Aylett Hawes

{{Short description|American politician (1768–1833)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Aylett Hawes |image = |state3 = [[Virginia]] |district3 = [[Virginia's 10th congressional district|10th]] |term_start3 = March 4, 1813 |term_end3 = March 3, 1817 |preceded3 = [[John Dawson (Virginia politician)|John Dawson (U.S. politician)]] |succeeded3 = [[George F. Strother]] |state2 = [[Virginia]] |district2 = [[Virginia's 9th congressional district|9th]] |term_start2 = March 4, 1811 |term_end2 = March 3, 1813 |preceded2 = [[John Love (congressman)|John Love]] |succeeded2 = [[John Hungerford (congressman)|John Hungerford]] |state_delegate = Virginia |district = [[Culpeper County, Virginia|Culpeper]] | term_start = December 1, 1802 | term_end = December 3, 1806 | preceded = [[Moses Green]] | alongside = [[John Roberts (Culpeper)]] | succeeded = [[George F. Strother]] |birth_date = {{birth date|1768|4|21}} |birth_place = [[Culpeper County, Virginia|Culpeper County]], [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia Colony]], [[British America]] |death_date = {{death date and age|1833|8|31|1768|4|21}} |death_place = [[Rappahannock County, Virginia|Rappahannock County]], [[Virginia]], U.S. |resting_place = |party = [[Democratic-Republican Party (United States)|Democratic-Republican]] |spouse = |alma_mater =[[University of Edinburgh]], [[Scotland]] |profession = Doctor, planter, politician |allegiance= |branch= |rank= |battles= }} '''Aylett Hawes''' (April 21, 1768{{spnd}}August 31, 1833) was a nineteenth-century medical doctor, politician, planter and slaveholder from [[Virginia]].<ref>{{CongBio|H000361}}</ref><ref name="WaPo 012022">{{cite news |last1=Weil |first1=Julie Zauzmer |last2=Blanco |first2=Adrian |last3=Dominguez |first3=Leo |title=More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2022/congress-slaveowners-names-list/ |access-date=30 January 2022 |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |date=20 January 2022}}</ref>

==Early life and education==

Born in [[Culpeper County, Virginia|Culpeper County]] in the [[Colony of Virginia]], Hawes received a private classical education. He then studied medicine and finished his education in [[Edinburgh|Edinburgh, Scotland]].

==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.<ref>1810 U.S. Federal Census for Culpeper, Culpeper County, Virginia</ref> A decade later, Hawes owned 49 slaves.<ref>1820 U.S. Federal Census for Culpeper County, Virginia</ref> In the last census before his death, he owned 70 slaves.<ref>1830 U.S. Federal Census for Culpeper County, Virginia</ref>

Culpeper County voters elected Hawes as one of their two representatives in the [[Virginia House of Delegates]]. He won re-election several times, serving from 1802 to 1806, all alongside John Roberts.<ref>Cynthia Miller Leonard, Virginia's General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978), pp. 227, 231, 235, 239</ref>

In 1810, voters in what was then [[Virginia's 9th congressional district]] elected Hawes, who ran as a [[Democratic-Republican Party (United States)|Democratic-Republican]] to the [[United States House of Representatives]]. However, the 1810 census necessitated redistricting, so in his re-election campaign, Hawes ran in [[Virginia's 10th congressional district]], whose incumbent [[John Dawson (Virginia politician)|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]], on August 31, 1833, and was interred on another plantation, in [[Sperryville, Virginia]]. He was the uncle of [[Richard Hawes]], [[Albert Gallatin Hawes]] and [[Aylett Hawes Buckner]].

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Virginia | district=9 | before=[[John Love (congressman)|John Love]] | after= [[John Hungerford (congressman)|John Hungerford]] | years=March 4, 1811 – March 4, 1813 }} {{US House succession box | state=Virginia | district=10 | before=[[John Dawson (Virginia politician)|John Dawson]] | after= [[George Strother]] | years=March 4, 1813 – March 4, 1817 }} {{s-end}} {{VirginiaRepresentatives09}} {{VirginiaRepresentatives10}} {{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawes, Aylett}} [[Category:1768 births]] [[Category:1833 deaths]]

[[Category:Medical doctors from Virginia]] [[Category:Members of the Virginia House of Delegates]] [[Category:Politicians from Culpeper County, Virginia]] [[Category:19th-century owners of plantations in the United States]] [[Category:People from Rappahannock County, Virginia]] [[Category:Democratic-Republican Party United States representatives from Virginia]] [[Category:Hawes family|Aylett]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly]] [[Category:Owners of plantations in Virginia]]