JAMES VIATOR HAWKINS (1874-1940) Part I
Each community has its prominent people, and the legal community of Kootenai County, Idaho has the Hawkins. Join us for a mini-series of articles on the Hawkins family. The Hawkins’ story begins in Nebraska before James V. Hawkins travels west.
CHILDHOOD IN NEBRASKA
It was the Spring of 1874 in Dewitt, Nebraska. Dewitt had only been incorporated as a town just two years before. It is still a little farming community and today it only has a population of 513 people and in 1880 had a population of 305, so you can imagine how small it was in 1874. It was the 17th day of April 1874 when James Viator Hawkins was born to John P. Hawkins, an Irishman, and Hattie C. (Gray) Hawkins, a girl from Iowa. He was their second child. He had an older brother, John, just one-year-old and would later gain two more siblings, Mary and Raymond.
In the 1885 Nebraska Census, it is recorded that John Hawkins was a druggist. It’s no wonder that his grandson and other descendants would go into the medical field, but James would follow a different path into law.
James spent his childhood preparing for his future. It started at the age of ten when he raised a hog and the proceeds from that began his education fund. He worked hard and prepared for his future. By the time he went off to normal school in Chicago to begin his professional education, he had saved enough money mostly funding his own education. He then took a year and taught in the public schools before returning to Nebraska and entering law school. He was a boxer in college, which was contrary to his personality. His grandson Jimmy said he never liked confrontation or arguing. One must wonder why he chose the area of law if it was so contrary to his personality. Regardless, he did become an attorney.
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