Hawkes Family
HISTORY OF THE HAWKES NAME :
The history of the Hawkes name begins with the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. It is derived from the Old English personal name Hafoc, which means hawk. The name may also be an occupational surname given to a "hawker" or someone who held land in exchange for providing hawks to a lord. As well, the surname Hawkes may be a local surname given to someone who lived in a nook or corner, and in this case, the surname is derived from the Old English word halke, which means nook or corner.
There are many variations of spelling of the name including Hauk, Hauke, Hawk, Hawkey and Hawks.
The earliest mention of the name Hawkes was found in the county of Oxfordshire, where Osbertus Hauoc was recorded as a resident about 1115. A branch of the Hawkes family was established in Dorset by the latter half of that century, and Roger Hauech was registered as a resident there in 1776. Members of the Hawkes family migrated to Suffolk, where William del Halk resided in 1188, and to Cambridge, where Adam de Halk lived in 1260. Other branches of the family were found in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Cornwall.
The records of early American families reveals a number of immigrants bearing the name Hawkes or a variant. These include Mathew and Margaret Hawkes who landed in Boston in 1630, and Richard and William Hawke who landed in New England in 1774.
OUR HAWKES FAMILY
Benjamin Hawkes
Benjamin was born about 1815. I believe he married Eliza RAY on the 12th of October 1835 at Datchet, Buckingham. In 1842 Benjamin and Eliza together with their six children came to New Zealand on the ship "Louisa Campbell". Benjamin obtained employment with Mr. Mason, a farmer who lived in Auckland's first "milk walk" in Mt Eden. Their children were :
- Two sons, names unknown, born prior to 1836.
- Lydia born in Maidenhead, London in 1836.
- Henry born around 1840. He suffered greatly on the long sea-voyage to New Zealand, and died a day or two after landing in June 1842 aged two years. He was buried at the old Symonds Street Cemetery in Auckland.
- Two baby daughters Ellen and Mary Anne one of whom was a twin sister of Henry, also died within weeks of arriving in New Zealand.
There was much tragedy in the life of this pioneer family, as on 3 July 1842 Eliza died after being fatally scalded while doing the family wash in one of the old fashioned three-legged iron pots. A few weeks later the remaining baby girl also died. Eliza and the baby girls were also buried at the old Symonds Street Cemetery, Auckland.
About 1847 Benjamin took over Major Bunberry’s farm at Tamaki, near old St. Thomas’ Church. Around 1860 Benjamin settled at Papatoetoe, Auckland and after Lydia's marriage in 1861, lived with Lydia and her husband Thomas McLARNON in Papatoetoe. However in July 1866, just after the birth of Mrs. McLarnon’s second child, his horse bolted with him and he was thrown. Thus ended tragically, at the comparatively early age of 52, the life of a man who had known more than his share of sorrow. He was buried at Papatoetoe Cemetery.
Lydia was born in 1842 at Maidenhead, London, England. She came to New Zealand in 1842 on the ship "Louisa Campbell". Within weeks her mother and three younger siblings had died. Lydia was sent to boarding school in Victoria Street and remained there until she was eleven years old. At this time she went to keep house for her father and two older brothers, at Tamaki. She did this for thirteen years.
Lydia married Thomas Robert McLarnon on 14 February 1861 at the residence of Rev J Macky, Salem, Otahuhu, Auckland. They lived in Papatoetoe and raised a large family of fourteen children, eight sons and six daughters.
Lydia died in Ponsonby, Auckland aged 89 years and was buried at Holy Trinity Cemetery, Otahuhu.
to "A Pioneer Mother - Interesting Reminiscences of Mrs T R McLarnon"
