Frederick Wilson Hawes

Frederick Wilson Hawes, his siblings, and his spouses were part of the idealistic Missionary Generation His parents were part of the adaptive Progressive Generation. His children were part of the civic-minded Greatest Generation.

Fred was a cowboy, a Rough Rider, a lawyer, and a chicken farmer. He was restless, ambitious, intellectual, and humorous; he loved to write; he was a great storyteller; he was somewhat insensitive, and he was clumsy with his hands. He had red hair (until he was bald in his later years). At age 16, when Indian Territory (Oklahoma) opened up to white settlement, he dashed across the line with his father, but he couldn't hold land (at McAlester) because of his youth. He worked as cowboy in Oklahoma and Texas. He studied law in Denison, TX, and passed the bar there. In 1898, he joined Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders (he had a desk job) and served in Puerto Rico during and shortly after the Spanish-American War.

[ Frederick Wilson Hawes as Roughrider, 1898 ]
Frederick Wilson Hawes as Roughrider, 1898.

Fred was later a lieutenant there of native troops, and there met his first wife, Maria. He and his comrades had a luncheon with Teddy Roosevelt in the White House in 1907. Roosevelt helped him get positions more than once—including one in the customs office in New York City, where he met his second wife, Anna.

[ Frederick Wilson Hawes in 1908 ]
Frederick Wilson Hawes in 1908.

Fred and Anna lived in Chicago for a while, but then they homesteaded in central Saskatchewan, where Fred hunted caribou. They moved to Henryetta, OK, and finally (in 1920) to Centralia, WA (Anna refused to move again). Fred raised sheep, chickens, turkeys, a cow, a steer, and a horse. Fred was foolish enough to trade the family Stevens touring car for a Model T car and a Model T truck; after he drove over nails, he never drove again. Fred was nearly axe-murdered by his brother-in-law Ed Franz after a drinking bout; he was saved by Anna, who deflected the blow.

Fred rolled his own cigarettes with Prince Albert tobacco. His stories often ended "Seventeen Indians came out from behind a gooseberry bush, and I ran" or "Just then my hat blew off and I never did find out what happened." He couldn't hold a tune, and he wrote doggerel. He was a chronic alcoholic.

[ Frederick Wilson Hawes in 1940 ]
Frederick Wilson Hawes in 1940.

Fred spent his last couple of years in an insane asylum (Western State Veterans Hospital in Stielacoom, WA).

For more of his story, see Discovery and Restoration of the Milkcan Papers.

The childhood and coming of age of Frederick Wilson Hawes in its historical context
The historical context of Frederick Wilson Hawes's life from age 28 through 37
The historical context of Frederick Wilson Hawes's life from age 38 through 47
The historical context of Frederick Wilson Hawes's life from age 48 through 57
The historical context of Frederick Wilson Hawes's life from age 58 through 67
The historical context of Frederick Wilson Hawes's life from age 68 until his death

Birth of Frederick Wilson Hawes
Born: 13 April 1873
Birthplace: Algona, Kossuth County, Iowa
Parents
Father: Frederick Webber Hawes, 1845-1911 (our ancestor), from Corinna, Penobscot County, Maine
Mother: Harriet (Lovisa B.) Wilson, 1852-1916 (our ancestor), from Genoa, DeKalb County, Illinois
Siblings
Brother: Jim (Jesse James Harold) Hawes, 1877-1940
For information on his spouse and descendants,
including the surnames Meacham, Chambers, Opsahl, Gaston, and Brooks,
see Descendants of Frederick Webber Hawes (password-protected)
Sister: Mary Lovica Hawes, died at birth in 18 September 1882
Spouses and Children
Wife 1: Maria Noel
Married 1900
in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Divorced 1906
in New York, New York County, New York
Daughter: Isabel Concepción Hawes, b. 1901
For information on her spouse and descendants,
including the surname Allen,
see Descendants of Frederick Wilson Hawes (password-protected)
Son: Robert A, Hawes, b. 1905
For information on his spouse and descendants,
including the surnames Liggen, Catalano, Henderson, and Widner,
see Descendants of Frederick Wilson Hawes (password-protected)
Wife 2: Anna Martha Franz, 1877-1969
Married 7 June 1907
in New York, New York County, New York
Son: Frederic(k) William Hawes, 1910-1992
For information on his spouses and descendants,
including the surnames Doyle, Bean, Gilpatrick, Moses, Page, Abbarno, Sheppard, Laymon, Durham, and Eisenbarth,
see Descendants of Frederick Wilson Hawes (password-protected)
There is some controversy about Frederick William Hawes being the first child of Frederick Wilson Hawes and Anna Martha Franz Hawes. According to the census record for 1910, Fred and Anna had been married 3 years. Anna had given birth to one child, but there were no children living. What!? To repeat: Anna had given birth to their first child (we don't know whether a boy or a girl), who had died. This new information was startling; we had never heard of an earlier child. See Our German Immigrant Ancestors for more on this.
Son: Thomas Franz Hawes, 1913-1994
For information on his spouse and descendants,
including the surname Pfirter, Allison, Meyer, Maschner, Hahn, Keith, Youngblood, Glimsdale, Barr, Osterby, Johnson, Davis, Patterson, DeLeeeuw, Winters, Lorenz, Kissler, and Nelson,
see Descendants of Frederick Wilson Hawes (password-protected)
Daughter: Jane Ernestine Hawes, 1915-2007
For information on her spouse and descendants,
including the surnames Boyce, Foster, Wingate, Larson, McAll, Newell, Sigsby, Tweten, Bower, Mericle, Baker, Wood, Goettlin, Fugere, Colvin, Hamilton, Churchward, Fimpel, and DeManty,
see Descendants of Frederick Wilson Hawes (password-protected)
Daughter: Mary Anna Hawes, 1917-1992 (our ancestor)
For information on her spouse and descendants,
including the surnames Edmands, Ashbrook, Barrett, Anderson, Ullrich, Gerson, Eggert, Perez-Gomez, Yarnot, Krajeski, Richards, FitzGerald, Shinnemann, and Durbin,
see Descendants of Frederick Wilson Hawes (password-protected)
Other information on Frederick Wilson Hawes
Occupation: Lawyer, soldier in Spanish-American War, poultry farmer
Religion: No information available
Death of Frederick Wilson Hawes
Died: 12 January 1950
(complications of alcoholism)
(age 76 years 8 months 30 days)
Deathplace: Stielacoom, Pierce County, Washington
Buried: January 1950
Burial place: Greenwood Cemetery, Centralia, Lewis County, Washington
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