Information about the Frederica settlers and their way of life has been buried in old letters and other records. Only by careful reading of available material in the scores of published and unpublished volumes of the colonial records of Georgia could small bits of such information be found and pieced together to give the picture of early days at Frederica. It is known that records were kept of the lot owners, for Oglethorpe wrote the Trustees in 1738, “I send you a Plan of ye Town of Frederica with the Granted Lotts & the names of the Possessors”[6] but this list has not yet been located among Georgia’s early records.
Even though these volumes of the colonial records contained the names of many of the settlers and told of the part they played in the life of Frederica, rarely did they contain information as to the number of the lot which such individuals occupied. Not until 1947 when the University of Georgia purchased a manuscript collection of Georgiana, known as the Egmont Papers of the Phillipps Collection, did this definite information become available. From material in this collection Dr. E. Merton Coulter and Dr. Albert B. Saye edited in 1949 A List of the Early Settlers of Georgia, which gives the lot numbers granted these settlers and makes it possible to locate each individual on the proper lot.
It is believed that this list was compiled in England by Viscount Percival, Earl of Egmont, President of the Board of Trustees for the Founding of the Colony of Georgia, from information sent over from Georgia from time to time. As is so often the case with such records, there were errors. One such instance is the listing of lot number 2, South Ward, Frederica, for Samuel Davison and the same lot for Dr. Thomas Hawkins. Since the Hawkins and Davison families came to Frederica at the same time and were among the first settlers of Frederica, it is obvious that both of them could not have had lot number 2, South Ward.
Davison left Georgia in 1741,[7] moving to Charleston, S. C., and Dr. Hawkins returned to England in 1743.[8] In 1767 George Mackintosh petitioned for lot number 1, South Ward of Frederica “formerly belonging to Dr. Hawkins.”[9] His petition was not granted. In January of the following year Christian Perkins,[10] widow, petitioned the Colonial Council, stating that “there was a Lot in Frederica known by the Name of Dr. Hawkins’s which was left in the Care and Possession of the Petitioner’s late Husband by John Hawkins the said Doctor’s Brother who was supposed to be entitled thereto That her said Husband from the Time the said Lot was so left with him to the Time of his Death (being many Years) had the Possession thereof and constantly accounted for the Taxes and other Provincial Duties,” and asked that it be granted to her.[11] This was done, the lot being recorded as number 1, South Ward.[12] Thus, in this 1768 record we have proof that lot number 1, South Ward belonged to Dr. Hawkins, leaving Samuel Davison in undisputed possession of lot number 2.
The families who occupied these two lots were different in every way. Dr. Thomas Hawkins and his wife, Beatre, who occupied lot number 1, were troublemakers; in fact, Mrs. Hawkins was known as “a mean woman.”[13] Samuel Davison, with his wife, Susanna, their little daughter, Susanna (born in England), and sons, John and Samuel (born at Frederica),[14] who lived on lot number 2, were good citizens and well liked by the other settlers.
Dr. Hawkins was one of the important personages in the community. Not only was he the surgeon in Oglethorpe’s Regiment and the medical doctor for Frederica and the other settlements nearby, but he kept the apothecary shop, and was First Bailiff. His house on Broad Street was his residence as well as headquarters for his work. Here he saw patients and dispensed drugs from his apothecary shop. He claimed his improvements were “superior to any other.”[15]
In addition to his pay as surgeon in the Regiment, Hawkins received a salary of thirty pounds a year as First Bailiff and was allowed twelve pounds, three shillings, four pence, for clothing and maintaining a servant, together with an allowance of four pounds for the expense of “public rejoicings, Anniversary Days, etc.” Also, he had an allowance of ten pounds for acting as correspondent with William Stephens of Savannah.[16]
The Trustees sent him quantities of drugs, sugar, and tallow, to use in his work. To enable him to go to Darien and other parts of the Colony to visit the sick, he was allowed twenty-five pounds a year for the upkeep of his boat, as well as the services of two of the Trustees’ servants. Hawkins made charges for equipment for this boat, such as blocks and rope, which the Trustees refused to pay. Likewise they refused to pay the charge of one shilling for sharpening two surgeon’s saws, and fifteen shillings for cleaning and grinding his surgical instruments. In fact, he never seemed able to put through an expense account![17]
When he was not paid the sums he claimed, he wrote: “I continue the care of the sick, widows, servants and Indians and objects of charity as well as the bailiffship but cannot get regular payment....” He further claimed “my constitution [is] ruined by fatigue; character hurted by Malicious Aspersions, My Dues kept from me.”[18]
There were those, however, who did not think he had earned all he claimed. Thomas Jones wrote that “he had not administered one dose of physic to any poor person but refused, unless paid for which has been done by contributions from the inhabitants....”[19]