John Hawse Dr

  General Notes:

A herbal doctor who followed the popular teachings of a New Hampshire farmer, Samuel Thompson (1769-1843).

Lived near Turleytown, Rockingham Co., Virginia in 1858.

THE CLAIM OF JOHN HAWSE - 15520
John Hawse, a doctor, and his wife Christina were living on and managing a 260 acre farm belonging to Samuel Cline near Cherry Grove southwest of Broadway when on October 6, 1864, soldiers belonging to the command of General Custer, a part of Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah, passed through. Apparently needing supplies, they took along with them a horse and eight sheep for their use. Their value was estimated at $114.00, a loss that John and Christina regarded as unwarranted and unjust. After the establishment of the Southern Claims Commission in 1871, the Hawses decided to submit a claim to recover their loss. The family appears to have been Brethren.
Unfortunately for them, the claim was unsuccessful before the Commission. Although his witnesses testified to his loyalty, the Commissioners concluded that Hawse had done very little either to support the Union or oppose the Confederacy. They apparently gave little import to his sheltering and feeding of refugees and deserters or his efforts to aid them to escape by serving as a pilot to guide them over the mountains. Although he had not voted on secession, he had spoken against it. His son Benjamin had served in the Confederacy, and this gave a mixed message to the Commissioners. In summarizing, the Commissioners declared that "he did nothing and suffered nothing for the union cause." They then stated their dissatisfaction with the "sufficiency of the evidence" and rejected the claim.
Even though the amount of loss was small by today's standards, the defeat must have greatly disappointed the Hawses. Therefore, they engaged the services of an experienced Washington attorney, Gilbert Moyers, to bring the case before the Court of Claims, an event which occurred in 1891. The process of gathering of evidence began, and documents were recovered concerning transactions and activities during the war by persons carrying the name of John Hawse. Confusion developed over the various spellings of the name and the identities of the several persons carrying the name of John Hawse/Hause. Then, in the course of the drawn out process of gathering evidence and hearing the case, Dr. Hawse died, and his executor, Joseph Wampler, continued with the claim which apparently was again disallowed.
Attorney Moyers, prepared a strong statement, and the widow appealed for a retrial on the basis of errors pointed out by Mr. Moyers. The court, however, dismissed the case claiming lack of jurisdiction. The final statement of the court declared John Hawse to have been loyal to the Government of the United States throughout the war.
Emmert Bittinger
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  Research Notes:

1850 & 1860 census listed John as a farmer. Was not listed in Thomson's Mercantile and Professional Directory - Virginia - 1851.

In this time period, there were very few Doctors in rural locations who held medical degrees from universities. However, there were many who were "herbal" doctors, who got their training as apprentices or by correspondence. They were highly regarded as doctors locally and often so addressed.

One genealogy researcher reports John's middle name as "Seward". No confirmation of this has been found.

John married Mary Evers, daughter of John Evers and Catherine "Katie" Showalter, on 13 Aug 1831 in Rockingham Co., Virginia.¹ (Mary Evers died on 20 Dec 1845 ⁶ and was buried in Reedy Family Cemetery, Linville, Rockingham Co., Virginia.)

John next married Christina "Lena" Mauck, daughter of George Mauck and Polly Turner, on 3 Jul 1848. (Christina "Lena" Mauck was born on 12 Apr 1824 in Rockingham Co., Virginia,⁶ died on 10 Dec 1903 in Cherry Grove, Rockingham Co., Virginia and was buried in Reedy Family Cemetery, Linville, Rockingham Co., Virginia ⁷.)