Hawley, Fredrick K 1870-1945

HAWLEY BOEKENOOGEN

Posted By: Janet Schuldt, volunteer (email)
Date: 5/17/2015 at 18:30:30

Laurens Sun, Laurens, Pocahontas, Iowa Thursday, August 2, 1945

F. K. Hawley, Pioneer In County, Died Sat

A portion of the obituary read at the service by Byron G. Allen of Detroit Lakes, Minn., follows:

FRED K. HAWLEY

With the passing of Mr. Hawley we have lost a pioneer whose influence and leadership has been of inestimable value for the past 50 years, and the cause of agriculture has lost a friend possessed of rare vision, unfaltering courage, and tireless energy. His originality and humor, and his many deeds of kindness will be long remembered by the people of Laurens and vicinity.

Born in New York

Mr. Hawley was born on a farm an the state of New York, St. Lawrence county, on October 31, 1870, and came to Pocahontas county with his parents in the spring of 1880, one year before the building of the railroad that brought Laurens into existence. The family settled on the open prairie in what is now Marshall township. The farm home they developed has been owned and occupied by the Hawley family ever since. It is well known as one of the finest farm homes in Pocahontas county.

Early in life Mr. Hawley developed an interest in the progress and improvement of rural life and for many years has been identified with every movement calculated to protect and promote the interests of the farmers of the Middle West. Few men have contributed more to the progress and development of this region than Fred Hawley. With no schooling except that afforded in the crudest one-room rural school, and in spite of the handicap of ill health caused by a severe illness in youth, he became a prominent and successful farmer, a well known and forceful public speaker, and a man whose assistance and advice on farm problems was sought by many people throughout
the state and nation.

Farmers' Elevator

He was the first secretary for the Farmers' Elevator in Laurens. He promoted and helped to organize the first rural telephone company in the Laurens vicinity. He worked incessantly in the spread of education, serving many years as school director and in holding farmers' institutes. He was among the first to advocate drainage for Pocahontas county and helped to circulate the petition that led to the creation of Drainage District No. 41. To accomplish this required a struggle for a period of seven years.

Early in his career Fred became interested in mutual insurance and has served as director of the Pocahontas County Mutual ever since 1900. For some years he served as director or vice president for three state mutual insurance companies.

He was active in the Triple A hog and corn crop control program, organizing six Iowa counties and later serviced 15 others as field man. He sealed the first crib of corn under the Agricultural Adjustment Act, near Pocahontas, November 22, 1933.

He was a member, and chairman, of the committee appointed y President Roosevelt to study and report on farm tenancy in America, and for three years he served on the State Advisory Board of Iowa, during which time the Board bought 476 farms for poor Iowa tenants.

Fred K. Hawley was a progressive in politics, a friend to the under dog and the victims of misfortune, and a man whose entire life was devoted to improving the earth and promoting what he conceived to be justice and fair play in human relations. If men are to be judged at last by the deeds done in the body and by their dealing with other men, Fred K. Hawley, a 32 degree Mason, is entitled to everlasting remembrance. In a note he left to be opened and read when he was dead he said that he died feeling that land should belong to those who work it, that public utilities should be owned and operated collectively, and that the most interesting thing in all the world is people.

In November, 1943, Mr. Hawley and Mrs. Hawley, formerly Henrietta B. Boekenoogen, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary