Person:John Hawk (11)

In 1827 John came through the woods from Lee Township (Leesburg) in Carroll County. Ohio on the northwest quarter of Section 18 in the Stone Creek Valley (Jefferson Township) in Tuscarawas County. He was the first settler in this valley, but was followed a few weeks later by Sam Ridenour, a brother of Mrs. Leonard Hawk. Sometime later John's brothers, Leonard & Peter, arrived with their families. John's sister, Mary Elizabeth came with her husband, George Sherets, & their children. These 3 families located in the Evans Creek and Bakersville area. Most of the Hawks in Tuscarawas Co. are descendants of these settlers. John lived a full life in the Stone Creek Valley. He farmed and started the first sawmill in the valley. The sawmill provided the area farmers with lumber. It was located on the creek located on his farm and operated with water power. He was, by faith , a Lutheran & by politics a Jacksonian Democrat, to which he held unswervingly through life. He continued to live on the farm he bought from the government until his death in 1860. He donated a lot for the first Lutheran Church and graveyard in Stone Creek Valley and the first school was in a log cabin on his farm which he donated for school purposes. The Evangelical Lutheran Church was built in 1840. He had many descendants in Tuscarawas Co. and Stone Creek Valley.

The above was contributed by Watcher "LiRoGe88", who is unknown to Watcher "White Creek". In the picture on this page of the Stone Creek Cemetery, one could speculate that the original church building (1840-1877), which burned to the ground, and was rebuilt in the town (about a half mile down in the valley), was originally located in the bare area in the center of the picture. The foreground area is on a slope leading up to the "Cemetery Road", behind where where the photograph was taken. The view is to the east, and beyond the tree line the land drops off to the Stone Creek Valley, and in circa 1969 Interstate Highway 77 was constructed through the valley. The area on the other side of "Cemetery Road" (to the west) is where John Hawk's farm was. The oldest graves (1840s & 1850's) in the cemetery, are around to the right, in an area that is obscured by the trees. The cemetery is in excellent condition!

--White Creek 23:44, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

STONE CREEK CEMETERY in 1975

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio: containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, churches, schools, etc.; general and local statistics; military record; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest Territory; history of Ohio; miscellaneous matters, etc. etc. (Chicago [Illinois]: Warner, Beers & Co., 1884)
   1884.

   John Hawk is introduced on Page 559. Some biographical material appears on to Page 560.

2. ↑ Tuscarawas County, Ohio Cemeteries. (New Philadelphia, Ohio)
   Volume III.

   The book says he died age: 60 years, 2 months, 23 days.

3. ↑ Zion's Kirchenbuch
   1983.

   As "LiRoGe88" wrote in "PERSONAL HISTORY" JOHN HAWK was a Lutheran and donated land for the first Zion's Congregation, abt. a half mile north of what would later become the village of Stone Creek. First platted in circa 1854, it originally named "PHILIPSBURG". John's farm was on the west side of what today maps call "Cemetery Road". In 1849 the Zion's Congregation officially changed into a joint Lutheran / German Reformed congregation. John was named a member on the list of 1849 men.