GEORGE HAWLEY

GEORGE HAWLEY, a native of Sangamon County, Illinois, was born September 14, 1824, and is the son of Pierce and Sarah (Schrader) Hawley, pioneer settlers of Illinois. He was reared in the county of his birth, and remembers the time when Springfield was a hamlet and Chicago was supplied with but one store. He was in his fourteenth year when his parents removed to Caldwell County, Missouri; there they remained over a year, and then on account of their religious faith, that of the Latter Day Saints, they were compelled to leave the State. In company with the total church membership they returned to Illinois, and recrossed the river to Lee County, Iowa; there they resided three years and then removed to Black River Falls, Wisconsin. There they lived for one year and then went to Texas. During their stay in Texas the first jail was erected in the city of Austin, and our subject was one of the principal workmen. Although reared to farm life he learned the carpenter's trade, and made it his chief occupation. Mr. Hawley was married July 4, 1846, to Ann Hadfield, daughter of Samuel and Mary A. Hadfield. She was born in England, April 14, 1830, and at the age of twelve years came to America. Mrs. Hawley died September 16,1887. When Mr. Hawley was married his brother John and his sister Priscilla were married with the same ceremony, at the same time, in the church at Austin, Texas, by Lyman Wright, one of the apostles of the church of the Latter Day Saints. After his marriage Mr. Hawley continued to reside in Texas until 1854, when he removed to the Cherokee Nation, and there engaged in mill-building for two years. In 1856 he removed to Utah Territory, settling in Pine Valley, Washington County; there he engaged in the saw-mill and lumber business-the manufacture of looms, spinning-wheels and reels. He made this his home for fourteen years, and in 1870 he came to Grove Township, Shelby County, and settled on an unimproved farm of 140 acres. He has made all the improvements necessary to a comfortable home, and has placed the land, which he has increased to 180 acres, under good cultivation. Mr. Hawley is a Democrat, and has represented his township as trustee. For forty-five years he has been an elder in the church of the Latter Day Saints, and his family are also members of the same society. Mr. and Mrs. Hawley are the parents of eleven children - Martha (deceased), George C. (deceased), Mary L. (deceased), wife of O. E. Holcomb; Maroni (deceased), Gideon M., Rosina, wife of David Jenkins; Sarah, wife of Benjamin Parker; Isaac L., Joseph, Lillian E., and William, at home.

Source: 1889 Biographical History of Shelby County, Iowa, pg. 452. Transcribed and submitted by Marthann Kohl-Fuhs