Will County IL Archives Obituaries.....Hawley, Allen G December 2, 1920
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2006, 10:42 pm

Herald, Dec 3, 1920
Will County Pioneer Dies In California

Herald, December 3, 1920

End Comes to Allen G. Hawley, Former Lockport Editor

Allen G. Hawley, Lockport pioneer, Will county newspaper man and later a 
prominent factor in the independent telephone business in Illinois and Iowa, 
died yesterday at his home in National City, Calif.  He retired from the 
telephone business a year ago on account of ill health.

He was born June 25, 1858, in southern Illinois.  His parents were among the 
very early settlers of Lockport.  His uncle, Warren S. Hawley, was county 
clerk of Will county in the early days, and an aunt, Mrs. W.W. Stevens, now of 
Maywood, Ill., was the wife of the editor of the old Joliet Weekly Record.

Mr. Hawley entered the newspaper business in Lockport in 1876 and continued 
there until 1899, when he transferred his activities to the telephone business 
with C.B. Cheadle as his principal associate.  Later he removed to Clinton, 
Iowa, and became interested in telephone enterprises in a dozen or more 
Illinois and Iowa cities.

One of his earlier business ventures was the establishment of an electric 
lighting plant in Lockport, in which he was rather markedly successful.  He 
was also associated with Mr. Cheadle in the real estate and loaning business 
in Joliet and Lockport.

He was married at an early age to Miss Arretta Riggs of Dwight, Ill., who died 
in 1896.  Two years later he married Miss Margaret Johnson, who, with two 
daughters, Mrs. J.D. Walker and Miss Deborah Hawley, and three sons, Allen 
Jr., Sedwick and Ralph Hawley, survive him.  A sister, Mrs. Charles Sedgwick 
resides in the west.

By James H. Ferris 

Mr. Hawley was one of the oldest newspaper men of Will county.  In the spring 
of 1874, W.H. Cook, who undertook a journey around the world with Henry M. 
Stanley, and Newton C. Grimwood who lost his life in a balloon journey over 
Lake Michigan came over from Yorkville and started an organ for the farmers 
and anti-monopoly party at Lockport, the “Courier.”  Mr. Hawley was their 
first apprentice.  He then, at about 14 years of age, commenced his career and 
did it all himself.

The Courier moved to Joliet a little later and J.S. McDonald followed with a 
Lockport Phoenix where Mr. Hawley was employed until he had a paper of his 
own, the Lockport Advertiser.

There was much rivalry between cities and villages at that time, also city 
pride, and, to please all concerned, Lockport furnished Lemont, Plainfield, 
Peotone, Wilmington, Frankfort and Mokena with an Advertiser or Phoenix, or 
both, of their own, a co-operative plan managed by Mr. McDonald for one and 
Mr. Hawley for the other.

Mr. Hawley had a generous supply of industry and good nature, and no end of 
grit.  Of money he had very little and the times were very hard.  Thus he set 
his type, ran his press, mailed the paper and canvassed for subscribers, 
advertising and job work.  If weary or discouraged, or interested in politics, 
he made no sign and managed to accumulate a small fortune at least enough to 
obtain a foothold in telephone systems later.

Made the World Brighter

Fair play, mind your business, pay your bills and keep whistling seemed to be 
his rules of life, and in this line he was a perfect type.  All within his 
personal or newspaper range were his personal friends.  He made the world 
brighter.  All were pleased to see him coming.

As a characteristic incident, when all were hard up, as hard as hard could be, 
in the late seventies, to make a little extra, Mr. Hawley did the press work 
for the weekly edition of the Joliet Daily News.  He had a newspaper cylinder, 
power press, with a horse to run errands and the press.  The News had only a 
hand job press, large enough only for their daily.  Twice a week Mr. Hawley 
drove to Joliet for the weekly forms and upon one of these long pulls up the 
Lockport hill two pages of the forms slid out of the back end of his sled into 
the snow.  He returned promptly to Joliet with a mess of type, snow and some 
gravel and for a week the newspaper world rolled on somehow while Mr. Hawley 
sat at the case sorting type.  There was no merriment then, but neither was 
there any complaining, tho a heartbreaking, life and death matter for all 
concerned.  Printers were not paid $45 per week then, only five and their 
board, if first class.  Printers were plentiful but money scarce.

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