Cabell County, West Virginia Biography of J. Marshall HAWKINS This file was submitted by Joyce Vickers, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 265 J. Marshall Hawkins. Included among the men prominently identified with the business interests of Huntington, as well as with the civic and social life of the community, who by character and achievement have attained more than passing distinction is J. Marshall Hawkins, president of the Mercereau-Hawkins Tie Company. His career has been an exemplary one in many ways, and fully typifies the true American spirit of progress. He located at Huntington a quarter of a century ago, and while adding to his own fortunes has associated himself with other public-spirited citizens in contributing to the city's welfare. Mr. Hawkins was born in Louisa County, Virginia, July 28, 1866, a son of Rev. Edward P. and Martha Jane (Anderson) Hawkins, a member of a family that immigrated from England to American in Colonial times and settled in Virginia. Thomas P. Hawkins, the grandfather of J. Marshall Hawkins, was born in Orange County, Virginia, where he passed his entire life as an extensive planter, operating his broad acres with slave labor. His son, Edward P. Hawkins, was born in 1829, in Orange County, where he received his early education, and as a young man went to Louisa County, where he was married. Entering the ministry of the Baptist Church, he preached in Louisa, Goochland and Spottsylvania counties until he had reached the advanced age of eighty-five years, when he retired. Reverend Hawkins was one of the distinguished and greatly beloved members of the cloth, and his death, in Spottsylvania County in 1918, was sincerely mourned. He was a democrat and a member of the Masonic fraternity. During the war between the states he entered the Confederate army and served in the quartermaster's department. Reverend Hawkins married Miss Martha Jane Anderson, who was born in Louisa County, Virginia, where her death occurred. They were the parents of a large family of children. The education of J. Marshall Hawkins was acquired in the rural schools of Louisa County, Virginia, which he attended until reaching the age of seventeen years. At that time he learned telegraphy and became an operator for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, with whom he remained several years, then transferring his services to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, as secretary to the general manager in the Topeka office. He was there two years, after which he became private secretary to the president of the Lake Shore Railway at Cleveland, remaining two years, and then became purchasing agent of the Union Car Works at Depew, a suburb of Buffalo, New York, a capacity in which he continued for five years. In 1897 Mr. Hawkins came to Huntington and went into the cross tie and lumber business, in which he has been engaged to the present time. He is president of the Mercereau-Hawkins Tie Company, 603-4-5 First National Bank Building, manufacturers and wholesalers of railroad ties and hardwoods lumber, operating in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. Under Mr. Hawkins' capable and energetic management this has been built up into the largest cross tie business in West Virginia, handling more than 1, 000,000 ties annually. Mr. Hawkins is recognized not only as a man of marked business talents but one of earnest purpose and progressive principles. He has always stood for the things that are right, and for the advancement of citizenship, and is interested in everything that pertains to modern improvement in the direction of morals, education and civic responsibilities. He is a man of marked mental capacity and force of character, and the fact that he enjoys the same respect from his business colleagues as from those with whom he comes into contact in social relations is proof of his high standing. In politics Mr. Hawkins is a democrat, and his religious connection is with the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church. As a Fraternalist he belongs to Huntington Lodge No. 53, A. F. and A. M., of which he is a past master; Huntington Chapter No. 6, R. A. M., of which he is a past high priest; Huntington Commandery No. 9, K. T., of which he is a past commander; Beni-Kedem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Charleston, of which he is a past potentate; West Virginia Consistory No. 1, thirty-third degree, Wheeling; Huntington Lodge of Perfection No. 4, and Huntington Chapter, rose Croix No. 4, of which he is a past wise master, having been the first to occupy this chair. He is also a past grand commander of the Grand Commandery Knights Templars of West Virginia, a member of the board of trustees of the Grand Lodge A. F. and A. M., of the state, and president of the Huntington Masonic Temple Association, a position which he has held since the association erected the Masonic Temple in the city in 1913. Mr. Hawkins belongs also to the Huntington Lodge 313, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Guyandotte Club of Huntington, of which he was formerly president; the Guyan Country Club of this city; and the Huntington Chamber of Commerce. He is the owner of one of Huntington's modern homes, located at No. 1219 Fifth Avenue, in an exclusive residential district. In 1891, at Huntington, Mr. Hawkins married Miss Nora B. Beuhring, daughter of Frederick D. and Frances (Miller) Beuhring, both deceased. Mr. Beuhring, who was a pioneer farmer and prominent citizen, at one time owned about one-half of the land upon which is not situated the City of Huntington. Mrs. Hawkins died in May 1900, leaving two sons: Edward Donald and Howard Burke. Edward Donald Hawkins was born in May, 1896, and is a graduate of Huntington High School. He volunteered his services in the World war, prior to the draft, was accepted for service, and during the period of the struggle was in the Motor Transport Corps. He now assists his father and is a stockholder and director in the Mercereau-Hawkins Tie company. Howard Burke Hawkins was born in May, 1900, and is a graduate of Huntington High School and the Virginia Military institute, Lexington, Virginia, where he took a degree in chemical engineering. During the World war he enlisted in the Officers' Training Camp, was assigned to the field artillery service, and sent to Camp Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky, where he was located at the close of the struggle. He is now identified with the Hutchinson Lumber company at Oroville, California, and is a stockholder in that concern. In 1908, at Huntington, J. Marshall Hawkins was united in marriage with Miss Blanche Poage, daughter of John B. and Mary (Miller) Poage, residents of Huntington, Mr. Poage being a retired merchant.