Charles Seymour Hawks (C. S. Hawks)

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Charles Seymour Hawks, usually printed as C. S. Hawks, was a dry-goods merchant, Civil War officer, and one of the twenty-six petitioners for the South Georgia Railroad charter. He was born at Phelps, New York, on April 18, 1841, built his first mercantile career there, and moved to Quitman, Georgia, at the beginning of 1890 after illness forced him to sell his business and property. The move was not a vague family tradition. Phelps newspapers documented the liquidation, a Savannah newspaper identified the new Quitman merchant as a man from Phelps, and his federal pension application was filed from Georgia that August.[1][2][3]

Hawks remained in Quitman for roughly seventeen years. His firm, C. S. Hawks & Co., sold dry goods, carpets, and related merchandise. He lived in a home beside the Hotel Marie, participated in local social life, and lent his name to the railroad incorporation effort in 1896. By 1908 he and his second wife, Mary Hempstone, were again spending summers in Phelps. The 1910 census found them there. Mary died in 1915, and Hawks spent his last years in Leesburg, Virginia, where he died on June 17, 1921.[4][5][6]

Identity confidence: High. The identification rests on a continuous record chain, not on initials alone. The 1880 census places Charles S. Hawks, a merchant, in Phelps. A February 1890 newspaper calls the new Quitman merchant C. S. Hawks of Phelps. The 1900 census places New York-born dry-goods dealer Charles S. Hawks in Quitman with Mary, whom he married in Virginia in 1888. Most decisively, the Civil War pension index gives the full name Charles Seymour Hawks, lists the same New York and United States Colored Troops units found in his military records, and records his August 9, 1890 filing from Georgia.[2][3][7][8]

Phelps family and early work

Charles was a son of Benjamin Franklin Hawks and Hannah C. Drake Hawks. The 1850 federal census and 1855 New York census place him in their Phelps household. At nineteen, the 1860 census described him as a clerk. An 1862 Geneva directory listed Seymour Hawks as a clerk at 46 East Main Street. The use of Seymour as his calling name would continue through his military records.[9][10][11]

After the war he became a dry-goods merchant. The 1870 census placed him in Phelps with Anna E. Hawks and reported $2,500 in real estate and $7,000 in personal property. The enumerated middle initial appears as T in the index, but the household, age, occupation, and later census continuity identify the couple. New York's 1875 census and the 1880 federal census call him Charles S. Hawks and name his wife Annie E. In 1880 they lived on Main Street, where he was a merchant.[12][13][7]

An 1867 Phelps marriage notice identifies the couple as Capt. Seymour C. Hawks and Annie K. Parker of Hopewell. It both supports Parker as her maiden name and illustrates the recurring reversal of Charles Seymour's given names. The middle initial conflicts with the Annie E. found in the censuses and cemetery record. Annie died suddenly on August 29, 1883, after suffering convulsions the previous morning. A Phelps correspondent wrote that her large circle of friends would be pained by the news.[14][15]

On April 12, 1888, the widowed Hawks married Mary Hempstone in Loudoun County, Virginia. The marriage record calls him Chas. S. Hawks, age forty-six, born in New York, and a son of Benj. It gives Mary the surname Hempstone. A contemporary Phelps report said he returned from Leesburg with his bride. Later census records agree on an 1888 marriage. No child appears with the couple in the 1900 or 1910 households, and no reliable record located in this search establishes a surviving child from either marriage.[8][16][17]

Hawks was already a visible member of Phelps civic life. In September 1888 he commanded the second division of the village's annual firemen's parade. A March 1889 notice reported that Leonard E. Furner had been engaged at his store.[18][19]

Civil War service

Hawks enlisted at Phelps on August 22, 1862, and mustered on September 14 as a private in Company C, 148th New York Infantry. New York's muster abstract uses the inverted form Seymour C. Hawks. He left the regiment on March 19, 1864, for a commission as first lieutenant in Company B, 38th United States Colored Troops.[20][21]

The 38th USCT service index records Seymour C. Hawks, about twenty-three, entering service in Virginia in March 1864. A compiled service profile says he was promoted to captain on March 13, 1865, and resigned on October 18, 1865. The pension index also associates him with Companies A and B of the 38th USCT, so the surviving compiled references are not perfectly uniform about the company assignment. They do agree on the man, regiment, commissioned service, and progression from the 148th New York.[3][20][21]

The 38th USCT was a Black enlisted regiment with white commissioned officers. Hawks's service therefore placed him in command roles over African American soldiers during the final phase of the war. The present research did not inspect his full compiled military service file, which the index says contains sixty-nine enclosures. Any detailed account of his battlefield movements, duties, wounds, or conduct would require that file and the regiment's original records.[21]

The decision to move south

Hawks did not quietly disappear from Phelps. In November 1889 he advertised that he had decided to locate in the South and would sell his established dry-goods and carpet business, his East Main Street residence, and another house at Eagle and West Main streets. A news item published the same day said he expected to locate in Georgia soon.[22]

By January 1890 the reason was explicit. A Phelps report said that he was compelled to close his business because of poor health and contemplated a trip south to recover. His stock of dry goods, carpets, and notions was scheduled for auction beginning January 27, followed by his residence and household property. Another notice two days later said he was closing out the remaining dry goods at auction.[1][23]

The Quitman end of the journey appeared almost immediately. On February 24, the Savannah Morning News reported that Hopson & Brother were finishing two brick stores and that one would be occupied about March 1 by C. S. Hawks, "a merchant of Phelps, N.Y." This report connects the New York merchant to the man who soon appeared in Quitman records.[2]

Merchant in Quitman

The 1900 federal census found Charles S. Hawks in Quitman, born in New York in April 1841 and working as a dry-goods dealer. Mary was in the household, and the census said they had been married for twelve years. They rented their home and had one boarder, Susie R. Bratton.[16]

The surviving business references are consistent with the census. A Quitman business list published in the Quitman Free Press on April 3, 1897, and reproduced by historian Folks Huxford, named C. S. Hawks & Co. under dry goods. An Atlanta Journal business list in March 1900 also included the firm. The evidence establishes a continuing dry-goods house, though it does not reveal the identities of Hawks's partners, the firm's capitalization, or its exact closing date.[4][24]

His Quitman home stood beside the three-story Hotel Marie. Fire broke out in the kitchen on April 3, 1900. Firefighters quickly brought two streams of water to bear, saved the house except for the kitchen, and held the loss to a small amount. The adjacent hotel caused considerable concern. A second report added that Mary was recovering from grip and suffered from the excitement and exertion. The reports place Hawks in an established household in the center of Quitman.[25][26]

South Georgia Railroad

Huxford names C. S. Hawks among the twenty-six petitioners for the South Georgia Railroad charter in 1896. The proposed company had capital of $65,000 divided into 650 shares. Hawks's documented role is charter petitioner or incorporator.[27]

The distinction matters. Hawks does not appear in the located subscription committee, the board elected at the March 23, 1896 organization meeting, or the first officer slate. No inspected stock ledger or subscription list states how much money he invested, or even proves that he ultimately paid for shares. Incorporation shows that he joined the legal effort to create the railroad. It does not make him a director, officer, construction manager, or known large stockholder.[27][28]

His participation still fits the setting. By 1896 he had spent six years building a Quitman business. His first known store occupied a new Hopson & Brother building, and J. B. Hopson became a subscription committeeman, incorporator, director, and vice-president of the railroad. Those documented connections place Hawks within the commercial circle behind the project. They do not prove who recruited him or what private discussions led him to sign.[2][27][28]

Community life and travel

Newspaper notices show that Charles and Mary entered Quitman's social life. He attended a St. Valentine Club banquet at the Hotel Marie in 1891. In 1900 Mary appeared as Martha Washington at a Young Matrons' Club costume gathering, and the couple attended other receptions and traveled to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. In 1904 Mary presented a paper on Confederate flags to the local United Daughters of the Confederacy, using miniature flags as illustrations.[29][30][31][32]

The notices also show a mobile household with durable northern ties. Charles appeared in Savannah hotel and passenger lists, including a Baltimore steamer passage in 1899. In August of that year a Rochester paper reported Charles and Mary, described as former Phelps residents then living in Quitman, visiting Dr. and Mrs. R. M. Green. Charles visited Phelps again in 1901. The couple camped with other Quitman residents at Hampton Springs, Florida, in 1904 and visited Madison, Florida, in 1905.[33][34][35][36][37]

These items are evidence of travel and social connections, not proof of a second permanent residence during the Quitman years. They do, however, help explain the later transition north. A March 1907 Quitman notice said the couple had returned from Florida and would soon leave for the summer in Virginia and other northern points. In March 1908 a Phelps paper reported that they had spent the winter in Virginia and arrived "home" to remain through the summer.[38][39]

Return to Phelps and final years

The precise date when Hawks ended his Quitman business has not been located. The evidence supports a gradual, seasonal transition rather than a sharply documented departure. He was still reported from Quitman in 1907. By 1908 Phelps was again called home, and the 1910 census placed Charles and Mary on Church Street there. It indexed the surname as Harves with Hawks as an alternate, but the ages, birthplaces, marriage duration, and wife Mary make the identity secure. They owned their house free of a mortgage.[17][38][39]

Charles remained part of Phelps community life. In 1911 he and Mary Stiller Newton witnessed a wedding at St. John's Episcopal Church. This Mary was not identified as his wife, and the distinct full name should be preserved rather than collapsed into Mary Hempstone Hawks.[40]

Mary died at a Baltimore sanitarium on May 26, 1915. Her obituary called her Mollie Hawks, wife of Charles S. Hawks of Leesburg, and named several Hempstone siblings. She was buried in Union Cemetery at Leesburg. By 1920 the widowed C. S. Hawks owned a home on Market Street in Leesburg. Dorcas Hempstone, age seventy-five, lived with him and was called his sister in the census index. Because Dorcas shared Mary's maiden surname, sister-in-law is possible, but the record's stated relationship should not be silently rewritten.[5][41][42]

Virginia's death record gives Charles's full name as Charles Seymour Hawks and says he died in Leesburg on June 17, 1921. It records his birth as April 18, 1841, and names his mother as Hannah Drake. The indexed father appears as B. T. Hawks, conflicting with the repeated Benjamin F. in census, marriage, and cemetery evidence. He was buried at Union Cemetery in plot A, lot 449, site 6.[6][43]

Evidence conflicts and limits

• Name order: Civil War and 1865 New York records use Seymour C. Hawks, while civilian records usually use Charles S. Hawks. The pension and death indexes give Charles Seymour Hawks and connect the forms.
• First wife's name: The 1867 marriage notice calls her Annie K. Parker. Censuses and cemetery evidence use Annie or Anna E., so her middle initial remains in conflict.
• Father's middle initial: Census and family records support Benjamin F. Hawks. The Virginia death index says B. T. Hawks, probably an informant or indexing error, but the discrepancy remains recorded.
• Military company: Sources agree on the 38th USCT and commissioned service. They vary between Companies A and B. The full service file was not inspected.
• Return north: Quitman remained the couple's reported residence through 1907. Phelps was called home in 1908 and was their census residence in 1910. No located notice gives an exact store-closing or permanent-removal date.
• Children: No child was found in the couple's census households. That absence does not by itself prove that Hawks never had a child.
• Railroad investment: Incorporation is established. No share amount, officer position, directorship, or operational role is established.

Evidence matrix

Research assessment

The Georgia pension filing establishes the identity chain. Charles Seymour Hawks carried a distinctive pair of military units from Phelps into a pension claim filed just after his move to Georgia. Census, marriage, newspaper, and cemetery records then follow the same man from childhood to death.

The record also puts his railroad role in proportion. Hawks belonged to the group that sought the charter, but he was not found among the first directors or officers. His larger historical interest lies in the path that brought a Union veteran and former USCT officer from an established New York dry-goods business to Quitman's commercial community, where he remained long enough to join one of the town's most important development projects.

Sources

1. The Times-Union, January 25, 1890, p. 2, Newspapers.com image 1275028649.
2. "Other Buildings Going Up," Savannah Morning News, February 24, 1890, Newspapers.com image 852596841.
3. U.S. Civil War Pension Index, Charles Seymour Hawks, Georgia filing August 9, 1890, Ancestry record 275268.
4. Folks Huxford, History of Brooks County, Georgia, 1858-1948, p. 403, reproducing the Quitman Free Press business list of April 3, 1897.
5. 1920 U.S. census, C. S. Hawks household, Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia, NARA T625, roll 1893, p. 4B, ED 69; Ancestry record 100990115.
6. Virginia death certificate index, Charles Seymour Hawks, certificate 1921013086; Ancestry record 599409.
7. 1880 U.S. census, Charles S. Hawks household, Phelps, Ontario County, New York, NARA T9, roll 909, p. 370B, ED 131; Ancestry record 4565855.
8. Virginia marriage index, Chas. S. Hawks and Mary Hempstone, April 12, 1888, FamilySearch film 2048468, reference image 193; Ancestry collection 60214, record 2758377; Democrat and Chronicle, April 20, 1888, p. 3, Newspapers.com image 135100371.
9. 1850 U.S. census, Benjamin F. Hawks household, Phelps, NARA M432, roll 572, p. 403A; Ancestry record 7903706.
10. 1855 New York census, Benjamin F. Hawks household, Phelps; Ancestry record 1655109321.
11. 1860 U.S. census, Benjamin F. Hawks household, Phelps, NARA M653, roll 831, p. 635; Ancestry record 48335608; Geneva directory, 1862, Seymour Hawks, Ancestry record 1424182978.
12. 1870 U.S. census, Charles Hawks household, Phelps, NARA M593, roll 1065, p. 348B; Ancestry record 32493505.
13. 1875 New York census, Charles S. Hawks household, Phelps; Ancestry record 1372918278.
14. Rochester Journal and the Post Express, June 13, 1867, marriage notice, Newspapers.com image 1333924097; "Points from Phelps," August 30, 1883, p. 3, image 1334541970.
15. Find a Grave, Annie E. Parker Hawks, memorial 144688303. The middle initial conflicts with the marriage notice.
16. 1900 U.S. census, Charles S. Hawks household, Quitman, NARA T623, roll 181, p. 5, ED 6; Ancestry record 52866129.
17. 1910 U.S. census, Chas. S. Hawks alternate index, Phelps, NARA T624, roll 1058, p. 5B, ED 111; Ancestry record 19596184.
18. "Firemen's Parade at Phelps," Rochester Herald, September 14, 1888, p. 8, Newspapers.com image 1332935221.
19. The Times-Union, March 28, 1889, p. 6, Newspapers.com image 1278244581.
20. New York Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, Seymour C. Hawks, 148th New York Infantry; Ancestry record 350620; National Park Service soldier index, Ancestry record 2173695.
21. U.S. Colored Troops military service index, Seymour C. Hawks, 38th USCT, NARA M1993, roll 61; Ancestry record 242653; compiled Civil War profile, Ancestry record 1198104.
22. Democrat and Chronicle, November 23, 1889, pp. 3 and 5, Newspapers.com images 135134900 and 135134910; Rochester Herald, November 26, 1889, p. 2, image 1332938235.
23. Rochester Herald, January 29, 1890, p. 8, Newspapers.com image 1332962330.
24. Atlanta Journal, March 10, 1900, Newspapers.com image 969468865.
25. "Fire at Quitman," Savannah Morning News, April 4, 1900, Newspapers.com image 852604628; Valdosta Times, April 7, 1900, p. 3, image 889672816.
26. Atlanta Constitution, April 9, 1900, Newspapers.com image 26973708.
27. Folks Huxford, History of Brooks County, Georgia, 1858-1948, pp. 198-200.
28. Macon Telegraph, February 16, 1891, Newspapers.com image 825351078.
29. Atlanta Constitution, February 5, 1900, p. 8, Newspapers.com image 34104754.
30. Atlanta Constitution, March 5, 1900, Newspapers.com image 26828014.
31. Atlanta Journal, May 22, 1904, Newspapers.com image 969529762.
32. Savannah Morning News, August 13, 1893, image 852584196, and July 30, 1899, image 852559597.
33. Rochester Herald, August 7, 1899, Newspapers.com image 1332889029.
34. Rochester Herald, July 30, 1901, Newspapers.com image 1332902179.
35. Atlanta Journal, April 11, 1904, Newspapers.com image 969526066.
36. Atlanta Constitution, April 23, 1905, Newspapers.com image 34211020.
37. Atlanta Journal, March 31, 1907, Newspapers.com image 969901146.
38. Rochester Herald, March 23, 1908, p. 5, Newspapers.com image 1333667144.
39. Finger Lakes Times, December 2, 1911, p. 3, Newspapers.com image 1186943612.
40. Baltimore Sun, May 31, 1915, p. 3, Newspapers.com image 214540427; Evening Star, May 28, 1915, p. 13, image 332076788; Find a Grave, Mary Hempstone Hawks, memorial 129182501.
41. 1900 and 1910 census records cited above. The 1900 record gives Mary an age inconsistent with the cemetery birth year; no attempt has been made to hide the discrepancy.
42. Find a Grave, Charles Seymour Hawks, memorial 129182374.

Search ledger and access limits

Research conducted August 21, 2026, covered exact-name and initials searches for Charles Seymour Hawks, Charles S. Hawks, C. S. Hawks, and Seymour C. Hawks in Phelps, Ontario County, Quitman, Brooks County, Georgia, Loudoun County, and Leesburg. Variants and common OCR failures were tested in federal and state censuses, directories, military indexes, pension records, Virginia marriage and death records, cemetery memorials, Google-indexed web results, Newspapers.com, and the stored South Georgia Railroad research corpus.

Newspaper searches covered 1880 through 1940 and included combinations with Phelps, Quitman, Georgia, dry goods, merchant, railroad, death, obituary, Mary, and Mrs. C. S. Hawks. Broad searches were checked for namesakes before use. The search found no dependable obituary, business dissolution notice, railroad stock subscription, child record, or full military narrative.

The 1910 census evidence comes from the record's alternate index and the surrounding continuity evidence rather than a new manuscript transcription. The full 38th USCT service file, original South Georgia Railroad charter petition, railroad stock ledger, and local probate files were not available as inspectable online images during this research.