Aylett Hawes (April 21, 1768August 31, 1833) was a nineteenth-century medical doctor, politician, planter and slaveholder from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

Early life and education

Born in

Culpeper County Culpeper County is a county located along the borderlands of the northern and central region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 52,552. Its county seat and only incorporated community is C ...

in the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

, Hawes received a private classical education. He then studied medicine and finished his education in

Edinburgh, Scotland Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Career

Upon returning to Virginia, Hawes practiced medicine as well as bought several plantations in Culpeper County and what became Rappahannock County, Virginia, which he farmed using enslaved labor. He owned 25 slaves in Culpeper County in 1810. A decade later, Hawes owned 49 slaves. In the last census before his death, he owned 70 slaves. Culpeper County voters elected Hawes as one of their two representatives in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

. He won re-election several times, serving from 1802 to 1806, all alongside John Roberts.Cynthia Miller Leonard, Virginia's General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978), pp. 227, 231, 235, 239 In 1810, voters in what was then

Virginia's 9th congressional district Virginia's ninth congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, United States congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia, covering much of the rural Southwest Virginia, southwestern part of the state. Th ...

elected Hawes, who ran as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party (also referred to by historians as the Republican Party or the Jeffersonian Republican Party), was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s. It championed l ...

to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. However, the 1810 census necessitated redistricting, so in his re-election campaign, Hawes ran in

Virginia's 10th congressional district Virginia's 10th congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Situated in the suburbs and exurbs of Northern Virginia, the district includes the entireties of Loudoun, Fauquier, and Rappahannock c ...

, whose incumbent John Dawson was moved into Virginia's 11th congressional district, much as Hawes was moved from the 9th. Hawes won re-election twice before resigning to resume his medical practice and plantations in Culpeper and Rappahannock Counties. He was succeeded by fellow Democratic Republican George F. Strother, who had succeeded him in the Virginia House of Delegates about a decade earlier.

Death and legacy

Hawes died on his farm in

Rappahannock County, Virginia Rappahannock County is a county (United States), county located in the northern Piedmont region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, US, adjacent to Shenandoah National Park. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 7,3 ...

, on August 31, 1833, and was interred on another plantation, in

Sperryville, Virginia Sperryville is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the western section of Rappahannock County, Virginia, Rappahannock County, Virginia, United States, near Shenandoah National Park. It consists of a village with two main streets along the ...

. He was the uncle of Richard Hawes,

Albert Gallatin Hawes Albert Gallatin Hawes (April 1, 1804 – March 14, 1849) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Kentucky, brother of Richard Hawes, nephew of Aylett Hawes, granduncle of Harry Bartow Hawes, and cousin of Aylett Haw ...

and

Aylett Hawes Buckner Aylett Hawes Buckner (December 14, 1816 – February 5, 1894) was a U.S. Representative from Missouri, nephew of Aylett Hawes and cousin of Richard Hawes and Albert Gallatin Hawes. Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Buckner attended Georgetown C ...

References

1768 births 1833 deaths Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Farmers from Virginia Politicians from Culpeper County, Virginia 19th-century American planters People from Rappahannock County, Virginia Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia Hawes family Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly {{Virginia-Representative-stub