Robert Hawley
Encyclopedia
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
.
Biography
Captain Robert Hawley
Hawley
-People:* Alan Ramsay Hawley, early American aviator* Cameron Hawley, American fiction writer* Caroline Hawley, BBC war correspondent* David Hawley , Stratfield, Connecticut, captain and privateer during the American Revolution...
was born June 5, 1726, in North Stratford, now Trumbull, Connecticut
Trumbull, Connecticut
Trumbull, a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut in the New England region of the United States, is bordered by the towns of Monroe, Shelton, Stratford, Bridgeport, Fairfield and Easton along Connecticut's Gold Coast. The population was 36,018 according to the 2010 census.Family Circle magazine...
, in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. He was the son of John Hawley, Esquire and Sarah Walker, the grandson of Captain John Hawley and great grandson of Joseph Hawley (Captain)
Joseph Hawley (Captain)
Joseph Hawley , born in Parwich, Derbyshire, England, was the first of the Hawley name to come to America in 1629. He settled at Stratford, Connecticut in 1650, becoming the town's first town clerk or record keeper, tavern keeper and a shipbuilder.-Surname:The surname of Hawley is one of locality...
, the first of the name in America. On March 15, 1750, Hawley married Anna Beach, daughter of Lt. Josiah Beach and Patience Nichols, and raised nine children. The family lived in the house built by Robert's great uncle Ephraim Hawley
Ephraim Hawley House
The Ephraim Hawley House, located in New England, is a Colonial American wooden post-and-beam timber-frame farm house built between 1670 and 1690...
on Nichols Avenue Route 108
Connecticut Route 108
Route 108 in the U.S. state of Connecticut, also called Huntington Turnpike and Nichols Avenue, is a two-lane state highway that runs northerly from US 1, Boston Post Road in Stratford, through Trumbull, to Route 110 in downtown Shelton...
at the south end of the village of Nichols Farms
Nichols Farms Historic District
According to Stratford land records, Abraham Nichols purchased several old farms and large parcels of land in 1696. Nichols exchanged his land for of Lt. Joseph Judsons old farm which had a barn on it, or half the land owned by Jeremiah Judson, and of land from Benjamin Curtiss...
on land that had been in the Hawley family since 1670. Hawley gifted the house
Ephraim Hawley House
The Ephraim Hawley House, located in New England, is a Colonial American wooden post-and-beam timber-frame farm house built between 1670 and 1690...
to his son Eliakim in January 1787 when he married his cousin Sally Sara Hawley. Captain Robert Hawley died in 1799.
Lawsuit
Robert and Anna Hawley, and some 35 others, signed a petition to the county court held in Fairfield, Connecticut, by adjournment, the fourth Tuesday of January 1772, against Jonathan Nichols of Stratford, for the seizure and possession of about 47 acres (190,202.4 m²) of land in the Parish of North Stratford, which was tried by the Superior Court in 1773 and judgment rendered for plaintiffs.
Military service
The Connecticut general assembly named Robert Hawley the Ensign of the North Stratford Train Band or Company of the 4th regiment of the Connecticut Colony
Connecticut Colony
The Connecticut Colony or Colony of Connecticut was an English colony located in British America that became the U.S. state of Connecticut. Originally known as the River Colony, it was organized on March 3, 1636 as a haven for Puritan noblemen. After early struggles with the Dutch, the English...
militia in October 1765. He was promoted to Lieutenant in October 1769 and to Captain in May 1773. At a special meeting assembled in North Stratford on November 10, 1777 he was appointed to a committee to provide immediately all those necessaries for the Continental soldiers. On March 12, 1778, the parish of North Stratford made donations of provisions for those residents serving in the southern army stationed at Valley Forge
Valley Forge
Valley Forge in Pennsylvania was the site of the military camp of the American Continental Army over the winter of 1777–1778 in the American Revolutionary War.-History:...
, Pennsylvania under the command of General George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
. George Washington called Connecticut the Provision State because of supplies contributed to his army by Governor Jonathan Trumbull
Jonathan Trumbull
Jonathan Trumbull, Sr. was one of the few Americans who served as governor in both a pre-Revolutionary colony and a post-Revolutionary state...
the only Colonial Governor to support the cause of America's Independence from Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. Three Hawley's from North Stratford served in the southern army during the winter of 1778; Abraham, Nathan and Nero. Nero Hawley
Nero Hawley
Nero Hawley , born into slavery in North Stratford, now Trumbull, Connecticut, enlisted in place of his owner, Daniel Hawley, in the Continental Army on April 20, 1777 during the American Revolution and earned his freedom...
was a slave owned by the Hawley family who won his freedom after fighting in the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. Robert Hawley and his sons; John, Edmund, and Robert, Jr. are listed in the rolls of soldiers who fought in the American Revolution from Stratford, CT.
See also
- A Great Jubilee DayA Great Jubilee DayA Great Jubilee Day, first held on Monday May 26, 1783 in North Stratford, now Trumbull, commemorated the end of fighting in the Revolutionary War...
- Ephraim Hawley HouseEphraim Hawley HouseThe Ephraim Hawley House, located in New England, is a Colonial American wooden post-and-beam timber-frame farm house built between 1670 and 1690...
Notes
References
- William Richard Cutter, New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial, Lewis Historical Publishing, NY, 1914
- Elias Sill Hawley, The Hawley Record, Press of E. H. Hutchinson & Co., Buffalo NY, 1890
- Connecticut General Assembly, The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut 1636-1776, Press of the Case Lockwood & Brainard, 1885
- Reverend Samuel Orcutt, History of Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Fairfield Historical Society, 1886
- William Howard Wilcoxson, History of Stratford Connecticut, 1639-1939, Higginson Book Company, 1997
- Royal R. Hinman, A Catalogue of the Names of the Early Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Connecticut, Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, Hartford, 1852
External links