Hawes B. Eagles, Assistant Cashier of the Owensboro Banking Company, son of Albert James and Kate Coleman (Hawes) Eagles, was born in Daviess County, Kentucky, February 28, 1867. He received his education in Hopkinsville, principally in Major Terrell’s private school, and prepared himself for the occupation of civil engineer, which work he began in 1885, but was offered his present position as assistant cashier in the Owensboro Banking Company, which he accepted and has filled with efficiency for more than ten years.
He was married August 3, 1893, to Anna Belle Deane, an accomplished young lady who was educated in the best schools of Owensboro.
Mr. Eagles is attentive to business, of industrious habits and affable manners, obliging and courteous in business matters, and though quite popular, is unassuming and modest. He has made a good record as a banker and has a promising future. He is a Democrat in politics, but does not seek prominence in his party; is a member of the benevolent order of Elks, and a consistent member of the Baptist Church.
His father, Albert James Eagles, was born in Kent, England, June 26, 1835; was educated in Oxford College, and came to America in 1854. He was for some years engaged in teaching in Missouri and Kentucky, and after his marriage to Kate C. Hawes, October 26, 1864, he engaged in merchandising in Yelvington, in which he continued until his death, June 13, 1881. He was never naturalized as a citizen of the United States, but, being associated with the Southern people, he was an ardent sympathizer with the South in the Civil war. He was a man of superior education, highly cultured and was quite prominent and much respected in the community in which he lived. He was a member of the Episcopal Church and an exemplary Christian gentleman. He married Kate C. Hawes, and they had three children: Hawes, William, now with Fairleigh & Straus, attorneys of Louisville, and Marianne.
William Eagles (grandfather) was a gentleman of leisure, being very wealthy. He lived and died in Kent, England, his native place.
Kate Coleman Hawes Eagles (mother) was born in Kentucky, October 4, 1841. She was educated in a private school taught by Reverend Beckett, an Englishman and a minister in the Episcopal Church. She is a resident of Owensboro, and a member of the Baptist Church. Benjamin Hawes (grandfather) was born in Virginia, April 8, 1810, and was educated in Owensboro, Kentucky; was a farmer in Daviess County; married Mary Ann Taylor of Clarke County in 1832, and died October 17, 1861. His wife was a daughter of Samuel M. and Mildred
Martin Taylor, and a sister of Jonathan Gibson Taylor. She was born July 3, 1813, and was educated in private schools in Lexington; married Benjamin Hawes in 1832, and died February 11, 1862. Mildred Martin Taylor was a daughter of Colonel John Martin of Clarke County, whose father was one of the early pioneers and was contemporary with Daniel Boone. He took part in all of the Indian wars of his day.
Samuel M. Taylor was born in Virginia in 1785. He married Mildred Martin in 1810. His father, Jonathan Taylor, lived in Caroline County, Virginia, prior to the Revolution, and afterward came to Kentucky.
Richard Hawes, a brother of grandfather Hawes, was Confederate governor of Kentucky during the war between the states after the death of George W. Johnson, the first Confederate governor.
Richard Hawes (great-grandfather) came to Kentucky from Virginia in 1810, and located first in Fayette County, later in Jefferson County, and finally in Daviess County, in 1819; and at that time purchased large tracts of land in Daviess and Hancock Counties. He bought three thousand acres of land on the Ohio River in the Yelvington precinct; one thousand acres adjoining the village of Yelvington and one thousand acres bordering on Hancock County, embracing the site of Hawesville, which town was named for him. He married Clara Walker, and was the father of eleven children. He died in 1829, ten years after acquiring his large landed estate. His wife’s maiden name was Clara Walker, and they had seven sons and four daughters: Richard, Samuel, Walker, Albert, Aylett, Benjamin, William, Ann, Kitty, Susan and Clara. Albert Hawes was the first Democratic candidate elected to Congress from the Owensboro district, as up to that time the Whigs prevailed in every election.
Source: Biographical Cyclopedia of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. John M. Gresham Company, Chicago, Philadelphia, 1896.