Alvin Hawkins
| Alvin Hawkins | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Hawkins by Washington B. Cooper
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| 22nd Governor of Tennessee | |
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In office January 17, 1881 – January 15, 1883 |
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| Preceded by | Albert S. Marks |
| Succeeded by | William B. Bate |
| Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives | |
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In office 1853–1855 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 2, 1821 Bath County, Kentucky |
| Died | April 27, 1905 (aged 83) Huntingdon, Tennessee |
| Resting place | Hawkins Cemetery Carroll County, Tennessee |
| Political party |
Whig Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Justina Ott (m. 1847) |
| Relations | Isaac R. Hawkins (cousin) |
| Profession | Attorney |
Alvin Hawkins (December 2, 1821 – April 27, 1905) was an American jurist and politician. He served as 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. Hawkins was also a judge on the Tennessee Supreme Court in the late 1860s, and was briefly the U.S. consul to Havana, Cuba, in 1868.
Hawkins was born in Bath County, Kentucky, the eldest of thirteen children of John Hawkins and Mary (Ralston) Hawkins. He was of English descent. When he was four, his parents moved to Maury County, Tennessee, and two years later moved to Carroll County. Hawkins attended McLemoresville Academy and Bethel College, and was taught farming and blacksmithing by his father. He eventually turned to law, however, which he studied while earning money teaching school. He read law under Judge Benjamin Totten, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He briefly practiced with his cousin, Isaac R. Hawkins, before establishing his own practice in Huntingdon.
A Whig, Hawkins first ran for a seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1845, but was unsuccessful. He ran again in 1853, and this time, he was successful, but he served only one term and did not seek reelection. He 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. While many anti-secession Tennessee Whigs switched their support to the Confederacy after the Battle of Fort Sumter, Hawkins remained staunchly pro-Union for the duration of the Civil War.
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