Transcript of the partial autobiography of Curtis Dula Hawkins (1914-1984) created from audiocassette recordings. Hawkins details his early life, the history of McDowell County, North Carolina, the history of the Hawkins and Dula families.
Curtis Dula Hawkins (1914-1984) was born June 4, 1914 in McDowell County, North Carolina to William Henry Hawkins (1877-1959) and Frances Cleveland Dula (1886-1961). Hawkins enlisted in the United States Army and served during World War II. Following the war, he became an attorney. He died July 10, 1984 in Marion, North Carolina. Hawkins married Virginia Kirby Gilkey (1915-2000).
Sometime around 1982, attorney Curtis Dula Hawkins began recording a "part-autobiographical and part-historical" account of life on a tape recorder. Cancer and his death on July 10, 1984 halted his project before he could detail his life beyond his early 20s. His granddaughter, Betsy Hawkins, transcribed his voice recordings and a dot-matrix typescript of the transcript is included in the collection.
The following are the chapters in the transcript:
I. Introduction; geology and geography of McDowell County II. Hawkins ancestry III. III. Early McDowell County IV. Dula's parents V. J.L. Morgan VI. Walter Chambers VII. Politics VIII. Dula's early education IX. High School X. Dula ancestry XI. Caleb Dula and James B. Duke XII. J.B. Duke XIII. How Grandfather Dula may have lost the Civil War for the South (!) XIV. Presbyterian Junior College XV. Dula's summer of construction work
This account is valuable for its history of McDowell County and the history of the Hawkins and Dula families. Also interesting in the account is an anecdote in which Hawkins mentions his grandfather, Private A.J. Dula, a member 22nd Regiment, North Carolina Infantry. In the anecdote, Hawkins recalls his grandfather's story of witnessing Confederate General Stonewall Jackson being shot by his own soldiers following the Battle of Chancellorsville. Dula was part of the group of soldiers who fired upon Jackson who would ultimately die from the wound he received from the friendly fire.
December 15, 2025 (processed), 0.25 cubic feet; Dot-matrix typescript (74 pages) of a partial autobiography of Curtis Dula Hawkins (1914-1984) transcribed from audio cassette tapes by his granddaughter [?] Betsy Hawkins. Item found in Collection.
Processed by John Dunning, December 2025
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