HAWLEY, James H.

Governor James H. Hawley

HAWLEY, James H. (Dubuque, IA, Jan. 17, 1847--Boise, ID, Aug. 3, 1929). In 1861 Hawley accompanied an uncle to California, and was preparing to enter college there when he heard of discoveries of gold in the Salmon River country, of Idaho. Hoping to gain wealth in that district, he left California April 8, 1862, arriving at Florence the latter part of the month while the mining excitement was at its height. (1)

In December, 1862 he went to Dallas, Oregon, and in May, 1863, came to Boise County, locating at Placerville, working for several months on Gold Hill mountain. He then purchased placer claims near Ophir creek, and in 1863-4 prospected in various sections of Idaho. His partners were James Carr and James Bradford the discoverers of the Banner mining district. and Mr. Hawley was interested in many of the first locations there. Hawley also made many of the first locations at what was later called Quartzburg. (2)

In December 1864 he returned to San Francisco, California, where he attended school and studied law, remaining there until the fall of 1868, when he returned to Idaho and resumed mining operations at Banner. In the fall of 1869 he returned to Quartzburg and discovered what was known as the Iowa mine, a very valuable property. When the mining exchange was established in Boise, in 1895, he was chosen its first president. (3)

Hawley was admitted to the practice of law on February 14, 1871. He served as a member of the Idaho House of Representatives in 1870-1871 receiving the largest majority given any one on the ticket. During that session he served as chairman of the judiciary committee. He was chief clerk of the house at the seventh session, was a member of the council of the eighth session and was chief clerk at the ninth session of the territorial legislature. He served in the Senate in 1874-1875. (4)

In 1878 he moved to Idaho City and was nominated and elected on the Democratic ticket to the position of district attorney for the second district, embracing Boise, Alturas, Lemhi and Custer Counties. So great was his popularity that the Republicans would make no nomination, and he was therefore practically elected by acclamation. (5)

In 1883 he moved to Hailey, Alturas County, where he remained until 1886, when he came to Boise. In 1885 he was appointed, by President Cleveland to the position of United States district attorney for four years. It was during that time that the Mormon troubles arose in the territory and he became prominent as the prosecutor of many under the Edmund Tucker law, though he vigorously opposed the test-oath law, being persuaded that it was wrong in principle. He was a conspicuous figure in the settlement of the Idaho land matters under the Sparks administration, and in 1884-5. while assistant prosecuting attorney of Alturas County with Hon. N. M. Ruick as principal, he had charge of and settled amicably the strikes on Wood River. (6)

In 1888 he received the Democratic nomination for congress and was defeated after a vigorous campaign by ex-Senator Fred T. Dubois. He was elected chairman of the Boise County Democratic committee, in which capacity he served for six years. He was a member of every Democratic state convention since his arrival in Idaho with the exception of 1896 and was one of the leading figures in Idaho politics for a third of a century. In 1896 he campaigned for Bryan. (7)

He was one of the prosecution attorneys when leaders of the Western Federation of Miners were charged with conspiracy in the 1905 assassination of Frank Steunenberg, the former governor of Idaho. Hawley served as governor of Idaho from 1911 to 1913 when he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate. (8)

In 1915, Hawley was appointed to the board of directors for the Idaho State Historical Society. In a another vote by the board, he was elected President of the Society. Hawley remained a strong advocate for the Historical Society throughout his tenure. Hawley pleaded that the librarian and her assistant "should be given a salary commensurate with the importance of their positions and the character of their duties."Hawley edited the four-volume History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains, a history and collection of biographies in 1920. (9)

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Source:

1. "Biography of James H. Hawley," Access Genealogy, Online: https://www.accessgenealogy.com/idaho/biography-of-james-h-hawley.htm

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. "James H. Hawley," "Leopold Herman Booch," Genealogy Trails-Dubuque County Biogaphies. Online: http://genealogytrails.com/iowa/dubuque/bios.htm

9. Ibid.