The Families of Matagorda Island

The Hawes Family

Hugh Walker Hawes was born in Caroline County, Virginia in 1798 and at the age of twelve moved with his family to Kentucky.

As a young lawyer he went to New Orleans, Louisiana where he joined the law firm of Judge Jean Dominique de Rion, whose only daughter he married.  Some time after 1833, Hugh Walker, with his wife, Marie Martha Juliette and their two sons returned to Kentucky.  There, in 1840, Marie died after giving birth to their second daughter, who also died.

Hugh Walker Hawes first came to Matagorda Island, Texas from Kentucky in 1839.

Hugh was a fairly wealthy man, for his time and by the mid 1800's had established a lucrative receiving and forwarding business on Saluria Bayou, on the northeast end of Matagorda Island.  He had built a large warehouse and wharf where deep draft ships could unload their cargoes without having to ply the shallow bay waters to their destinations.  He also had two steamships that made regular runs to New Orleans and had established a sheep and cattle ranch, recognizing the big advantage of the Matalgorda Island grasses and year-round grazing.

Around 1842, Hugh Walker Hawes married Corilla Calhoun, daughter of Judge John C. and Mary (Morton) Calhoun of Kentucky.  He began operating between Kentucky and Texas, gradually increasing his holdings on Matagorda Island.  In 1853, he sold his Kentucky plantation on the Ohio River and moved his family to Matagorda Island.  His oldest son drowned in Matagorda Bay in 1856.

The Civil War came and all improvements were ordered burned or destroyed.  His son served in the Confederacy as a Captain.  After the war ended, his fortune decimated, his home and improvements in ruins, he regrouped and expanded his ranching operations.  In 1866, a daughter died of yellow fever.  Hugh Walker Hawes died on Matagorda Island in 1883 and he is buried there near his home site.  A large white tombstone marks his grave.

The Hawes family continued ranching on Matagorda Island, enduring droughts, blizzards and several major hurricanes, sickness and deaths.  Some of them are buried there.  A grandson of Hugh Walker Hawes died of acute appendicitis while serving at the lighthouse on the island.  A great grandson died in his mother's arms at the age of four, on a sailboat trying to reach a doctor.

After the death of Hugh Walker Hawes, the ranching operation on the island continued until a devastating blow was dealt to the owners of all property on the northeast 28 miles of Matagorda Island.  A United States marshal served papers on November 8, 1940 saying, "As of now this property belongs to the United States government.

You have ten days to remove all livestock and personal belongings".  The family protested, hired lawyers and offered to lease the land, but to no avail.  Four years later they were forced to accept approximately $7.00 per acre, improvements and all.  If they refused this court award, they lost their mineral estate, as well.

After WWII, the families sent numerous letters to the government asking for the return of their property, as was assured by the Surplus Property Act of 1944.  The answer from the government was always that the family would be notified when, and if, the property became surplus.  It never did.  The property is now a part of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.

The Hawes, Hill and Little families lost their Matagorda Island homes and land to the United States government, after having survived hurricanes, droughts, blizzards, and many other adversities.

If you would like more information about this travesty of justice, contact:
Forrest Hawes
302 Cannon Rd.
Victoria, TX 77904
email