William Hawkes
4 May 1855 - 27 October 1948
William died on 27 October 1948 in Santa Rosa. He was 93. The obituary below was incorrect in calculating he age at the time of death.
Neither Edith or their marriage is mentioned in his obituary though their daughter, Eleanor, is listed as one of his daughters. However, her last name is misspelled.
The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA), 28 October 1948, Thursday, pages one - two.
W. Hawkes, 92 Dies Here
William Hawkes, father of John Hawkes, city assessor and auditor of Santa Rosa, died at Sonoma county hospital yesterday following a 3 1/2-year illness.
A 92-year-old native of England, he had lived in California since before 1884, and had farmed in the Fulton and Lone Pine sections of Sonoma county at various times since 1904.
Mr. Hawkes fractured a hip in a fall in May, 1945. Although an active man until that time, he was bedridden thereafter. Relatives said yesterday that he had been failing, largely because of old age, for a week.
He was born in England May 4, 1855, and moved to New York City when he was 19. Several years later he travelled to Napa, where he worked for the state hospital.
He was married in Napa to Nora O'Neill, and became a dairy rancher at Arcata, north of Eureka, in 1884. His oldest son, John Hawkes, who has been Santa Rosa auditor the past 26 years, was born there.
The family moved in 1904 to Fulton, where Mr. Hawkes raised grapes for eight years. He later was a state employee at Eldridge until 1925, when he bought a chicken and cherry ranch at Lone Pine, near Sebastopol.
Mr. Hawkes had been living with a daughter, Mrs. Hattie Hawkes Jones of 12 E street, for four years before his accident in 1945. His wife died in 1904.
In addition to his oldest son and Mrs. Jones, Mr. Hawkes is survived by two other daughters, Mrs. Ruth Hawkes Rochester of Redwood Valley, Mendocino county, and Mrs. Eleanor Hawkes Eggersgloss, Sacramento, and two sons, Fred Hawkes of Paradise, Calif., and Raymond Peter O'Neill, who was adopted by an uncle after his mother's early death.
There are three grandchildren, John William Hawkes of Santa Rosa, Mrs. Mary Jean Frost, San Francisco, and Michael J. O'Neill, Cordelia, Calif. A nephew , Gardner Hawkes, lives at Arcata.
The funeral services will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. in the chapel of Welti Funeral Parlors. Rev. Graydon McClellan will officiate. Committal will follow at Chapel of the Chimes, Santa Rosa.
The Evening Press and Santa Rosa Republican (Santa Rosa, CA), October 28, 1948, Thursday, page eight.
HAWKES -- In Santa Rosa, Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1948. William Hawkes; loving father of John Hawkes and Hattie Hawkes Jones, Santa Rosa; Fred Hawkes, Paradise; Ruth Hawkes, Rochester, Redwood Valley, Raymond P. O'Neill, Cordelia, Cal., and Eleanor Hawkes Eggersgloss, Sacramento; loving grandfather of John W. Hawkes, Santa Rosa; Michael J. O'Neill, Cordelia, and Mary Jean Frost, San Francisco; and loving uncle of Gardner Hawkes, Arcata. A native of England; Born May 4, 1855.
Friends and relatives are invited to attend the funeral services Saturday, Oct. 30 at 2 p.m. from the chapel at Welti Funeral parlors. Rev. Graydon McClellan officiating. Committal, Chapel of the Chimes, Santa Rosa.
See also: Find a Grave, memorial page for William Hawkes (4 May 1855–27 Oct 1948), Find a Grave Memorial no. 175418008, Chapel of the Chimes Cemetery and Mausoleum, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California, USA.