 |
| Painting by Mary Warshaw |
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES (Pezzoni 1989): Hawkins House - 208 Elm - Three-bay double pile center-hall plan house, engaged two-tier front porch, two-story rear additions, some circa 1900 remodeling. Bazel Hawkins probably built this house - his heir Catherine Hawkins owned it in 1850. Methodist minister John F. Mattocks owned the house during the early 1860s. 
In the 1830 census the Bazel Hawkins family was in Onslow County--19 people listed under his household including 12 slaves. He bought this lot in 1827 and died in 1836.
According to the Swansboro Historical Association, a Confederate dispatcher was captured in an upstairs bedroom when Union troops briefly occupied Swansboro for a second time in 1862.
Regarding the capture in this house:
According to Onslow County—A Brief History by Alan D. Watson: Architectural evidence suggests the house was built in the 1830s or 1840s. When the lot was bought by Bazel Hawkins in 1827, evidence suggests that no house was on the site. It is not clear whether Hawkins built the house before he died in 1836 or whether it was built for his widow or for Edward Lee Hawkins. Hawkins heir Catherine Jane Hawkins, daughter of Bazel, married Cyrus B. Glover; they sold it in 1858 to David W. Simmons, who sold it to Andrew Jackson Merrell in 1860. Merrell sold it to the Rev. John F. Mattocks in 1863, and in 1866 Mattocks sold it to William P. Ward. Apparently, during Merrell's ownership the house was rented. During the first capture of Swansboro in 1862, William Harden Jones, a Confederate dispatcher, was visiting his parents [or the Mattocks] there on furlough and was captured in the upstairs east bedroom by Union troops.
Noted in Swannsborough Seaport—A Profile compiled by Thomas J. Reed, 23-year-old clergyman John F. Mattocks, and new bride Susan Gibson, were most likely renting the house in 1862 when Federal soldiers captured Confederate dispatch rider William Harden Jones in the upstairs bedroom.
Old image of the house courtesy Daniel Barefoot . Touring the Backroads of North Carolina's Lower Coast . Blair Publishing 1995.
No comments:
Post a Comment