William S. Hawley
William Schroeder Hawley, his personal and family background, and his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre
William S. Hawley
1829-1893
Biographical Sketch
William Schroeder Hawley was a native of Peoria County in west-central Illinois with American forebears from Vermont and Tennessee. Moving from there to central, then western, Illinois, and finally to frontier Utah, Hawley was an American frontiersman and pioneer of southern Utah.
Early Life in Illinois
Hawley was born in Peoria, Peoria County in west-central Illinois. Hawley’s father and paternal grandfather were from Addison County near Lake Champlain in west-central Vermont; his maternal forebears, from Tennessee. In the early 1820s Hawley’s parents were married in Lawrence County in southeast Illinois. The family passed through Dupage County in north-east Illinois, then moved to the west to Lasalle County in central Illinois, then further west to Peoria County where William S. Hawley was born.
By the late 1830s they were in Shelby County in central Illinois. They heard the Mormon message and converted to Mormonism.
Migration to Utah
At some point, they joined the Mormon exodus to the west. In 1855, Hawley married Nancy Sebrina Matheny (1837-1914) who was born in Green County, Arkansas. She was a younger sister of Sims Lafayette Matheny.
To Washington County and the Cotton Mission
In 1857, Hawley with his brothers George and John Hawley along with his wife and his brother-in-law Sims Matheny were original settlers in Washington in southern Utah.
Iron MIlitary District: 2nd Lieutenant William Hawley, Company I, John D. Lee's 4th Battalion
In September 1857, William S. Hawley, 27, was sergeant under 2nd Lt. James Mathews' platoon, in Harrison Pearce’s Company I in John D. Lee’s 4th Battalion. According to John D. Lee, he was among the party from Washington who moved up to Mountain Meadows on Tuesday the 8th. Hawley’s exact role in the main massacre on Friday the 11th is uncertain.
Hawley was listed as "William Halley" in 1859 arrest warrant.
Later LIfe
According to John D. Lee, Hawley moved to Fillmore in central Utah and in fact Hawley and his family left southern Utah in 1858, settling in Fillmore, Millard County. In the mid-1860s, a William S. Hawley was a deputy sheriff in Millard County. Hawley remained there until his death. He was survived by his wife and seven children.
Millard County newsman Frank Beckwith collected information on William S. Hawley including Mountain Meadows lore that Hawley opposed attacking the emigrants and was chained to a wagon wheel. But this is unconfirmed quadruple hearsay, allegedly passing from Hawley to Nate Dodge to Josiah F. Gibbs to Charles Kelly. Gibbs held that Hawley died "insane" while Beckwith reported that some thought Hawley was "a bit off." (History of Washington County, 29, fn. 11; History of Millard County,138.)
Years after his death, his widow applied for Indian War veterans benefits for his service during the Black Hawk War during the late 1860s.
References
Alder and Brooks, A History of Washington County, 29, fn. 11; A History of Millard County, 138; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 228, 379; Lee Trial transcripts; FamilySearch.org; Utah State Archive and Records and Service, Commissioner of Indian War Records, Indian War Service Affidavits, affidavit of Nancy Hawley re service of William S. Hawley, accessed at http://archives.utah.gov/research/inventories/2217.html; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C.
External Links
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