Celebrating 125 years

In 1876 a group of men met in Boston to form the Adam Hawkes Family Association, and to plan a reunion in 1880, the 250th anniversary of Adam Hawkes' arrival in Massachusetts. Between 1876 and the time of the 1880 meeting, people all over the country bearing the name Hawkes or Hawks were contacted, notified of the upcoming meeting, and asked to submit their genealogical records. The 1880 meeting was held at the site of the original homestead, called Close Hill, where the cellar hole and line of foundation stones were still visible. Over 400 people were in attendance. Since that first meeting, the Adam Hawkes Family Association has met annually on the last Saturday of July.

The organization was originally formed to strengthen family ties and to gather and preserve genealogical records, with the hope of publishing a family genealogy. Dr. John Milton Hawks, the first president of the Adam Hawkes Family Association, spent many years compiling a manuscript genealogy which after his death, was deposited at New England Historic Genealogy Society in Boston, where it remains today.

In 1957 Bradley Hawkes Patterson's booklet, Adam Hawkes 1608-1672, His Life and Times, was published. It was not until 1980, the 350th anniversary of Adam's arrival, that Ethel Farrington Smith's Adam Hawkes of Saugus, Mass., 1605-1672, The First Six Generations in America, was published, followed ten years later, in 1990, by Imogene Hawks Lane's book, John Hawks, A Founder of Hadley, Massachusetts. Both books, published by Gateway Press, are especially helpful to those trying to trace their Hawkes/Hawks ancestry and are widely available in genealogical libraries throughout the country.

The Adam Hawkes Family Association has collected information on lines of descent for all Hawkes/Hawks families. A free genealogical service is offered by the association for those persons attempting to trace Hawkes/Hawks ancestry. Information in our files includes census data extracted from the 1850 census, the 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 census soundexes, and some pre 1850 census records; abstracts of military pensions; vital records, primarily from the New England States; Bible records; land and probate records; and published secondary source material. You may click here to fill out the search form or send a letter to:

giving the names of Hawkes, Hawks ancestors, along with whatever is known of their dates and places of birth, death, and marriage. These will be checked with information in our files and whatever additional information we have will be sent to you. A stamped, self-addressed envelope should be included.

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