DUANE
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Duane's take
You're hearing my take on what the official marker has to say, so let's get into it. Now, some folks leave a mark on one town. Edwin Hawes left a mark on just about everything he touched, and the man had the good sense to spend his summers in Galveston while he was at it.
Born in Kentucky in 1852, Edwin Hawes made his way to Texas and built himself quite a resume. Attorney. Land owner.
Wharton County Judge. Mayor of Kerrville. That is not a man who sat still during the work week, which makes it all the more fitting that he eventually planted a summer home on the Gulf Coast.
In 1881, he married Lizzie Milburn Rust, and together they raised seven children, moving through life in Wharton and Kerrville with a family that size filling up every room they had. The Hawes family became summer residents of Galveston, and Judge Hawes decided that arrangement deserved something permanent. In 1907, he bought this very lot from Albert and Etta Hall, and soon after had a summer home built right on it.
Now, when a judge builds a house, he does not do it halfway. What went up was a two-story, front-gabled Colonial Revival-style house, shingled gables catching the coastal breeze, a full-width porch stretching across the front with turned columns holding it all up. You can picture the family out on that porch on a summer evening, the Gulf air rolling in.
Lizzie passed in 1927, Edwin in 1932, but the house they built together kept right on belonging to the Hawes family all the way until 1991. Eighty-four years in one family's hands. That porch held a lot of summers.
What the marker says
KENTUCKY NATIVE EDWIN HAWES (1852-1932) WAS A PROMINENT ATTORNEY, LAND OWNER AND POLITICIAN, SERVING AS WHARTON COUNTY JUDGE AND MAYOR OF KERRVILLE. HE AND HIS WIFE, LIZZIE MILBURN (RUST) HAWES (1859-1927), MARRIED IN 1881 AND HAD SEVEN CHILDREN. THE HAWES FAMILY LIVED IN WHARTON AND KERRVILLE AND BECAME SUMMER RESIDENTS OF GALVESTON. IN 1907, JUDGE HAWES BOUGHT THIS LOT FROM ALBERT AND ETTA HALL AND SOON AFTER HAD A SUMMER HOME BUILT. THE TWO-STORY FRONT-GABLED COLONIAL REVIVAL-STYLE HOUSE FEATURES SHINGLED GABLES AND A FULL-WIDTH PORCH WITH TURNED COLUMNS. THE HOME STAYED IN THE HAWES FAMILY UNTIL 1991.