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A small private cemetery is located on James Hawkins Road in Moriches, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. It has members of the Downs family, who owned the property at the time of the Revolutionary War, and the Hawkins family, who bought the property in January 1793—a total of 16 graves. The burials range from 1782 to 1877.
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William Hawkins bought the property from James Downs on 9 January 1793 for 1000 pounds. A rent of one-and-a-half bushels of “good winter wheat” was also to be paid to William Smith. William Hawkins had married Jemima Moore of Southold in 1778. When William died in 1837, William’s second son Jonathan Hawkins inherited the farm. Jonathan was married to Eliza B. Sowden of Virginia. While Jonathan had the property, it supposedly consisted of 500 acres. When Jonathan died in 1844, the farm then passed on to Jonathan’s three sons: William S., John, and James—each receiving about 1/3 of the land. John received the land containing the house. John married first Hannah Bishop of Westhampton and second Sarah Chichester. (John and his two wives are buried in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Center Moriches.)
The information
about the property and the people buried in the cemetery that is presented
here was taken from A Hawkins Genealogy (by Ralph Clymer Hawkins,1939);
The Downs Family of Long Island (by Arthur Channing Downs, Jr., 1959);
notes made in the 1930s by Adelaide (Mershon) Cook and Elva (Hawkins) Wilcox,
granddaughters of John and Hannah (Bishop) Hawkins; notes made by Chester
H. Wilcox, Jr., son of Elva (Hawkins) Wilcox, in the 1960s; and documents
(deeds, letters, notes) in the possession of Jane E. Wilcox, granddaughter
of Elva (Hawkins) Wilcox, as well as photos taken of the gravestones by
Jane in 2002.
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Row 1:
Georgiette Hawkins,
daughter of William S. and Ann
GEORGIETTE/DAUGHTER
OF/Wm. S. & Ann J./HAWKINS,/BORN/Aug 9, 1848,/DIED/Sept. 29, 1849/Happy
soul thy days [?]
Born Georgiette Josephine
Hawkins on 9 August 1848, the daughter of William Sidney Hawkins and his
wife Ann Jemima Wines. William S. was the son of Jonathan and Eliza (Sowden)
Hawkins and grandson of William and Jemima (Moore) Hawkins.
Row 2, from left to right:
Elizabeth Robinson
Elizabeth
M./Wife of/David Robinson/Died/Dec 31, 1861/Age 39 ys 4 MO/& 20 Ds
Born Elizabeth McLane Hawkins,
daughter of Jonathan and Eliza (Sowden) Hawkins, on 11 August 1822 in Moriches.
Her death was caused by fire--she was tending the fire at the open fireplace
and her skirt caught on fire. Her husband was David “Webb” Robinson. They
were married in October 1843.
Hannah Hawkins
IN/Memory of/HANNAH HAWKINS/Died/April
7th 1847,/Aged 58 years.
Fourth
child of William and Jemima (Moore) Hawkins. She was born in 1789. She
did not marry.
William Hawkins
WILLIAM
HAWKINS/died Feb. 8, 1837/in the 82 year/of his age
Bought the farm from James
Downs in January 1793. He was the son of Zachariah Hawkins and Abigail
Jayne, born ca. 1755-56 at Oak Island/Yaphank. In addition to being a farmer,
he was a harness maker. He married Jemima Moore on 23 March 1778 and was
from Brookhaven at that time. Their marriage was recorded in the parish
register of Mattituck and Aquebogue Presbyterian church.
Jemima Hawkins, wife
of William Hawkins (above)
Jemima/wife
of William Hawkins/Died Dec. 18, 1834/Aged 83 years, 11 MO/26 days
Born Jemima Moore on 25
December 1750. She was the wife of William Hawkins, who purchased the farm
from James Downs in 1793. Jemima was from Southold at the time of her marriage.
Jonathan Hawkins
JONATHAN
HAWKINS/DIED/AUG. 5, 1844,/AE 60 YEARS 3 MO./& 4 DAYS
The second Hawkins owner
of the farm and second child of William and Jemima (Moore) Hawkins. Jonathan
was born 1 May 1784, probably at Wampmissic (near the Brookhaven Lab.)
He was a successful farmer, business man and a lover of the sea. As a boy,
he drew many features of sailing ships in his arithmetic book. He attended
the Presbyterian church at South Haven.
Eliza Hawkins, wife
of Jonathan Hawkins (above)
ELIZA/WIFE
OF/JONATHAN HAWKINS/DIED/March 26, 1861,/in the 72 year/of her age
Born Eliza B. Sowden, the
daughter of John and Elizabeth Sowden, in 1789 at Dumphries, Prince William
County, Virginia. She came to Long Island on horseback ca. 1815 with her
brother James Sowden. James Sowden was a Methodist circuit preacher on
Long Island (in Southampton, Patchogue and Moriches) from ca. 1805-1820
and built the paper mill on the Twin Ponds in Moriches. Elizabeth Sowden
married Jonathan Hawkins on 4 February 1818. After their marriage, she
attended Methodist church services while her husband continued going to
the Presbyterian church at South Haven. Because Methodism was viewed with
disdain in its early days, a marriage between a Methodist and a Presbyterian
was unusual.
Row 3, from left to right:
John H. Hawkins
JOHN
H. HAWKINS/DIED/FEB. 14, 1877;/AE 69 yrs, 5 mos./& 11 days
Born 3 September 1807, the
son of William Hawkins and Charity Havens (below) and the grandson of William
and Jemima (Moore) Hawkins.
William Hawkins
William
Hawkins/died Dec. 12, 1812/Aged 34 years 1 month/& 13 days
Born 31 October 1778, the
first child of William and Jemima (Moore) Hawkins. He married Charity Havens
Charity Hawkins, wife
of William Hawkins (above)
Charity./Wife
of/William Hawkins,/died June 16,/1810./Aged 33 years/5 months.
Wife of William, who was
the son of William and Jemima (Moore) Hawkins. Charity was the daughter
of John S. and Abigail (Bostwick) Havens and was born 16 January 1777.
William Sidney Hawkins,
son of William and Charity
William
Sidney/Son of/William & Charity/Hawkins/died Oct. 4,/1820/AE 14 years
9 months/& 21 days.
Child of the above couple,
William and Charity (Havens) Hawkins. He was born 13 December 1805.
Jemima Hawkins, daughter
of Benjamin and Deliverance
JEMIMA/Daughter
of/Benjamin & Deliverance/Hawkins./died Oct. 2, 1822,/AE 14 m, 7 d
Born 25 July 1821, the daughter
of Benjamin Hawkins and Deliverance Tuthill. Benjamin was the son of William
and Jemima (Moore) Hawkins and lived at Bellport.
Row 4:
James Downs
In Memory
of/Mr. James Downs/Who died May 23/1791 aged 51 years/& 20 days/
Trust God ye saints in all
your ways/ Pour out your hearts before his face/ When helpers fail &
foes invaid [sic]/ God is my all sufficient aid/ Once has his awful voice
declared/ Once and again my ears have heard.
Born
3 May 1740. He was the brother of Daniel Downs. He may have owned the property
before the Hawkins bought it. James was a farmer and lived in Southold.
He was in Southold in 1790 when the U.S. census was taken. He married Mehetabel
Wells on 23 October 1764. The façade of this sandstone gravestone
has broken off.
Row 5, from left to right:
Thomas Rogers
In/Memory
of/THOMAS ROGERS/who died/Nov. 16, 1837/AE 85
Born ca. 1752. He was the
husband of Desire (Downs) Rogers (below), who was the daughter of Daniel
Downs. Thomas and Desire were married 21 September 1780 at Aquebogue. Thomas
is said to have been the loyalist who led the British ships into Boston
Harbor at the time of the American Revolution (as per Osborne Shaw, a Brookhaven
Town Historian, as quoted in the Downs genealogy).
Desire Rogers, wife
of Thomas Rogers
In/Memory
of/DESIRE, wife of/Thomas Rogers:/who died/Jan. 3, 1832./AE 75.
Born 1757, the daughter
of Daniel Downs (below) and Desire Parshall. She married Thomas Rogers
and lived in Speonk.
Daniel Downs
In Memory/of/Daniel
Downs/who died April 16, 1782/Aged 45 years 6 months/and 4 days
Born 12 October 1737 and
first owner of the farm in Moriches. Daniel was probably living there in
1776 when he was listed in the census at the Manor of St. George and Patentship
of Meritches. He married Desire Parshall, daughter of David and Sibyl (White)
Parshall, on 19 January 1755. Daniel signed the Articles of Association
in 1775, and is noted as a patriot by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
He also had permission to ship cordwood to the British in New York City
in 1781 during the Revolutionary War. (One of his grandchildren wondered
if Daniel had loyalist sympathies as well.) According to Daniel’s will
dated 12 April 1782, all of his property was to be divided equally among
four of his five sons (Nicolls, Parshall, John, and Ira, and not Daniel).
The most of the façade of this sandstone gravestone has broken off.