* * * *

Hon. Henry T. Hawkins is the present representative of his county, in the State Legislature, being elected on the Democrat ticket, of which he has long been a stanch member. Although his birth occurred in Alabama in 1843, his parents, John B. and Martha (Lumpkin) Hawkins, were Georgians, removing to Alabama at an early period, coming in 1849 to Arkansas. He was a planter, and became a man of considerable wealth prior to the war, and is still well to do. Although in his eightieth year, he is still quite active, and shows but little the ravages of time. His wife died in 1878, at the age of sixty-five years, and of the eight children born to herself and husband, six are now living: Martha (now Mrs. Solon Greer, of Ouachita County), Henry T., Charles (a farmer of this county), John (a physician of Mount Holly, this county), and Benjamin (who resides on the old homestead, in this county). The paternal grandfather was a native of North Carolina, and the mother’s parents were Virginians and were quite prominent in the history of that State. Joseph Lumpkin, a great-uncle, was the supreme judge of Georgia prior to the war, and his brother, Willis, was governor of that State before the Rebellion. Hon. Henry T. Hawkins was educated at Mount Holly, Union County, Ark., and Mount Lebanon, La., being sent to the latter institution just before the opening of the late war, but he left that school to join the Confederate army, becoming a member of Appeal Battery. Prior to the surrender of Vicksburg he served east of the Mississippi River, but his services were afterward confined to the west side. His battery was at the battle of Farmington, Second Corinth, Iuka, and numerous skirmishes, and in the siege of Vicksburg. After the capture of Vicksburg the Arkansas troops were organized at Washington, Hempstead County, Ark., and here Mr. Hawkins was elected lieutenant. He surrendered with his company at Marshall, Tex., June 5, 1865, after which he came home and engaged in planting on his father’s farm, which was pretty well stocked, although he had nothing of his own. In 1868 he was married to Miss M. Augusta Patterson, a daughter of Rev. M. A. Patterson, a minister of the Old School Presbyterian Church. After his marriage Mr. Hawkins purchased a farm of 300 acres, upon which no improvements had been made, and by honest and persistent endeavor he now has 150 acres of land under cultivation, finely improved by good buildings, orchard, etc. He has taken an active interest in local and State politics, and in 1881 was chosen to the Lower House of the State Legislature, and again in 1885 and 1889, the duties of which position he is now discharging. He has filled numerous minor offices, and for the past fifteen years has been a member of the school board, and has been superintendent of the Sunday-school for the same length of time. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and his wife of the Old School Presbyterian Church. Their children are Edgar, Anna, William H., Mary, Martha and Laura.

* * * *

This family biography is one of 106 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Columbia County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Columbia County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Columbia County, Arkansas family biographies, click here

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.