By John Deitz and Marty Van LithCo-Chairs, Fire Place History Club

Brookhaven, New YorkApril 2014

DavidHawkinsCemetery

DavidHawkinsCemetery

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(22) was born on Dec. 23, 1866, toEmmett Smith HawkinsCapt Bartlett and Clarissa Hawkins. He was a carpenter. In1898 he married of Huntington. TheyMartha F. Whitson (22)had no children. He was elected an elder in 1900 and served asa trustee from 1911 until his death.

According to the Nov. 3, 1922, Patchogue Advance: “Emmett S.Hawkins, a native and prominent resident of South Haven, waskilled by a load of shot from his own gun in the wood near hishome.... It is believed Mr. Hawkins somehow fell on his guncausing it to discharge....”

Martha “Mattie” F. Whitson Hawkins was a teacher in the SouthHaven School from about 1900 to 1920. In the 1920 and 1930census, she was a private family nurse. She was ordained asthe first woman ruling elder at the South Haven PresbyterianChurch on October 8, 1933, just three years after thePresbyterian denomination allowed the ordination of womenelders. Her date of death, not recorded on her headstone, wasDec. 20, 1950. She was the last burial in this cemetery.

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The Hawkins homestead, believed to have been built byDavid Hawkins circa 1800. It was located near theCarmans River and the mouth of Little Neck Run.

The Hawkins family farm was on the west side of the Little Neckpeninsula (this neck lies between Little Neck Run on the westand Yaphank Creek on the east), southward from MontaukHighway to Carmans River. There are two Hawkins familyburying grounds on Little Neck — this site and a second oldersite more northerly and westerly known as the NathanielHawkins Cemetery. This latter burying ground has severalRevolutionary War veterans interred, is quite small, has beenbadly vandalized, and is not easily accessible. NathanielHawkins was David Hawkins father.

All interred in the David Hawkins Cemetery share the surnameHawkins. There are three rows of graves, all descendants ofDavid Hawkins (1780-1850) and Prudence Tuthill Hawkins(1784-1870) (plus some of their spouses). Many of the olderheadstones were replaced circa 1920s, probably by MattieHawkins after her husband, Emmett, died.

Our visit begins with the headstone of , founderDavid Hawkins

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and the Yukon, Canada.The WP&YRR has beendesignated a NationalHistoric Engineering Site byboth the Canadian Societyof Civil Engineers and theAmerican EngineeringSociety. In 1907 he becameVice President-ChiefEngineer and GeneralManager of the CopperRiver & NorthwesternRailroad in Alaska, whichran from Cordova to theKennecott Copper Mines. Atthat time he represented allthe Guggenheim/J.P.Morgan mining interests inAlaska.

Erastus died in 1912 whileon a business trip in NewYork City. He was buried in the family cemetery. In 2014 — 102years later — the Fire Place History Club and the BrookhavenVillage Association erected this monument.

Erastus Corning and EmmaHawkins circa 1900

of this cemetery and the first to be buried here, in the northwestcorner of the cemetery.

(1) was born at Fire Place, the name used forDavid Hawkinsthe area of Brookhaven and South Haven hamlets before Nov.1853. After the region was divided by two post offices in 1853,Little Neck was in South Haven hamlet. David married

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News, he was killed “...as a result of a railroadaccident. In steppingoff the track to avoidmeeting a freight trainhe was caught by aflying express comingfrom the oppositedirection.

Jennie C. Overton(20) was born inBayport, Long Island.She was a teacher inthe Bayport School.

According to her May 3, 1912 obituary, “After having beenmarried but a short time her husband was run over and killed bya train. After her husband’s death, she moved to Waterloo, toaccept an appointment as Seneca County agent for dependentchildren for the State Charities Aid Association. She died froman appendicitis.

(21) Erastus Corning Hawkins was an internationally knowncivil engineer. Born on Sept. 8, 1860 to Capt. Bartlett andClarissa Hawkins, he attended the South Haven School andsubsequently entered the engineering office of Smith & Westonof New York and Jersey City. In 1887 he married Emma A.Sullivan of Denver, Colorado. Theyhad five children.

In 1884, he was in charge ofconstruction of the Citizen’s Canal,an extensive irrigation project inColorado. His success with thatundertaking brought him manyengagements throughout the U.S.He was chief engineer to build theWhite Pass & Yukon Railroad. In1898 he was Vice President of thisrailroad between Skagway, Alaska

Erastus Corning Hawkinscirca 1890s.

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Prudence Tuthill in 1802 and together they had 10 children,almost all of whom would survived them (unusual for the time).

David’s ancestors were among the first settlers to own land hereat Fire Place, having purchased two meadow lots in 1664. Thewill of one his ancestors, Zachariah Hawkins, is one of the firstto be recorded in Suffolk County.

David Hawkins wife, , was born in 1784 in(2) Prudence TuthillWading River on the north shore. Her parents were NathanielTuthill and Fanny Fanning. She died in 1870.

(3) Augustus Andrew Hawkins was the ninth child of Davidand Prudence’s ten children, and was born in the housepictured on pages 2 and 5. He was nicknamed “Little Gus.”Little Gus never married and lived his entire life as a farmer onthe Little Neck peninsula, living in the Hawkins homestead

where he was born.

Augustus kept a daybook from 1880 to 1904 detailing life on thefarm, including entries about maintaining this cemetery. Thediary is in two volumes; volume A is preserved at the YaphankHistorical Society and volume B is preserved at the Post MorrowFoundation. He was elected a trustee of the Parish of SouthHaven in 1873 and regularly re-elected through 1910.

(4) Apollos Hawkins was the oldest son and second child ofDavid and Prudence; born in 1806, he died in 1884. He, too,was a farmer in Fire Place or South Haven. He married first

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(16) Erastus Root Hawkins,a son of Capt Capt. Bartlettand Hephzibah, died at age 12.

(19) Clarissa Haff Hawkinswas born in Patchogue onMarch 7, 1828. Her firstmarriage was to Buel Barteauin 1847, and they had threechildren. Clarissa waswidowed circa 1855 andremarried Capt. BartlettHawkins (who was alsowidowed), in 1858. They wouldhave four children — onedaughter, Clarissa, and threesons: Erastus Corning, IrvingG. and Emmett Smith Hawkins. The three sons are buried nextto their mother.

(20) Irving G. Hawkins was born on Dec. 14, 1863, to Capt.Bartlett and Clarissa in South Haven. The 1880 census, whenhe was 17, listed his occupation as farmer. He married JennieC. Overton on December 13, 1909. They had no children.(20)

Like his famous brother Erastus, Irving became a civil engineerand was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.According to his obituary in the March 17, 1911 Suffolk County

Jane Homan of Wading River and they had two sons, Gilbertand Chauncey, who bothpredeceased their father.Gilbert is buried next toApollos. Jane died in1845 and is buried inWading River. Apollosremarried to CarolineHawkins, a first cousin,sometime after 1860.Caroline is buried inBaiting Hollow. Gilbertand Caroline had no children. He was elected a trustt of theParish of South Haven Dec. 1835 and re-elected through 1852.

(5) Gilbert Hawkins was born on May 5, 1835, the first-bornson of Apollos and Jane Homan. In the 1860 census, Gilbert

was listed as a farmlaborer. He and hiswife, Ann JanetteBeale (born(6)Sept. 23, 1843).She is buried next toGilbert. In 1860,they were living onhis father Apollos’sfarm, In 1875, theyear of his death,Gilbert was the

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probably the house at 2715 Montauk Highway. In 1870, thecensus has him in South Haven, with real estate valued at$2,500. In served two terms as a trustee of the Parish of SouthHaven, being elected tothat office in 1846 and1849.

Bartlett’s first marriagewas to HephzibahBarteau in 1836. Theyhad seven children. Hissecond marriage in 1858was to Clarissa Haff.They had four children.Both of his wives and sixof his children, plussome of his children’sspouses, are buriedalongside him.

(17) was born on OctoberHephzibah Maria Barteau Hawkins13, 1816. She married Capt. Bartlett Hawkins in March of 1836.They had seven children, including two who died in childhood(see below.)

(14) Morris B Hawkins was bornon Aug. 23, 1849, to CaptainBartlett Tuthill Hawkins andHephzibah Maria Barteau anddied when he was 19 years old.In the 1860 census he was livingwith aunt and uncle, AugustusHawkins and Augustus’ sisterPrudence, at the Cedar Farmhomestead.

(15) Charles Willett Hawkins,was born in April 1852 and diedfour months later, in August.

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Shown at bottom right:Headstones for

Charles Willett andErastus Root Hawkins.

At Cedar Farm, theHawkins

homestead onLittle Neck, in

1890, areAugustus and his

sister Prudence.Her married name

was Avery. Shewas widowed andis not buried here

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proprietor general merchandise store. They had no children.Gilbert was elected an Elder of the South Haven congregationand served until death

(7) Willet Henry Hawkins was the seventh child of David andPrudence. He was a merchant and sailmaker in New York City.He married who is buried next to him. He diedSarah Sague (8)in New York City at Hammond St. (now W. 11th St.) inGreenwich Village. They had one child, Emma, who marriedJohn Wear.

(11) David Nelson Hawkins, the sixth child of David andPrudence Hawkins, was born in South Haven on Feb. 10, 1815.He was a dry good dealer in New York City. David Nelson

married in 1845.Sarah Ann Bergen (12)They had eight children, two of whom diedbefore the age of one and are buried here.

(9) Sarah V.Hawkins died atfour months old.She was thedaughter of DavidNelson Hawkinsand Sarah AnnBergen.

(10) Franklin T.Hawkins was theson of DavidNelson and SarahAnn Hawkins. He

died when he was eight months old.

(13) Whitfield Bergen Hawkins was bornon April 20, 1852, the fourth child of DavidNelson and Sarah Ann Hawkins. He wasa store clerk, probably in his father’s store.

(18) Capt. Bartlett Tuthill Hawkins was born on Sept. 26 1810,at Fire Place and was thefourth child of David andPrudence Hawkins. Hisoccupation in the 1850census was listed asmerchant. He had a storein Bellport. In the 1860census, his occupationwas boatman. In 1870 hewas a seaman, whichmay be where his title ofcaptain originated. Thefamily lived on the northside of South Countryroad (Montauk highway)at the eastern edge ofLittle Neck (near the headof Yaphank creek,