On , Hawley was born to Elijah and Mercy Hawley in
Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he would also be raised. Struggling to receive shipments and make deliveries over the wretched roadways of the era, Hawley imagined the canal as early as 1805. Considering his modest education and lack of formal training as an
engineer or
surveyor, 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. Although 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. In May 1812, Hawley married Elizabeth "Betsey" Ralston Tiffany, a young widow, in Canandaigua. They had a daughter, Julia, who survived her father by six months. After their divorce, Hawley married Elizabeth L. Hawley. In 1817, Hawley was appointed collector of revenue for the port of
Genesee. Hawley was a member of the
New York State Assembly, 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. Hawley's continued interest in the Erie Canal is evidenced in an 1840 essay,
An Essay on the Enlargement of the Erie Canal. On , Hawley died. He was buried at the
Cold Springs Cemetery in
Lockport, New York. ==See also==