Lydia Cook shared this history of the house, via Ramona Hansbrough: The house was built in 1910 by E.E. Hawks, married to my great grandmother, Ina Strickland Hawks. The story goes that he wanted to build a home on high ground in Fitzgerald, Ga. He spared nothing when purchasing materials, even to having the gorgeous wood fireplaces imported from England. E.E. Hawks was from Commerce Ga., and so was Ina Strickland .They married and in 1910 moved into the new home in Fitzgerald. E.E. Hawks passed away in 1939 on a business trip to Atlanta. Ina continued to live in the house and her daughter, Ruby Hawks Mann and her husband lived in the house with her mother. After a few years, in 1957 Mama Hawks passed away, so her daughter Ruby Hawks Mann and her husband E.C. Mann continued to live in the house.

In 1961 the house went from the Mann family to the  Cox family. Henry and Lila Cox, my dad’s parents bought the house and lived there until 1982 when both passed away. At that time, my parents Elzie H. Cox and Elaine Mann Cox bought the house from the brothers, Edward Cox and Billy Cox. Elzie passed away in 2001, but Elaine still lived there alone until 2008 when she moved back to Florida to be near her daughters, Ramona and Melanie.