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Generation V First Steele Settler of Wright County Minnesota
From original research of Dodie E. Browning Copyright 1997-1998 all rights reserved
Hawkins Ferrell Steele was born in Tazewell County Virginia, 29 July 1821. He moved to Logan County (W)VA circa 1840 when he was about nineteen years old. He was married three times. He first married Catherine Ellis, daughter of Evan and Margaret Ellis of Logan County WV, by whom he had several children.
Hawkins "Hawk" Steele lived in Logan County for many years on Cow Creek, which is near present day Omar, West Virginia. In November 1851, he purchased 48 acres along with Edmond Browning, Jr. "Hawk" enlisted in the Confederate Army the first time in 1861. He was discharged at Princeton on 16 July 1862. He was 5'11" tall, had dark hair, medium complexion and gray eyes. He re-enlisted at Princeton in 1862.
According to the 1850 Logan County Census records, he had three children by his first wife:
1. Ralph, b. 1843 - Enlisted in Confederate Army in Princeton (W) VA. on 11 December 1862 at age twenty. He died at Mt. Jackson, Virginia on 30 August, 1864
2. Margaret, b. 1845
3. Evan b. 1849 married his wife Katherine in
Virginia, where he lived until sometime in 1876 -1877,
at which time he moved to Wright County (now Meeker
County) Minnesota. According to the 1880 Wright County
Census, he had:
Alonzo, b. VA. 1872
Cora, b. VA. 1874
Rhoane, b. VA. 1876
Lewis Mc D(owell?), b. Minnesota 1878
Apparently Hawkins was separated (divorced?) from his first wife, because she was living with the children in Roan County, (W) VA. in 1870.
By the end of the war, Hawkins was apparently getting the wanderlust, just as his father had done at about the same age. He made the journey back to the Russell/Tazewell County Virginia area, probably to visit relatives, and to sign up for a wagon train headed for Minnesota. In a booklet published in Meeker County Minnesota in 1937, we find that Hawkins Steele was one of the early settlers of Wright County, the part that is now Meeker County. The booklet states that he was in Minnesota in 1864, but Civil War records show that he was granted amnesty when he took the Oath of Allegience at the end of the war, thus documenting that he did not go to Minnesota until after that time.
When he went to Minnesota, several families from Russell CountyVirginia, who had relatives in Logan County, West Virginia were in the same wagon train. Some of the families were: Blair, Ramey, Rasnick, Counts and Johnson. They became Hawk's neighbors in Minnesota.
According to the history of Wright County, Minnesota, a town called "New Virginia" was organized in the spring of 1866. Hawkins Steele was the Town Clerk. In 1870, the name of the town was changed to Collinwood, Minnesota. Hawkins Steele lived in section 18 of Collinwood, where he had a blacksmith shop. It was here that the first religious service was held, in "the grove at the Steelesville Community." The first church organized was Methodist, the same religion as the family in Tazewell County, and more than likely his parent's religion. He was fifty nine years old when the 1870 Census was taken, showing him with a younger wife whose name was also Catherine, and with three young children, all born in Minnesota:
Oliver, b. MN. 1866
James, b. MN. 1867
George, b. MN. 1869
Jimmie M.. Steele found a death record for him in Mormon Church records (IGI?) that stated that he died in MN. in 1870 at age 59. There is a marriage record for a Hawkins Steele in Kanawha County, West Virginia as a widower, age 73, who married Matheny Gutherie in 1895. Apparently he did not die in 1870. I have done extensive research on all Steeles in Virginia and West Virginia for people born prior to 1870 and have no knowledge of another man named Hawkins Steele. Any descendants of Hawkins Steele or his children should check in detail to determine if he did in fact return to West Virginia. Since his son Evan moved to MN between 1877-1878, I strongly doubt that he would have moved there if his father died in 1870. Hawk was not mentioned in his father's will, but it appears that he was still alive in 1882, when his father made a Bond Deed to Lewis S. Steel. Ralph had dropped the "e" from the spelling of his last name and signed documents as "Ralph A. Steel." Nothing was mentioned about Hawkins being deceased in the following document:
"Know all men by these presents that I Ralph A. Steel of Logan County and State of West Virginia am held and firmly bound unto Lewis S. Steel in the sum of $160.00 for the true payment of which I bind myself my heirs and personal representatives March the 23d 1882 the consideration of the above obligation is such that whereas I have this day for and in consideration of one hundred sexty [sic] dollars by the said Lewis S. Steel to me in hand paid Bargained and sold to the said Lewis S. Steel the Interest of George Steel William Steel Samuel Steel and Hawkins Steel in and to one hundred and twenty five and one forth [sic] acres of Land Lying and being in Logan County State of West Virginia I haveing [sic] hereto fore purchased Said Interest of the said George Steel William Steel Samuel Steel and Hawkins Steel and paid them the purchase money Now if I cause or cause to be made to the said Lewis S. Steel a good and sufficient deed to said undevided [sic] interest in said Land then this obligation to be and otherwise remain in full force and effect Signed Sealed and delivered the day and date above written"
Attest J M Jackson
(signed) Ralph A. Steel
Descendants need to check deed and estate records in Meeker County to find out what happened to Hawk's land in MN. This might provide more extensive information that I did not pursue in my research.
