TABLE TALK. (1867, April 29). Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 – 1876), p. 2 Edition: EVENING. Retrieved November 3, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64637763
TABLE TALK. (1867, May 6). Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 – 1876), p. 2 Edition: EVENING. Retrieved October 29, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64637812

Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819–1867), born on 30 April 1819 at Dumfries, Scotland to Robert Hawkins (1770–1841) and Penelope Hawkins née Carruthers (1765–1845), was my great great great grandfather.

In 1839, when he was only twenty, Samuel Hawkins, ‘occupation storekeeper’, sailed from Edinburgh to Port Phillip on the David Clark, the first ship to sail there directly with immigrants from the United Kingdom.   He travelled without any immediate relatives. His eldest brother, Robert, and cousin, Thomas, had previously settled in New South Wales. (Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985. p. 38) (Janson, Elizabeth. “They Came by the David Clark in 1839.” In Victoria before 1848. OoCities.org, 1999. retrieved 04 Nov. 2013. <http://www.oocities.org/vic1847/ship/david39.html>.)

In 1841, within three years of Samuel’s arrival, an S.P. Hawkins is listed as a land surveyor, with offices in Lonsdale Street, in Kerr’s Melbourne Almanac and Port Phillip Directory. (http://members.optushome.com.au/lenorefrost/kerr.html )  He appears to have begun his land surveying career working for Robert Russell, the first surveyor of Melbourne.

From Melbourne Samuel moved to the Western District, first to Portland and then to Melville Forest, near Coleraine. (pdf of Victorian Heritage database listing for Melville Forest homestead complex  vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/reports/report_place/23456 )
In 1849, at the age of thirty, Samuel married Jeanie Hutcheson (1824 – 1864).  Jeanie’s three brothers had also settled in the Portland district.

Cherry stones p. 44  “Probably an engagement photograph, but certainly of Jeanie and Samuel Hawkins taken about 1849.”

 Samuel wrote to his brother James in 1849

I know not whether in my last letter I acquainted you with my changed condition of life from the single to the married. To describe who and what She is is impossible to be intelligibble. Her name is Jeanie Hutcheson, the sister of 3 respectable settlers on the Glenelg River and with this introduction, seasoned by my love and esteem, I beg to introduce her to your notice and remembrance (Cherry Stones p. 43.)

They had eight children.  In 1864, after an illness of seventeen days, Jeanie died “disease of stomach and liver” and the complications of a miscarriage.  She was 40 years old. Their children were aged from two to fifteen years.

  • Isabella Hawkins (1849 – 1916)
  • Penelope Bell Hawkins (1851 – 1898)
  • Robert James Hawkins (1853 – 1854) 
  • Robert James Hawkins (1854 – 1893) 
  • Georgina Hawkins (1856 – 1944) 
  • David Hawkins (1858 – 1922) 
  • Janet “Jessie” Hawkins (1860 – 1944)
  • Jeanie Hawkins (1862 – 1941) (my great great grandmother)

Cherry Stones p. 46.

In 1865 Samuel married Mary Adamson (1843 – 1908), governess of his children. They had two children. The first died in infancy and the second was born on 23 July 1867, just over three months after Samuel’s death on 22 April 1867.

  • Mary Hawkins (1866 – 1866) 
  • Samuel Melville Hawkins (1867 – 1947)

Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins’s death certificate states he died of delerium tremens and exhaustion after an illness of one week. He was 47 years old. (Victoria Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages; death certificate 5050/1867)

Delirium tremens can occur when you stop drinking alcohol after a period of heavy drinking, especially if you do not eat enough food. Delirium tremens may also be caused by head injury, infection, or illness in people with a history of heavy alcohol use. It is most common in people who have a history of alcohol withdrawal. It is especially common in those who drink 4 – 5 pints of wine or 7 – 8 pints of beer (or 1 pint of “hard” alcohol) every day for several months. Delirium tremens also commonly affects people who have had an alcohol habit or alcoholism for more than 10 years. (Dugdale, David C., III MD. “Delirium Tremens.” MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 20 Mar. 2011. retrieved 04 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000766.htm>.)

Today delirium tremens, which is sometimes fatal, is usually treated in hospital. Symptoms include body tremors, changes in mental function such as hallucinations, confusion and restlessness, and seizures. (MedlinePlus)

Samuel’s grave is in Portland North Cemetery, where he is buried with his first wife and their infant son  Robert James Hawkins (1853-1854).  His second wife died at Kyneton in 1908.

Probate was granted on the estate of Samuel Hawkins, Esquire of Melville Forest Station on 4 July 1867.  His estate was estimated to be valued at £14,000.  (Probate files held by Public Record Office of Victoria reference 6/328)  Today the value of his estate is in the order of $2 million up to nearly $13 million; the lower value is based on the changes in the retail price index and the higher value on the changes in average earnings. (Using the conversion calculator at http://www.measuringworth.com which is based on shifts in purchasing power of British pounds).