JUDGE WILLIAM M. HAWLEY. 



With the eminent lawyer whose name stands at the head of this sketch is associ- 

 ated much of the history of Steuben County and Western New York, while the record 

 of self-made men presents few higher triumphs of unassisted energy and exertion 

 than is exhibited in his life, for he was in every sense the architect of his own for- 

 tune. It has been truthfully said that those who, in the commencement of life are 

 compelled to struggle with difficulties, determined to overcome them, have the key 

 to success in their hands. 



Judge Hawley entered the battle of life, compelled to contend with herculean diffi- 

 culties,and when, like Antaeus, he was sometimes obliged to touch the earth, he sprang 

 again to the contest with renewed energies, which at length gave him the victory. 



He was born in the county of Delaware, N. Y., Feb. 13, 1802. His father was one 

 of the early settlers of that county, a farmer by occupation. His means were limited, 

 and he could afford his children but few advantages for education. 



Young Hawley very early evinced a desire for knowledge, and the few advantages 

 within his reach were eagerly seized by him and turned to best account. 



While very young a friend of his father lent him "Plutarch's Lives," which he 

 read not only with avidity, but understandingly, and through his whole life that 

 great biographer continued to be his favorite author among the ancient writers. So 

 retentive was his memory, that once reading a work he could repeat verbatim large 

 portions of its contents. His memory was truly remarkable. 



He early conceived the thought that he should one day become a lawyer, and this 

 idea was the theme of his ambition, the controlling motive of his life. Upon reach- 

 ing his majority, with no fortune except strong hands, a vigorous constitution, the 

 mental acquirements which he jjossessed, and a determined purpose, he removed to 

 Almond, Allegany Co., purchased a piece of uncultivated land on credit, and at once 

 commenced the work of clearing it for tillage. His intelligence and business capacity 

 were soon manifested, and he immediately took a respectable position among the 

 people of Almond. In the spring of 1824 he was elected one of the constables of 

 that town. At this time imprisonment for debt had not been abolished, and this 

 relic of barbarism greatly euhauccd the duties and responsibilities of constables. 

 In the discharge of his official duties he was often one of the attending constables 

 at the various courts held in Angelica. Although Allegany County was remote from 

 the more (mltiyated portions of the State, yet its courts were graced by the most 

 learned and able judges and advocates of that day. Nothing occurred which escaped 

 his notice; the legal contests of these gifted advocates were watched by Mr. Hawley 

 with intense interest, and when the law was pronounced by those profound judges 

 he heard and garnered up all that fell from their lips. 



During the first term of court which he attended at Angelica he entered his name 

 as a law student in the office of the late George Miles, then a leading member of the 

 Allegany bar. As his means did not admit of his devoting his entire time to the 

 office, he pursued his studies at home when relieved from other duties. Thus he 

 continued for two years. Declining the office of constable, he commenced practice 

 in justices' courts, in the mean time continuing his legal studies. A distinguished 

 lawyer, who in those days often met him in justices' courts, remarked that Hawley 

 tried a case before a justice with ability sufficient to distinguish in any court. His 

 causes were conducted with dignity, propriety, skill, and learning. 



In due time Mr. Hawley completed his law studies, and passed in a creditable man- 

 ner a thorough examination, was admitted to the bar, and at once opened an office 

 in Almond. Such had been his reputation before his admission that he Was soon in 

 the midst of a practice of considerable importance. In the fall of 1837 he was in- 

 duced to make Hornellsville his future residence, where he soon took a high position 

 amongthe distinguished lawyers by whom he was surrounded, and controlled a large 

 and lucrative practice. One of his earliest business relations was a partnership with 

 the late John Baldwin, whose legal abilities and keen wit distinguished him through- 



out Western New York. This partnership continued only about one year when it 

 was dissolved. In January, 1846, he was appointed by Governor Silas Wright first 

 judge of Steuben County. Many years previous Governor Wright had met him and 

 formed his acquaintance, and regarding him as a high-minded, honorable, and able 

 lawyer, he tendered him this position as a mark of his esteem and confidence. 



He held this office for a little over one year, when Hbn. David McMaster took his 

 place by election, and he was elected to the Senate from the Twenty-fifth Senatorial 

 District of the State, and was honored with the second position on the committee of 

 ways and means, while his name appeared on other important Senate committees 

 during his term. 



On the 19th of February, 1848, he delivered a speech in the Senate on certain resolu- 

 tions instructing the senators and representatives in Congress from this State to vote 

 for the prohibition of slavery in New Mexico, whose entrance into the Union was 

 then anticipated. This speech added much to his reputation ; it was calm, direct, and 

 statesmanlike. It was regarded as one of the ablest delivered in the Senate during 

 that winter. 



.Judge Hawley was a delegate from this State to the Democratic National Conven- 

 tion which assembled at Baltimore on the 22d of May, 1848, at which two delegations 

 from the State of New York presented themselves for admission ; one of which was 

 known as the Free-Soil, Radical, or Barnburner delegation, under the guide of the 

 late Samuel Young, and that of the Conservatives or Hunkers, who were under the 

 lead of Daniel S. Dickinson. He identified himself with the former. 



This convention culminated in a National Convention held at Buffalo, Aug. 9, 1848 , 

 to which Judge Hawley was also a delegate, and entered ardently into all Its pro- 

 ceedings, anil in which Martin Van Buren was nominated for President, and Charles 

 Fnincis Adams for Vice-President. 



He was one of the committee who introduced those resolutions whose essential 

 elements were afterwards stdopted by the Republican party. On the introduction of 

 those resolutions he delivered a speech, the very sentiments of which in after-years 

 he reiterated in a Republican State Convention. 



After retiring from the Senate, Judge Hawley n^ver again songht for official posi- 

 tions, but confined himself exclusively to his profession, and although fortunate in 

 his financial matters, he continued to practice until within a short period of his death, 

 which occurred Feb. 9, 1869. 



As late as 1868, September, at the Steuben circuit held at Corning, he appeared and 

 conducted a very important divorce case, and there appeared no diminution in his 

 fine mental powers, and he stood at the bar, as he had for years, an able and powerful 

 competitor, though his health had been for some time declining. Few lawyers were 

 more perfect in their preparation of a case for trial or argument than he. His papers 

 always exhibited a brief philosophic statement of legally deducted facts, what a cor- 

 rect system of pleading demands. 



As a friend he was sincere and undeviating ; unpretending and easy in his manners, 

 with pleasant, even fine conversational powers, he was an attractive companion. 

 There was a seeming humor in his manner that drew the young as well as the old 

 to him, and which disguised his faults. As a speaker he was calm, temperate, and 

 logical ; he knew how to enliven a dry theme with a proper play of the imagination, 

 and thus give relief to the fatigue of close attention. In the argument of a purely 

 legal question, at special or general term, he avoided all florid language, and sought 

 perspicuity and preciSeness of expression. 



As a citizen he was public-spirited, sedulous to advance the interests of the com- 

 munity in which he lived, and reasonably active in all projects of public improve- 

 ment. Some years previous to his decease he united with the Episcopal Church at 

 Hornellsville. In his domestic relations he was a kind husband and indulgent and 

 liberal father. 



