Necrology 
DR. JOHN MILTON HAWKS 
Died at his winter home in Hawks 
Park, Florida, on April 2nd, 1910, at the 
ripe age of 83 years and was laid to rest 
in the cemetary there which he himself 
laid out many years ago in the settlement 
bearing his name and of which he was 
the founder. Dr. Hawks was born on a 
farm in Bradford, New Hampshire, No¬ 
vember 2nd, 1826, and was one of a fam¬ 
ily of five children of whom two sisters 
survive him. At the age of 16 he com¬ 
menced teaching school and remained at 
this, in various parts of the country, for 
several years while continuing his own 
studies. 
Later he returned to New Hampshire 
and studied medicine and graduated from 
a medical college in Vermont. 
He then settled in Manchester, N. H,. 
where he built up a good practice in con¬ 
nection with a lucrative drug business. 
Here in 1854 he met and married Miss 
Esther Willard and with her took a long 
honeymoon trip to St. Louis, down the 
Mississippi to New Orleans, across coun¬ 
try to Florida and then back home. 
No children were born to them. 
At the outbreak of the Civil War he 
and his wife volunteered their assistance 
to the Freedman’s Aid Society of New 
York and were sent to Hilton Head and 
Edisto Island, South Carolina. Here he 
was instrumental in forming the first col¬ 
ored regiment to enlist under the stars 
and stripes and became its surgeon. 
The deeds of this regiment have been 
memorialized by its colonel, Thomas 
Wentworth Higginson, in a work enti¬ 
tled “Army Life in a Black Regiment.” 
Dr. Hawks and wife followed the for¬ 
tunes of war until its close, the command 
being under General Saxton. 
For a time the Doctor was collector of 
customs at Pensacola, Fla. He at this 
time traveled extensively throughout the 
State and about 1872 published the Flor¬ 
ida Gazeteer devoted to the interests of 
the State. 
About this time he purchased a large 
track of land just south of New Smyrna 
and has since added others to his holdings 
there. 
Mrs. Hawks also studied medicine and 
built up a large and successful practice in 
Lynn, Mass. For the past forty years^ 
Dr. J. M. Hawks has spent most of his 
winters in Florida and his summers with 
his wife, sisters and friends in New Eng¬ 
land. He was very fond of his family 
and friends and was a most agreeable and 
entertaining companion. 
His manners were quaintly sweet and 
courtly and he commanded the entire re¬ 
spect of all who knew him. 
Geo. L. Taber, 
W. S. Hart. 
Committee on Necrology* 
