20 Facts About Alvin Hawkins

Alvin Hawkins was an American jurist and politician.

Alvin Hawkins served as the 22nd Governor of Tennessee from 1881 to 1883, one of just three Republicans to hold this position from the end of Reconstruction to the latter half of the 20th century.

Alvin Hawkins attended McLemoresville Academy and Bethel College, and was taught farming and blacksmithing by his father.

Alvin Hawkins eventually turned to law which he studied while earning money teaching school.

Alvin Hawkins read law under Judge Benjamin Totten, and was admitted to the bar in 1843.

Alvin Hawkins briefly practiced with his cousin, Isaac R Hawkins, before establishing his own practice in Huntingdon.

Alvin Hawkins ran again in 1853, and this time, he was successful, but he served only one term and did not seek reelection.

Alvin Hawkins campaigned against secession in the late 1850s, and supported Constitutional Union Party candidate John Bell, who opposed secession and took a neutral stance on the issue of slavery, in the presidential election of 1860.

Alvin Hawkins was elected to the 9th district seat, but the House of Representatives deemed his vote total to be too low in proportion to his district's population, and refused to seat him.

Alvin Hawkins spent the next few months scouting West Tennessee to gather information for the state's military authorities.

In 1865, Hawkins was appointed to the newly reconstituted Tennessee Supreme Court by Governor William G Brownlow.

Alvin Hawkins served alongside J O Shackleford and Sam Milligan.

Alvin Hawkins resigned in 1868, and briefly served as US Consul to Havana, Cuba.

Alvin Hawkins was among the Republican nominees, and since most Democrats were still disfranchised, he was elected.

Alvin Hawkins's term ended with the enactment of the new Tennessee State Constitution in 1870, and he returned to his law practice in Huntingdon.

Alvin Hawkins remained active in the Methodist Church, and stumped for unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate Henry Clay Evans in 1894.

Alvin Hawkins died at his home in Huntingdon on April 27,1905.

Alvin Hawkins was married on August 17,1847, to Justina Ott.

Alvin Hawkins was from a prominent family; his brother Ashton William Alvin Hawkins was a clerk of the circuit court, a doctor, and a minister.

Alvin Hawkins's mother, Mary Graham Ralston, was a first cousin of California governor John Neely Johnson.