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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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J.
C. Hawkins "Unique"
is the term that best describes the subject of this review. Not so in a
notorious way, nor yet in the realm of cheap tinsel and tawdry accomplishment,
but unique as a man who is worth while, who is so original as to be apart from
the great rank and file of his fellow men. J.
C. Hawkins looks like Bourke Cochran and can talk almost as well. He is cynical
without being bitter, sarcastic without being narrow or unkind. Then he is so
absolutely wide awake and alive to what the world is doing and what life means.
He was born in Troy, Doniphan County, Kansas, April 30, 1869, being the
son of H. C. and Susan (Wormley) Hawkins, his father being a native of New York
and his mother of Pennsylvania. His
father was one of the best known men and ablest lawyers in Kansas, being elected
to the Legislature of that State and leading attorney for the Santa Fe Railway
Company for many years prior to his death, which occurred in 1874. As a speaker his reputation was equal to his fame as a
lawyer. After the death of the
father, Mr. Hawkins's mother remarried, her husband being J. Evans Ryan, an
Episcopal minister of Troy, Kansas. This
marriage took place when the subject of this review was but six years of age, he
being the only child by the former marriage.
When his mother and stepfather came to Jasper County in 1880, the little
boy came with them and he has since remained in Jasper County, although there
was a time when he was absent, while traveling for his health for a period of
some five years. His stepfather
departed this life in 1893 and since then his mother has made her home in the
city of Newton. Mr. Hawkins began
his career in 1892 by graduating from the law department of the Iowa State
University of Iowa City. After this
he went to Pueblo, Colorado, where he opened a law office in partnership with
William Mitchell, practicing one year. Returning
to Monroe, Iowa, he practiced law one year in partnership with Sloan Coder,
afterwards coming to Newton, where he has since remained.
Mr.
Hawkins, since coming to Newton, has been connected with some of the most
important cases in the history of the County, his efforts being characterized by
signal success. Until the last year
prior to this writing, he has given his attention exclusively to the law, but
since then has given much attention to the manufacture and sale of an excellent
office device known as the "Clipless Paper Fastener," of which he is
the inventor. This device, standing almost alone among paper fasteners,
securely fastens the sheets of paper together by the paper itself and is in
constant and ever increasing demand, being on sale in every leading city in the
world. As an assistance to his
salesmen, who handle his invention, Mr. Hawkins has written a delightfully
ingenious little book, "Salesmanship, or How to Make Money," which is
well worthy of perusal as it contains much trite information which could only be
gained by actual experience. On
October 18, 1904, Mr. Hawkins was married to Eva Ketman, of Humboldt, Iowa,
daughter of H. J. and Frances Ketman, she being one of twelve children living:
Adrian, Abraham, Hermanus and one sister, Mary Flemeigh, wife of Charles
Flemeigh, are all engaged in farming near Humboldt; Francis, wife of Fred
Morgan, professor in Leiand Stanford University, California; Jennie, wife of
Frank Carpenter, a jeweler, resides in Ireton, Iowa; Isaac, residing in
Winterset, Iowa, is the owner of the Scarless Liniment Company; Peter is in the
real estate business in Minnesota; and T. R., a minister, is general manager for
the Baptist Publishing Society of Chicago.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins are most affable and cultured people whom it is
a pleasure to know. They are among the best of Newton's people. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 637. |
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