Major Jonas Hawkins, Member Culper Spy Ring

1752 - 1817  (64 years)

• Name	Jonas Hawkins
  Prefix	Major
  Suffix	Member Culper Spy Ring
  Birth	28 Aug 1752	Stony Brook, Suffolk, New York Colony, British Colonial America
  Gender	Male
  Death	24 Apr 1817	Stony Brook, Suffolk, New York, United States
  Burial	Head of the Harbor, Suffolk County, New York, United States of America
  Person ID	I45856	My Genealogy
  Last Modified	8 Oct 2024

  
  

  Father	Major Eleazer Hawkins "Revolutionary War",   b. 16 Aug 1716, Brookhaven, Suffolk, New York, British American Colony d. 24 Apr 1791, Mills Pond, Suffolk, New York, United States (Age 74 years)
  Mother	Ruth Mills,   b. 3 Dec 1721, Mills Pond, Smithtown, Suffolk, New York, USA d. 16 Feb 1800, Suffolk County, New York, USA (Age 78 years)
  Marriage	6 Jul 1739	Stony Brook, Suffolk, New York, United States
  Family ID	F33370	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Ruth Mills,   b. 15 Sep 1748   d. 22 Jan 1840, Long Island, Suffolk, New York, United States (Age 91 years)
  Marriage	1 Jan 1775
  Children	1. Dorothy Hawkins,   b. 3 May 1788, Setauket, Suffolk, New York, United States d. 16 Jul 1843 (Age 55 years)   2. Julia Hawkins,   b. 8 Mar 1782   d. 25 Nov 1841 (Age 59 years)   3. Deborah Hawkins,   b. 23 Sep 1778, Suffolk,New York d. 18 Jan 1841, Bradford, Pennsylvania, United States (Age 62 years)   4. Jonas Hawkins, Jr,   b. 29 Dec 1783, Stony Brook, Suffolk, New York, United States d. 1850 (Age 66 years)   5. Jonathan Hawkins,   b. 3 Jul 1780, Stony Brook, Suffolk, New York d. 22 Feb 1858, Montgomery, Orange, N.Y. (Age 77 years)   6. Ruth Hawkins,   b. 6 Jan 1786, Of, Story Brook, Suffolk, New York d. 3 Aug 1791 (Age 5 years)   7. Micah Hawkins,   b. 1 Jan 1777, Head Of The Harbor, Nr. Stony Brook, New York d. 30 Jul 1825, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States (Age 48 years)   8. Rennelenche Hawkins,   b. 26 Apr 1791, Stony Brook, Suffolk, New York, United States d. 2 Aug 1791 (Age 0 years)   9. William Wickham Hawkins,   b. 6 Jul 1776, Suffolk, New York, United States d. 18 May 1806, New York, United States (Age 29 years)   10. Rehelche Hawkins,   b. Abt 1775, Of, Story Brook, Suffolk, New York
  Family ID	F18439	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	27 May 2025

  
  

• Notes

  In December 1778, General George Washington's chief of intelligence—and Culper Ring spymaster Major Benjamin Tallmadge—recruited Jonas Hawkins as a clandestine courier to bring messages to Setauket from New York City, where the group's leader, Abraham Woodhull was gathering information. From there, the coded correspondence could be relatively easily forwarded to Tallmadge.[3] At first, the ring employed just Hawkins in the role, but by early summer, Roe had joined the group as an alternate rider, who would take messages the 55 miles (89 km) between the group's two major centers of operation, Setauket, New York, and New York City.[1] At the time, both cities were occupied by the British.Work as spy [edit] Roe and Hawkins passed the messages from New York City to operative Caleb Brewster on Long Island.[3] Brewster would take them across the Sound to Tallmadge at Fairfield, Connecticut. From there, Tallmadge forwarded the messages to Washington.[4] Roe served the Culper spy ring as a courier by secretly relaying its messages beginning in early 1779. He claimed to be conducting business as a merchant in order to avoid suspicion and pass through the British checkpoints.[3] Roe became the sole dispatch carrier for the ring after July 1779, when Tallmadge gave Roe–but not Hawkins–a code number in his code index.[3] Hawkins increasing paranoia had led him to abandon the mission at that time.[3]In historical records