Person:John Hawks (3)

John Hawks
b.Bef 1613 England
  1. John HawksBef 1613 - 1662
m. Abt 1642
  1. John Hawks1643 - Aft 1721
  2. Nathaniel Hawks1644/45 - Aft 1662
  3. Elizabeth Hawks1646/47 - 1681
  4. Ann Hawks1648 - 1705
  5. Isaac Hawks1650 - 1659
  6. Mary Hawks1652 -
  7. Joanna Hawks1653/54 - 1729
  8. Deacon Eleazer Hawks1655 - 1727
  9. Sarah Hawks1657 - 1751
  10. Gershom Hawks1659 - 1681
Facts and Events
Name John Hawks
Alt Name John Hawkes
Gender Male
Birth[4] Bef 1613 England
Marriage Abt 1642 to Elizabeth _____
Death[1] 30 Jun 1662 Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States
Burial[2][3] 30 Jun 1662 Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States

There was a John Hawks living in Hingham, Norfolk, England when sons were baptized in 1602 and 1605. On 27 Jan 1612, a John Hawks there married Mary Cowper. A daughter of John was baptized at St. James in Norwich on 3 Sep 1626, and a son Nicholas bpt 21 Dec 1628. A John Hawks died 20 July 1628, and Nicholas Hawks d. 14 May 1629. Since Adam Hawks came on the same ship as John, it would seem that they were either brothers or father and son. Ages make more sense if they are brothers, children of John who married Mary Cowper as a second wife and died in 1628.

John and Adam are said to have arrived in New England Jun 1630 with John Winthrop’s fleet and settled in Dorchester. [Note: they left no evidence and are not accepted pre 1633 passengers by Great Migration]. He was declared a freeman there 3 Sep 1634. Before 1640, he moved to Windsor, and was granted four parcels there on 4 Feb 1640/1. On 18 Apr 1659, he signed a pact with 60 others to move to Hadley, MA. Most of the others were from Wethersfield. On 28 May 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts responded by appointing a committee to lay out the town. John received 6 acres of meadow for his £150. The property today is known as Hooker’s birthplace.

John died without a will, leaving his wife with 9 children ages 3 to 19.[5]

On 31 March 1663, "John Hawkes of Hadley dying intestate the inventory of his estate was presented to this Court & is in [illegible], and in reference to settlement of the said estate the Court ordered with the advice of friends & the widow's free consent & desire that her son John shall when he comes to the age of 22 years have a third part of her homelot, her housing only excepted & a third part of all her lands in Hadley & a young horse, and that her daughter Elizabeth shall have the sum of twenty pounds at her day of marriage in such pay as the estate will afford, and that her son Elezur shall have twenty pounds when he attains the age of one & twenty years in such pay as the estate will afford, and that her son Gerson shall have the sum of twenty pounds at the age of one & twenty years in such pay as the estate will afford, and that the next four daughters shall have the sum of fifteen pounds apiece to be paid to each of them as they shall attain the age of one & twenty years, and power of administration is granted to said widow Hawkes in reference to the said estate" .

On 28 September 1669, "John Hawkes late of Hadley deceased, dying intestate, there was an order of the Court at Northampton in March 1663 settling the estate in respect of the widow Hawkes & portions for the children, but there being no security ordered for payment of the children's portions, this Court ordereth upon the desire of Robert Hensdall & his wife the mother of the said children that the housing & lands at Hadley which were the estate of John Hawkes shall stand as security for the children's portions excepting those lands that young John Hawkes hath received as his portion by the former Court order."

On 27 September 1681, "the widow Elizabeth Hindsdall administratrix to the estate of her former husband John Hawks, as by the Court act March 31: 63 appears presenting a petition to this Court wherein she shews how she would dispose of her remaining estate by her former husband Hawks in Hadley which by God's Providence she is again come to live upon, that is to say that her sons Eliezur & Gershom Hawks who are yet unmarried & have their portions to receive should have the said portions paid them out of some of her husband Hawks lands, she declaring that the other children's portions are paid them according to the Court's settlement, and signifying that she with her two sons Eliezer and Gershom Hawks have come to this agreement, that they shall improve the whole remainder of estate or lands as abovesaid in Hadly together with their own shares for the yearly maintenance of their mother while she shall live & so have conditioned mutually that the said Eliezer & Gershom shall have the whole betwixt them at her decease, as by writings drawn & signed & sealed between them appears, and the widow mother signifying her desires that the said lands may be confirmed to them as aforesaid by this Court they performing the agreement to her this Court likes well of the petition and appoint the lands to her said sons after her decease." [6]


  1. Lane, Imogene Hawks. John Hawks, A Founder of Hadley, Massachusetts after a Sojourn of Twenty Four Years at Windsor, Connecticut: thirteen generations is America. (Baltimore [Maryland]: Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1989, 1989).
  2. Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).

    Migration 1634, origins unknown. Born by 1613 based on 1634 freemanship. Buried Hadley 30 Jun 1662 (Pynchon VR 237). Married by 1643 Elizabeth ______ (m2 Robert Hinsdale and m3 Thomas Dibble)

  3. Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862).

    JOHN, freem. 3 Sept. 1634, may have then been of Lynn, as Lewis claims, but more prob. of Dorchester, and next that inhab. of Windsor, 1640 wh. there had John, b. 13 Aug. 1643; Nathaniel, 16 Feb. 1645; Elizabeth 10 Jan. 1647; Ann, 1 Oct. 1648; Isaac, 11 Aug. 1650; Mary, 23 May 1652; Joanna, 8 Feb. 1654; Eliezer, 20 Dec. 1655, bef. ment.; Sarah, 29 Sept. 1657; Gershom, 12 Aug. 1659; beside two that d. young; rem. to Hadley a. 1660, there was bur. 30 June 1662. His wid. Elizabeth m. Robert Hinsdale, and 3d Thomas Dibble. Of the ds. Elizabeth m. 1664, Joseph Gillet; Ann m. 10 Oct. 1672, Dr. Thomas Hastings of Hatfield; Mary m. 1670, Experience Hinsdale, and in 1677 m. John Evans; Joanna. m. William Arms; and Sarah m. 1677, Philip Mattoon, was third w. of Daniel Belden, and d. 17 Dec. 1751. All the ch. named were liv. at his d. but Gershom d. young.

  4. Freeman in Dorchester in 1634.
  5. Lane, John Hawks, A Founder of Hadley
  6. Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, citing HamCCR 1:25, 1:113, 1:127.


Founders of Windsor, CT
Windsor was the first permanent English settlement in Connecticut. Local indians granted Plymouth settlers land at the confluence of the Farmington River and the west side of the Connecticut River, and Plymouth settlers (including Jonathan Brewster, son of William) built a trading post in 1633. But the bulk of the settlement came in 1635, when 60 or more people led by Reverend Warham arrived, having trekked overland from Dorchester, Massachusetts. Most had arrived in the New World five years earlier on the ship "Mary and John" from Plymouth, England. The settlement was first called Dorchester, and was renamed Windsor in 1637.

See: Stiles History of Ancient Windsor - Thistlewaite's Dorset Pilgrims - Wikipedia entry

Loomis homestead, oldest in CT.
Settlers at Windsor by the end of 1640, per the Descendants of the Founders of Ancient Windsor: Abbot - Alford - S. Allen - M. Allyn - Barber - Bartlett - M. (Barrett) (Huntington) Stoughton - Bascomb - Bassett - Benett - Birge - Bissell - Branker - Brewster - Buckland - Buell - Carter - Chappel - D. Clarke - J. Clarke - Cooke - Cooper - Denslow - Dewey - Dibble - Dumbleton - Drake - Dyer - Eels - Eggleston - Filley - Ford - Foulkes - Fyler - Gaylord - Francis Gibbs - William Gilbert - Jere. Gillett - Jon. Gillett - N. Gillett - Grant - Gridley - E. Griswold - M. Griswold - Gunn - Hannum - Hawkes - Hawkins - Hayden - Haynes - Hill - Hillier - Holcombe - Holmes - Holt - Hosford - Hoskins - Hoyte - Hubbard - Huit - Hulbert - Hull - Hurd - Hydes - Loomis - Ludlow - Lush - Marshfield - A. Marshall - T. Marshall - Mason - M. (Merwin) (Tinker) Collins - M. Merwin - Mills - Moore - Newberry - Newell - Oldage - Orton - Osborn - Palmer - Parsons - Parkman - Pattison - Phelps - Phelps - Phillips - Pinney - Pomeroy - Pond - Porter - Preston - Rainend - Randall - Rawlins - Reeves - J. Rockwell - W. Rockwell - B. Rossiter - St. Nicholas - Saltonstall - Samos - M. Sension (St. John) – R. Sension - Sexton - Staires - Starke - F. StilesH. Stiles - J. StilesT. Stiles - Stoughton - Stuckey - Talcott - E. Taylor - J. Taylor - Terry - Thornton - Thrall - Tilley - Tilton - Try - F. (Clark) (Dewey) (Phelps) - Vore - Warham - Weller - Whitehead - A. Williams - J. Williams - R. Williams - Wilton - Winchell - Witchfield - Wolcott - Young
Current Location: Hartford County, Connecticut   Parent Towns: Dorchester, Massachusetts   Daughter Towns: Windsor Locks; South Windsor; East Windsor; Ellington; Bloomfield