REVOLUTIONARY
WAR JOURNAL
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John Hawkins was born in England about 1680. In 1743 he emigrated to America with his sisters, Jane, Mildred, Agnes and Elizabeth, and Thomas Langford and family. They settled on Little River in Hanover County, about 40 miles northwest of Richmond.

Tradition has it that John was the third or fourth descendant of Captain William Hawkins of the Royal Navy, the father of Admiral Sir John Hawkins, and, like him, a distinguished explorer and navigator.

In 1744 John married Mary Langford, daughter of Thomas Langford of the Royal Navy.

John seems to have been acting for several years as a Commissary under a Virginia State Commission, but finally, at a period when the Continental Army was suffering for lack of supplies, he was appointed by Congress as Commissary, on the urgent request and recommendation of Governor Patrick Henry. Girardin, in his History of Virginia, vol.4, p. 329, says:

"To the genius and exertion of Mr. Hawkins during the short time he lived after his appointment to the Commissary Department by the Board of War, much was also due. That gentleman had displayed in the discharge of his duties the most indefatigable activity. Nature and observation had fitted him for that sphere of usefulness; his mind pervaded the whole State, and the effect of his services outlives him. He died in Richmond in 1779."

John and Mary Hawkins had nine children. John was the ancient grandfather of the compiler of this journal.

Traveling to Kentucky

Despite the dangers from Indians that at times threatened to eliminate the early Kentucky settlements, the population of settlers increased substantially during the years of the American Revolution.

Virginia paid its soldiers with military land warrants, with the amount of land dependent upon a soldier's rank and length of service. Discharged soldiers and their families thus increased the ranks of immigrants into Kentucky.

The population in Kentucky may have doubled in 1784. A British agent put the 1788 population at 62,000k, and the census of 1790 reported 73,077 persons. My hometown of Campbellsville was founded by Revolutionary War soldiers.