Hale, Hawkins, Allen, and Hitchcock families papers
Scope and Contents
This collection documents the personal and professional lives of interrelated families living in and
around the northern portion of Caddo Parish, Louisiana.
Items connected to the Hale family include George Washington Hale’s state, parish, and poll tax
receipts (1861-1881) as well as dry goods and grocery receipts (1870-1879). Also included are records
about Hale family members managing post offices (1883-1896).
Items connected to the Hawkins family include J. M. Hawkins’s state, parish, and poll tax receipts
(1884-1894) as well as financial records (1889-1906). Also included are postcards (1907-1918)
received by James and Ida Hawkins.
Correspondence connected to both the Hale and Hawkins family contains information about family
members, travel, and business. The correspondence includes the following letters: William and
Harriett Duckwork’s letter to her brother J. B. Hawkins (1853), Prudy Carter’s letter to her daughter
Elizabeth Carter Golihar Hale (1853), Molly Leverette’s letter to Agnes Hawkins (1903), Jim Parnell
and Horace Leverette’s letter to Agnes Hawkins (1905), and H. T. Johnson’s letter to his cousin James
Hawkins (undated). Letters exchanged between Ada Stanberry and R. T. Douglas contain historical
information about the Hale family and the Hosston community (1957).
Photographs – many of which include identification notes written on the back – include portraits of
Hale and Hawkins family members as well as group images depicting Caddo Prairie Baptist Church,
Willis School (circa 1900), the first train to Hosston (circa 1902), and the George Washington Hale
family house.
A group of photographs depicting oil fields in North Louisiana (circa 1925) include the following
locations: Cotton Valley, Gahagan, Haynesville, Hosston, Pine Island, Sarepta, Shongaloo, and
Springhill. Also included are: Bayou State Oil Company refinery, Belchic-Laskey Oil Company, and
Clifton Oil Company. Some oil field photographs include J. C. and Ada Hawkins Stanberry.
Dates
- 1853 - 1959
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research use.
Conditions Governing Use
Physical rights are retained by the Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. copyright laws.
Biographical / Historical
George Washington Hale (1816-1887) moved from Tennessee to Blanchard, Louisiana, then the nearby
community of Hosston in 1846. He worked as an overseer for Robert Hamilton, a land owner on Black
Bayou. Hale operated a ferry on Black Bayou and also ran a cotton gin and lumber yard. Two of
Hale’s sons operated the local post office from the 1880s to the early 1900s; J. M. Hale served as
postmaster and J. R. Hale was a mail carrier. George Washington Hale married Elizabeth Carter
Golihar (1828-1913). They had four children: James Madison Hale (1858-1920), Florence Virginia
Hale Allen (1860-1932), Agnes Finley Ann Hale Hawkins (1864-1960), and Jacob Robert Hale
(1867-1964).
In 1878, Agnes Finley Ann Hale Hawkins married James Madison Hawkins (1852-1913). They had
six children: George Washington Hawkins (1882–1908), Jeremiah Brown Hawkins (1884–1967),
James Madison Hawkins (1887–1908), Ida F. Hawkins (1893–1910), Ada Hawkins Stanberry
(1896–1969), and Agnes Hawkins Hemperley (1907–1998).
Ada Hawkins Stanberry married John Carl Stanberry (1890-1957); they had one child: Geraldine
Stanberry Hitchcock (1914-2012). J. C. Stanberry worked in oil fields in North Louisiana during the
1920s.
Extent
0.5 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Organized by subject, then chronologically.
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections Repository