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A HISTORY OF THE JOHN CARSON HAWKINS FAMILY

By Raymond and Melba Hawkins

John Carson Hawkins was born in Lebanon, the Indian Territory, now the State of Oklahoma, on June 18, 1889. He was the second child and oldest son of John Thomas Hawkins, who was born in 1859 in Lewisburg, Tennessee, and died in 1935 at Ardmore, Oklahoma. The mother of John Carson Hawkins was Annie Catherine Hawkins, nee Adams, who was also born in Lewisburg, Tennessee, in 1861, and who died at Ardmore, Oklahoma, in 1927. John Thomas and Annie Catherine Adams Hawkins left Tennessee for the Indian Territory in the latter part of the 1880's, before the territory was officially opened for settlement, and they settled in the southeastern part of Carter County, slightly north of the Red River. This part of Oklahoma was also known as the Chickasaw Indian Nation. John T. and Catherine Hawkins, who were the parents of nine children, are both buried in the Provence Cemetery, located seven miles east of Ardmore.

On September 17, 1910, John Carson Hawkins married Myrtle Nall, who was born on April 2, 1894, near McMillan, Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. Her father, John D. Nall, was born in Jacksboro, Texas, in 1866, and died at McMillan, near Ardmore, in 1944. Myrtle Nall was the second child and oldest daughter among seven siblings. Her mother, Margaret Ellen Williams, was born in Sedalia, Missouri, in 1867, and died at McMillan in 1954. When Margaret Williams was a very small girl, her 28-year-old, widowed mother moved to Jacksboro, Texas, where Margaret met and married John D. Nall. Soon afterward, they moved to McMillian, in southeast Carter County, in the Chickasaw Nation. John and Margaret Nall are both buried in McMillan Cemetery, ten miles southeast of Ardmore.

Until 1926, John Carson Hawkins was a tenant farmer. During 1926, he bought a 1926-model Ford roadster, and in order to pay for it, he went to work for the Pure Oil Company refinery in Ardmore, intending to work there only until he paid for his car. Instead, when he retired from Pure Oil 28 years later, he was still struggling to pay for a car! Pure Oil Company closed down the Ardmore refinery at the height of the Great Depression, around 1933, and for a few months thereafter, J. C. Hawkins worked at whatever odd job he could find in order to support his family. During the fall of 1934, he came to Nederland and went to work for Pure Oil's Smith's Bluff Refinery, where he remained until age 64, retiring in 1954. After the Nederland post office was moved to 1220 Boston (into what is now the east half of Rienstra Furnature Company), J. C. Hawkins worked as custodian of the post office for a few years, and retired from there as well on the small pension of $11.00 a month. Eventually, ill health caused from heart problems forced him to leave the post office, and his bad heart, coupled with severe injuries from an auto accident, resulted in his death on March 26, 1973.

Myrtle Nall Hawkins lived on at the family home at 1204 Kent Avenue at 12th Street. She survived her husband for thirteen years, dying at age 92 on July 2, 1986. At the time of her death, she had three sons and four daughters, eleven grand sons and five grand daughters, and thirteen great grand sons and eleven great grand daughters. She and her husband are buried in Oak Bluff Cemetery in Port Neches, Texas. They are still fondly recalled and sorely missed by a host of descendants, relatives, and friends whose lives they touched.

Their oldest son, Raymond R. Hawkins (b. November 1, 1915), graduated from Ardmore High School in Oklahoma. During World War II, he served in the United States Army infantry from January, 1941, until November, 1945, twenty-two months of that period being in the European Theater. He married Melba Morgan in March, 1945, and a few months later, went to work for Neches Butane Products Company in the engineering department, where he also retired in 1978. They are the parents of two sons and two grandsons.

Daughter Winifred N. Hawkins was also born in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and attended schools in both Oklahoma and Texas, graduating from Nederland High School in 1936. She married James A. Morgan of Nederland in 1940. They are the parents of two sons, two grandsons and one great grand daughter.

Son Warren G. Hawkins was born in Ardmore on November 7, 1920, and graduated from Nederland High School in 1939. He married Elva Segura of Delcambre, Louisiana, in 1942. He served also in the U. S. Army from April 1, 1944, until April, 1946. From November, 1944, until April, 1946, he served in the Combat Engineers in Europe. He was employed by Pure Oil Company (Unocal) in 1946 and retired in 1982. He and his wife are the parents of two sons and one daughter, four grand sons and two grand daughters.

John C. "Sheb" Hawkins, Jr. was born in Ardmore on November 8, 1924, and attended Nederland High School until 1942. He served in a U. S. Navy gun crew aboard merchant ships from 1943 until 1946. He worked as a construction pipe fitter from 1946 until he retired in March, 1983. He married Irene Hartner Hawkins in 1990 and now lives near Dam B. He is the father of one daughter, two grand sons, and one grand daughter.

Daughter Margaret A. Hawkins was born on October 2, 1926, in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and attended Nederland High School until 1944, when she married J. C. Soape of Carthage, Texas in 1944. She lived there until she died on October 23, 1987. She was the mother of two sons, three grand daughters, and two grand sons.

Daughter Sylvia J. Hawkins was also born in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and she graduated from Nederland High School in 1949. She married Billy J. Hatchel in 1940, and they live in Kilgore, Texas. They are the parents of two daughters and one son, and four grand sons and seven grand daughters.

Daughter Betty S. Hawkins was the only Hawkins sibling born in Nederland, and she graduated from Nederland High School in 1952. She married James Walker of Belmont, Louisiana, in 1954, and they currently reside in Central Gardens Addition, north of Nederland. They are the parents of two sons and one daughter, and two grand sons and one grand daughter.

The Hawkins family members are very proud of their adopted home town of Nederland, Texas, and of the contributions the various family members have made toward that city's growth and improvement. (1991)