John Hawkins

Personal and Family Information

John was born about 1518 in England, the son of John Hawkins and Agnes.

He died after 1570. The place is not known.

He had four marriages/partners. His first wife was Margaret Nasch, who he married on 27 OCT 1538 in Stone, Buckinghamshire, England. They had no known children.

His second wife was Katherin Bampton, who he married on 7 AUG 1541 in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England. Their two known children were Agneta (<1541-?) and Symon (<1542-?).

His third wife was Margerie Barnes, who he married in ABT 1549. The place has not been found. Their seven known children were Thomas (c1550-?), Richard “Ricus” (c1551-?), John (c1553-<1563), Alice (c1556-?), Ann (c1557-?), Robarte (c1559-?) and Katherine (c1560-?).

His fourth wife was Elizabeth “Ellen” Hawkins, who he married on 2 NOV 1560 in St Saviour, Southwark, Surrey, England. Their six known children were Christopher (c1562-c1562), John (1563-1563), John (c1564-?), Christopher (c1564-?), Barnardus (c1568-?) and Thomas (c1570-?).

Pedigree Chart (3 generations)

Events

Attributes

Notes

Note 1

!Note: His father died in 1538, when he was about 20 and his mother [1537], before he established himself in Worcestershire by the late 1540s. His first marriage was to Katherine Bampton in 1541. His later marriage to Margerie Barnes and the baptism of his children in Alstone suggest he settled there as a young adult. John Hawkins married Margerie Barnes around 1549 and had six children in Alstone. After Margerie’s death in October 1560—likely from complications following the birth of their last child—he remarried Ellen Hotchkiss just days later on 2 November 1560. The urgency of the second marriage reflects the need to care for a newborn and several young children. John and Ellen had four additional children, baptized in Fladbury, establishing the next branch of the Hawkins family line.

!Note: John Hawkins [~1518–aft. 1570], of Chesham and Alstone

Born the second son of John Hawkins, clothier of Leatherhead and Midhurst [~1490–~1539], and his second wife Agnes of Ashley, Staffordshire [~1490–1537], John Jr. came of age in a merchant household spread across Surrey, Sussex, and Buckinghamshire. His mother died in 1537, and his father remarried shortly before dying in early 1539, leaving John around 20 years old. As an adult heir, John likely inherited part of the family’s commercial interests—specifically the Battersea and Aston Abbotts properties, forming a northeastern corridor of influence connecting London trade routes with inherited Buckinghamshire holdings.

In 1541, he married Katherin Bampton of Chesham, Buckinghamshire—a match likely arranged through his new standing at nearby Aston Abbotts, just 15 miles away. The marriage was short-lived; Katherine likely died before 1547, although we have not yet found if they had children. This early marriage is key to tracking John’s shift from southeast merchant routes toward the west.

Around 1549, John remarried Margerie Barnes of Worcestershire, likely arranged through his westward trade contacts, and the couple settled in Alstone, where six children were baptized between 1550 and 1560. The death of Margerie—likely from complications following the birth of their last child, Katherine—came on 31 October 1560, and was followed swiftly by John’s third marriage to Elizabeth "Ellen" Hawkins on 2 November 1560 in Southwark, London. The urgency of this remarriage underscores the burden of caring for six young children.

Ellen was no ordinary match—she was John’s sixth cousin, descended from the Stephen Hawkins branch of the Hawkins family, and daughter of George Hawkins of Goadalming and Betchworth, a prominent merchant-trader with deep Kentish roots. This final marriage not only secured the domestic front, but also likely helped sustain the London end of the Hawkins cloth trade, centered in Battersea and Southwark.

Between 1561 and 1570, John and Ellen had four children baptized in Fladbury, signaling the establishment of a second generation of the Hawkins line in Worcestershire, now rooted in both merchant activity and regional landholding.

Though no probate record has yet been found for John Jr., the coordinated timing of his children’s baptisms and marriages—paired with land and trade connections extending from Buckinghamshire to London to the west midlands—make clear he was an active, capable second son who extended the Hawkins merchant tradition westward.

!Source: Buckinghamshire Marriage Registers, Vol 3 https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=GBOR%2FPHILLIMORE-MARS%2F0564776%2F1&tab=this

First name[s] Jhon

County Buckinghamshire

Last name Hickes <<<< Likely mis-reading of Hawkes

Country England

Year 1538

Volume Buckinghamshire Marriage Registers, Vol 3

Event date 27 Oct 1538

Record set England, Phillimore Marriage Registers, 1531-1913

Spouse's first name[s] Margt

Category Birth, Marriage & Death [Parish Registers]

Spouse's last name Nasch <<<< Love the family historic last name.

Subcategory Parish Marriages

Parish Stone

Collections from England, Great Britain

!Source: Buckinghamshire Marriage Index https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FBUCKINGHAMSHIRE%2FMAR%2F000190279%2F1&tab=this

First name John

Country England

Last name Hicks <<<< Likely mis-reading of Hawkes

Document type Parish registers

Sex Male

Register type Baptisms, marriages & burials

Marriage year 1538

Register year range 1538-1754

Marriage date 27 Oct 1538

Archive Buckinghamshire Archives

Spouse's first name Margaret

Archive reference PR199/1/1

Spouse's last name Nas?h

Record set Buckinghamshire Marriage Index

Denomination Anglican

Category Birth, Marriage & Death

Place Stone

Subcategory Parish Marriages

County Buckinghamshire

Collections from England, Great Britain

!Source: Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=R_857793728&tab=this

First name[s] John

Father's last name Hawkes

Last name Hawkes

Spouse's first name[s] Katherin

Name note -

Spouse's last name Bampton

Marriage year 1541

Spouse's age -

Marriage date 07 Aug 1541

Spouse's father's first name[s] Jo

Marriage place Chesham

Record set England Marriages 1538-1973

County Buckinghamshire

Category Birth, Marriage & Death [Parish Registers]

Country England

Subcategory Parish Marriages

Father's first name[s] John

Collections from England, Great Britain

!Source: England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975 https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=R_945955907&tab=this

First name[s] Thomas

Father's first name[s] John <<<<<

Last name Hawckines

Father's last name Hawckines

Sex Male

Mother's first name[s] Margerie <<<<

Baptism year 1550

Record set England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975

Baptism date 10 Apr 1550

Category Birth, Marriage & Death [Parish Registers]

Place Alstone

Subcategory Parish Baptisms

County Worcestershire

Collections from England, Great Britain

Country England

Note: First child of John and Margerie places their wedding around 1549.

!Source: Surrey Marriages https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=SURREY%2FFHS%2FMAR%2F0179045%2F2&tab=this

First name[s] Ellen

County Surrey

Last name Hitchis

Country England

Marriage year 1560

Source Parish Register Transcripts

Marriage date 02 Nov 1560

Record set Surrey Marriages

Spouse's first name[s] John

Category Birth, Marriage & Death [Parish Registers]

Spouse's last name Hogkins

Subcategory Parish Marriages

Place Southwark St Saviour

Collections from England, Great Britain

Note: Julian calendar year starts March 25 while Gregorian starts January 1. England officially used the Julian calendar until 1752.

!Source: The National Archives' catalogue https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7507221

C - Records created, acquired, and inherited by Chancery, and also of the Wardrobe, Royal Household, Exchequer and various commissions

Division within C - Records of Equity Side: the Six Clerks

C 1 - Court of Chancery: Six Clerks Office: Early Pleadings and Proceedings, Richard II to Philip and Mary

C 1/1506 - Detailed description at item level

Catalogue description Short title: Keyle v Hawkins. Plaintiffs: Thomas KEYLE of London, stationer. Defendants:...

Reference: C 1/1506/49

Description:

Short title: Keyle v Hawkins.

Plaintiffs: Thomas KEYLE of London, stationer.

Defendants: John HAWKINS of London, grocer, and Margaret his wife, executrix of Richard Pynson of London, stationer.

Subject: Action for a debt released by the said Pynson pending a suit in this court. London

Note: C1/649/32.

Date: 1386-1558

Held by: The National Archives, Kew

Legal status: Public Record

Closure status: Open Document, Open Description

Note: Background for time tracking. This has to be after these events:

1. The defendant’s widow, “Margaret, executrix of Richard Pynson.”

Richard Pynson isn’t some obscure tradesman — he was Henry VII’s and Henry VIII’s official royal printer, the man who succeeded William Caxton. His death is well-dated to late

1529 / early 1530, and probate for his widow Margaret appears soon after in the London Commissary Court. That immediately pins any legal wrangling involving her as executrix to

roughly 1530–1532.

2. The plaintiff, “Thomas Keyle of London, stationer.”

He’s documented in the Stationers’ Company apprenticeship and freedom rolls between about 1520 and 1540, so again, same generation.

3. Chancery bundle context .

The National Archives series C 1 holds early Chancery pleadings; the numeric ranges are not chronological. Each bundle covers a big sweep of petitions filed under multiple reigns.

“1386–1558” is simply the bookend range for the whole box, not that folio. Pynson’s inclusion fixes the real date.

4. Trade connection clues.

A “grocer” in Tudor London often meant someone dealing in imported goods and spices, sometimes overlapping with stationers and printers because of shared supply networks

. So a John Hawkins, grocer, suing or being sued alongside Pynson’s estate makes perfect commercial sense for the 1520s, not for the 1300s.

!Source: The National Archives' catalogue https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7490223

C - Records created, acquired, and inherited by Chancery, and also of the Wardrobe, Royal Household, Exchequer and various commissions

Division within C - Records of Equity Side: the Six Clerks

C 1 - Court of Chancery: Six Clerks Office: Early Pleadings and Proceedings, Richard II to Philip and Mary

C 1/1036 - Detailed description at item level

Catalogue description Short title: More v Haukes. Plaintiffs: William, son and heir of William MORE, and Joan...

Reference: C 1/1036/38-39

Description:

Short title: More v Haukes.

Plaintiffs: William, son and heir of William MORE, and Joan his wife.

Defendants: John HAUKES and Margaret his wife.

Subject: Messuages and land in Beccles. Suffolk

Note: Answer wanting.

Date: 1538-1544

Held by: The National Archives, Kew

Legal status: Public Record

Closure status: Open Document, Open Description