' A 1601 Brick

"A 1601 Brick"


Article from "Hawkes Talks", Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1969
Genealogical Bulletin of the Adam Hawkes Family Assoc."


Copied by Philip G. Parsons




" In one of the prettiest spots on the Saugus River is located the farm of Louis P. Hawkes, at the junction of Walnut Street and Broadway, North Saugus. Mr. Hawkes is a descendant of Adam Hawkes, or Hawks, as it was spelled then, who came from Southhampton, England with John Wintrop and landed in Salem in June 1630.

Among the articles brought over was a lot of old brick, used for ballast, but that article being impossible to obtain here, Adam secured a large number, and they were used in the chimney of the house which he built immediately after obtaining a grant of land. The house was destroyed by fire in 1635, nothing remaining but the cellar hole, which can be seen on what was then called "Close Hill", and by which name it is now spoken of by the older residents.

Among the bricks is one bearing the date 16-1, marked in the soft clay before it was baked, apparently with the finger. Richard Hawkes, nephew of Louis, has a number of the bricks in his possession, among then the dated one.

Among the other articles preserved by Louis Hawkes is an old iron fireback that was brought from England by Adam. It measures two feet square and weighs about 100 pounds. On it is molded what was supposed to be the British arms, but what has since been thought to be the coat-of-arms of the Hawkes family. The "Supporters", though indistinct with age and rust, seem to be similar to those of the British arms, but instead of the original crown, they are surmounted by what appears to be the visors and bars of a helmet and a lion. It was evidently intended to lay in masonry, as the edges are depressed in this manner.

This old fire-back was used in the first Hawkes house, and after the fire was removed to the house now occupied by Richard Hawkes, from whence it was taken to Louis Hawkes' house, where it now is. On the lower part is an inscription, but part of it has bee obliterated by time and rust.

The old relic has passed through nine generations to its present owner, as the following list shows: Adam Hawkes to John, to Moses, to Moses Jr., to Moses 3rd, to Hannah, to Elizabeth, to Nathan M., to Louis.

This article was copied from a newspaper clipping found in a scrap book originally belonging to Rossamond Robinson, Saugus, Mass. dated 1896. The date of the article would be about November 20, 1896................From Eloise Clark Mann, great- granddaughter of Louis Penn Hawkes."

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