__NOTOC__ Jesse Hawley (May 11, 1773 – January 10, 1842) was an American

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cul ...

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

Geneva, New York Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake; all land portions of the city are within Ontario County; the water portions are in Seneca County. The population was 13, ...

, who became an early and major proponent of building of the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing ...

.Hawley, Elias S. ''The Hawley Record''. E.H. Hutchinson, 1890, pp. 531-538

Biography

Hawley was born and raised in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequo ...

, to Elijah and Mercy Hawley. As an adult, he became a flour merchant in western New York. He collected wheat in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

and had it milled in Seneca Falls. Hawley's investments were based on the hopes that the General Schuyler's Western Inland Lock Navigation Company would continue its river improvements to Seneca Falls, which would reduce Hawley's costs of shipping the flour to the cities on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. Unfortunately for Hawley, the Western Company halted progress on continued improvements to the rivers after Schuyler's death in 1804.Koeppel, Gerard. ''Bond of Union: Building the Erie Canal and the American Empire''. Da Capo Press, 2010 Struggling to receive shipments and make deliveries over the wretched roadways of the era, Hawley imagined the canal as early as 1805. Eventually, in 1807, Hawley's difficulties in securing reasonably priced transportation drove him in 1806 to

debtors' prison A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Histori ...

for twenty months. While in prison, writing under the name "Hercules", he published fourteen essays on the idea of the canal from the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...

; they appeared in the ''Genesee Messenger''.Bernstein, Peter L., (2005), ''Wedding of the Waters'', W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2005. Considering his modest education and lack of formal training as an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ...

, Hawley's writing was remarkable; he pulled together a wealth of information necessary to the project, provided detailed analysis of the problems to be solved, and wrote with great eloquence and foresight on the importance the canal would have to the state and to the nation. Though they were deemed the ravings of a madman by some, Hawley's essays were proven to be immensely influential on the development of the canal. Although Hawley's writing inspired others, such as Joseph Endicott and

DeWitt Clinton DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and naturalist. He served as a United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the seventh governor of New York. In this last capacity, he was largely re ...

, to pass laws construct what later became the Erie Canal, Hawley continued as a struggling merchant. His assets were apportioned in 1812.Stein, Mark. ''How the States Got Their Shapes Too''. Smithsonian Books, 2011 In 1817, Hawley was appointed collector of revenue for the port of

Genesee Genesee, derived from the Seneca word for "pleasant valley", may refer to: Geographic features Canada *Genesee, Alberta, an unincorporated community United States *Genesee, California *Genesee, Colorado *Genesee County, Michigan *Genesee Co ...

. Hawley was a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

, representing Genesee County in the 1820–21 session. He took part in the celebrations of the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, representing the people of the city of

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

. His continued interest in the Erie Canal is evidenced in an 1840 essay, ''An Essay on the Enlargement of the Erie Canal''. He was buried at the

Cold Springs Cemetery Cold Springs Cemetery (also known as Cold Spring Cemetery) is a historic cemetery located at Lockport in Niagara County, New York. Among the prominent burials are Erie Canal proponent Jesse Hawley, Cuthbert W. Pound, Chief Judge of the New Yo ...

Lockport, New York Lockport is both a city and the town that surrounds it in Niagara County, New York. The city is the Niagara county seat, with a population of 21,165 according to 2010 census figures, and an estimated population of 20,305 as of 2019. Its name d ...

Personal life

Hawley married Elizabeth "Betsey" Ralston Tiffany, a young widow, in Canandaigua in May 1812. They had a daughter, Julia, who survived her father by six months. After their divorce, Hawley married Elizabeth L. Hawley.

References

External links

Hawley's EssaysMemoir of De Witt Clinton: With an Appendix, Containing Numerous Documents p.306 et seq.
Some Hawley correspondence also, just before the essays.)
An Essay on the Enlargement of the Erie Canal
*John Rutherford, 1760-1840

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawley, Jesse Erie Canal Members of the New York State Assembly 1773 births 1842 deaths Businesspeople from Rochester, New York Politicians from Bridgeport, Connecticut People imprisoned for debt Politicians from Rochester, New York Businesspeople from Bridgeport, Connecticut