Hawley, Eliphalet B.

Born: 1816-05-30 Albany, New York

Died: 1884-10-27 Springfield, Illinois

Hawley came to Springfield with his family in 1822 and spent the rest of his life there. He was a founding member of the Second Presbyterian Church. On July 12, 1838, he married Mary D. Sayre. He worked as a clerk in a dry goods store. He became a merchant when, in 1840, Nathaniel A. Rankin sold his interest in a store called Rankin and Edwards to Hawley. Hawley and his new partner, Ninian W. Edwards renamed the company Hawley and Edwards. Sometime before 1848, Hawley and Edwards partnered with John C. Cook to become Hawley, Edwards, and Cook. In 1850, Hawley owned $800 in real property. In the 1850s, Hawley was also in partnership with Jacob G. Loose in another dry goods store, Hawley & Loose. The stores sold groceries, hardware, shoes, hats, and other household items.

Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 28 October 1884, 8:3; John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 364-65; Joseph Wallace, Past and Present of the City of Springfield and Sangamon County Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1904), 2:1651; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 26 June 1840, 3:2; Illinois Journal (Springfield), 13 January 1848, 2:7; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 7 September 1854, 3:2; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Springfield, Sangamon County, IL, 81; Gravestone, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, IL.