Joseph Roswell HAWLEY, Congress, CT (1826-1905)

HAWLEY, Joseph Roswell, a Representative and a Senator from Connecticut; born in Stewartsville, Richmond County, N.C., October 31, 1826; completed preparatory studies in Conn., and graduated from Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y., in 1847; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1850 and commenced practice in Hartford, Conn.; editor of the Hartford Evening Press in 1857, which in 1867 was consolidated with the Hartford Courant, of which he became editor; during the Civil War enlisted in the Union Army as a captain; brevetted major general in 1865, and was mustered out in January 1866; Governor of Connecticut 1866; president of the United States Centennial Commission to organize the Centennial Exposition 1873-1876; elected as a Republican to the Forty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Julius L. Strong; reelected to the Forty-third Congress and served from December 2, 1872, to March 3, 1875; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1874 to the Forty-fourth Congress; again elected to the Forty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1879-March 3, 1881); was not a candidate for reelection in 1880; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1881; reelected in 1887, 1893, and 1899 and served from March 4, 1881, to March 3, 1905; declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1904; chairman, Committee on Civil Service and Retrenchment (Forty-seventh through Forty-ninth Congresses), Committee on Military Affairs (Fiftieth through Fifty-second and Fifty-fourth through Fifty-eighth Congresses); appointed a brigadier general in the United States Army on the retired list 1905; died in Washington, D.C., on March 17, 1905; interment in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford, Conn.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Putnam, Albert D., ed. Major General Joseph R. Hawley, Soldier and Editor (1826-1905): Civil War Military Letters. Hartford: Connecticut Civil War Centennial Commission, 1964.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present