MAJOR WILLIAM HAWLEY
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES:POTTS,
is the owner of a pleasant home, on the Meridian road, between Willow Street and Hamilton Avenue. He has been a resident of the county about three years, living in San Jose until the first of April, 1887, when he took possession of his home at the Willows. He has made valuable improvements on his property, and it is now one of the most desirable in the district. The six acres are all in bearing, and are planted to a variety of fruits,—prunes, apricots, cherries, peaches, and a few almonds. The price paid for the place was $6,000.
Major Hawley was born at Washington, District of Columbia, October 15, 1838. His father, Rev. William Hawley, was one of the prominent clergymen of that city for thirty years. He was the first Rector of St. John's Church, and continued in charge of it until his death, in 1845. Among the attendants of his church were Presidents Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson. The mother of Major Hawley, nee Wilhemina Potts, survived the death of her husband twenty years. In 1856 Major Hawley left home, being eighteen years of age. He was employed on the survey of the projected canal across the Isthmus by the United States Government. August 5, 1861, he was appointed Lieutenant in the " Mounted Rifles," an organization which afterward became the Third United States Cavalry. He served in the Sixth Cavalry under General McClellan in the Army of the Potomac. Later he was in New Mexico, and later still, under General Grant, in the campaign against Vicksburg. As a member of the staff of Gen. Hugh Ewing, commanding the Fourth Division of the Fifteenth Corps, he served in the Chattanooga campaign under the general command of General Sherman. After the relief of Knoxville, he joined his regiment, which was assigned to General Steele's army, in Arkansas. War closed while he was in that department. After serving in New Mexico, in Indian campaigns, his regiment was transferred to Arizona, in 1869, and in 1871 to Wyoming and Dakota. After serving in the campaign against "Sitting Bull " and his warlike Sioux, he left active service, and was placed upon the retired list, with the full rank of Major.
After
spending so many years in war and wandering, the Major enjoys to the utmost his
neat home, to whose cheerfulness and comfort he yearly makes additions. Here,
with his wife and only son, Cornelius, (born in New Mexico, in 1869) he lives in
peace and plenty.
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
Pg. 421
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT