Hawkesville, Ontario
| Hawkesville | |
|---|---|
| Unincorporated community | |
A street in Hawkesville.
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| Coordinates: 43°33′48″N 80°38′21″W / 43.56333°N 80.63917°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| Regional municipality | Waterloo |
| Township | Wellesley |
| Settled | 1805 |
| Incorporated (town) | 1852 |
| Elevation | 357 m (1,171 ft) |
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| Forward sortation area | N0B 1X0 |
| Area code(s) | 519 and 226 |
| NTS Map | 040P10 |
| GNBC Code | FBMKY |
The village of Hawkesville in Ontario, Canada is a small community in the township of Wellesley in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. With a population of about 300 in 2008, Hawkesville is still a quaint little town in the heart of Mennonite country and is approximately 7 km northwest of St. Jacobs. While many tourists flock to St. Jacobs in search of Mennonite quilts and artifacts and Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine, many drive on to Hawkesville looking for custom-built Mennonite furniture.
Though Wellesley Township itself was not surveyed until 1842 and was only incorporated in 1852, settlers were already long in this area. By 1805, many Mennonites from Pennsylvania had settled nearby in what became known as Berlin, and today as Kitchener. In 1837, the same year that William Lyon Mackenzie’s rebellion was defeated at York (now Toronto), John Philip Schweitzer from Germany squatted at what is now Hawkesville, and had 40 acres (160,000 m2) of land cleared over the following nine years. Then, John Hawke received government permission to buy the clearing for $700.00 on the condition that he build a grist mill (for flour) and a sawmill within two years. John Hawke, the second son of Benjamin Hawke and Mary (Lount), had arrived.
Benjamin Hawke was a United Empire Loyalist and a Quaker that fled military conflict in the United States to settle in Simcoe County. Though his wife’s family, the Lounts, were also Quakers, his brother-in-law Samuel Lount was one of William Lyon Mackenzie’s lieutenants in the 1837 revolt. After Samuel Lount was hanged for treason, Benjamin Hawke decided to move out of Simcoe County. When his son John received permission to purchase 40 acres (160,000 m2) in Waterloo County, Benjamin moved there with his wife, his four sons, and his seven daughters. The Hawkes arrived in 1846; John built the grist mill, his younger brother Piercifer built a sawmill, and “Hawke’s village” appeared on the Waterloo County map.
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Wikipedia