Nelson Hawkins

Sketch of the USS CURRITUCK

Library of Congress

Nelson was Harriet Hawkins’ younger son, though the identity of his father is not recorded. He was an apprentice waiter and cook under Dinah Toogood at Hampton before he successfully sought his freedom in May 1863. By June 1864, he was in Washington, DC, where he enlisted in the Navy, serving as a “landsman.” After serving three years aboard the USS CURRITUCK, he returned to Baltimore in 1867.

 

Newspaper ad about a Fourth of July event where Nelson Hawkins was the caterer and was deemed to be "the famous caterer."

Baltimore Sun, July 1, 1880; Image courtesy Newspapers.com

Listed at first in City Directories (sometimes with the middle initial “H.”) as a waiter, Nelson Hawkins soon used the cooking skills he acquired working in the kitchen at Hampton to open a successful business as a caterer. A newspaper advertisement for a special Fourth of July steamboat cruise in 1880 described him as "the famous caterer".

By the late 1890s, Nelson was living with relatives in Philadelphia and pursuing a career as a hotel chef and caterer. He worked at the Walton Hotel, then a top luxury hotel on Broad Street, with his nephew and the head bellman, Charles Hawkins, until his death in 1916.

 

A 1925 death certificate for Nelson’s nephew gives additional clues to their relationship. Charles was born in 1873 in Baltimore and was the son of Nelson's youngest sibling, Louisa. Charles moved to Philadelphia at about the same time as his uncle. Although he died at a relatively young age, his widow Julia Campbell Hawkins did not die until 1968. Being the mother of at least seven sons and three daughters, Julia had 72 descendants surviving her at the time of her death. She, Charles and several other family members are buried at Eden Cemetery outside of Philadelphia. Her sons were prominent in several professional endeavors including a leading funeral home that survives today.

 

Individuals

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  Harriet Hawkins

  Learn about the story of Hampton's head dressmaker and how the story goes deeper than other enslaved people.

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  Charles Hale Brown

  Charles Hale Brown was Harriet Hawkins’ eldest child, fathered by John Ridgely and born into chattel slavery.

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  Descendants of the Enslaved

  Learn about the amazing things the descendants of the enslaved would go on to do.

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  Two Families, Different Paths

  The story of Davis sisters Caroline and Ellen is an example of how the formerly enslaved took different paths once Emancipation came to MD

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  John Carnan Ridgely

  Third owner of the Hampton Estate.

 

Learn More

• 

  Who cooked Hampton's elaborate meals

  Hampton's cooks

  Who were the people behind the elaborate meals for the Ridgelys and their guests?

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  Chattel Slavery at Hampton

  From the colonial period through 1864, the Ridgelys enslaved over 500 people. Enslaved people, from young children to the elderly

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  Freedom Seekers

  Learn all about people that would seek their freedom from Hampton.