Dr. Hanley is a representative of an old family in this County. His parents came to this country from Ireland in 1852, first settling in Ohio, afterward residing for a time in Michigan, and finally making Le Claire in this County their permanent home, residing there until their deaths. Dennis Hanley, the father of the family in question, was born in County Limerick, Ireland, in 1814, and died on the twenty fourth day of December, 1869. His wife, Bridget (O'Shaughnessy) Hanley, was born in County Clare, Ireland, in 1826, and died on November 30, 1891. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hanley lived several years in Ireland, where their daughter Mary, who died in infancy, and two sons, Dennis, Jr., and John R., were born. The other six children - Thomas B., Daniel R., Michael L., Kate E., James A. and William H. — first saw the light of day on this side of the ocean. After the death of Mr. Hanley in 1869 it became Mrs. Hanley's mission to watch over and guide to the years of responsibility seven boys and one girl. It was not as a star in the social world nor as an evangelist that she found the opportunity to make practical use of her noble -hearted and generous womanhood, but it was in the home and in the rearing of a family whose lives attest the tenderness and carefulness with which the mother trained them in youth. No woman ever did more than she to bring up her children in the proper manner, and no woman ever sacrificed more or denied herself more in order that those dependent upon her might possess all the education which it was in her power to give. She fully appreciated the necessity of keeping her children in school just as long as was possible, and used every means in her power to develop in them those talents and abilities which they inherited from both parents, who were possessed of remarkable intelligence and an abundant supply of common sense. Four of the children Thomas B., James A., William H. and Kate E.— taught school when very young with marked success. John R. was possessed of a brilliant mind and a remarkable aptitude for picking up his studies at school, and but for his early death was unquestionably destined to a place of high standing in whatever he might undertake. He was quiet and modest in his manners, and was a great reader of men and books. Dennis Hanley, Jr., was engaged in business connected with boat-yards at different points along the Mississippi river until the date of his death in 1878, and had been equally successful with other members of the family. Thomas B., attorney-at-law, is one of the brightest members of the family, and has made progress in his profession which would be flattering to any Ile practiced in Le Claire until the spring of 1888, when he became a member of the firm of Wolf & Hanley at Tipton, Iowa, where he is yet located. He has been Mayor of Tipton for the past two years and has held other offices as well.
Daniel R. and Michael L. drifted into steamboating in their younger days and have followed the business ever since, accumulating comfort able fortunes. Both are successful licensed engineers, and Michael L. is also owner of two steamboats. Kate E. is now a stenographer in the City of Davenport, and for a number of years was a teacher of the highest ability, having won honors in the profession in the district schools of the County, in the graded schools of Le Claire and in Princeton, Iowa, and Port Byron, Illinois. William H. Hanley is the youngest of the family. and is now engaged in a lucrative practice at Dubuque, Iowa. In 1892 he graduated in the law department of the State University.
Mr. and Mrs. Hanley were ardent and conscientious members of the Catholic Church and died in that faith.
James A. Hanley, subject of this sketch, was born March 8, 1863, in Le Claire, Iowa, and attended the public schools of that place until he was seventeen years of age, when he successfully passed an examination and was given a teacher's certificate. In March, 1885, he entered the Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa, but remained there only a year because of his limited means. In September, 1886, he began a two years' course in the law department of the State University at Iowa City, and June 19, 1888, he was given a diploma admitting him to practice in both the State and Federal courts.
When he was fourteen years of age he accepted a position on a raft boat at a salary of fifteen dollars per month. It was because of the limited means of the family and the natural independence of the boy that he did this. It was necessary for him to engage in employment of some kind in order to raise sufficient funds to secure an education, and as a result he attended school only about three months of each year, working the remainder of the time. It was a hard trial for the young and ambitious lad, inasmuch as his playmates, being of wealthier parentage, remained in school the entire time. Until 1884 he followed the river as a means of earning sufficient funds to educate himself for his chosen profession, which was the law. His last river experience was as clerk on the “Jim Fisk.”
River life and its temptations had no effect upon him; his mother's influence had more to do with the forming and development of his character than all his other associations, and as a result his habits were not changed because of his association while so young with men whose modes of life were anything but exemplary in those days. By working on the river in the summer time and teaching school during the winter he saved money which afterward paid his expenses at college. He is in every sense of the word a self-made man, and by his own efforts only and his determination to succeed, together with the aid and encourage ment of a noble and loving mother, was it possible for him to prepare for the legal profession, for which his talents and traits of character so eminently fitted him.
It was while teaching school that he had the opportunity of finding out the natural tendency of his mind, and in the debates which took place there he discovered a latent power within himself which influenced him in choosing the law as a profession. He achieved something of a reputation at the "Brown School” for his argumentative powers, and was instrumental in organizing a weekly debating society, which in that section of the country was much talked about. At the meetings of this society Mr. Hanley displayed the powers which have won him success at the bar. Characteristic of him is the scathing, sarcastic manner in which he replied to an opponent when the circumstances warranted it, and it was this which distinguished him at the meetings of the “Country Debating Society.” Many memorable forensic contests took place in this debating society, and during the three years in which Mr. Hanley had charge of the school he never knew defeat in those debates. In later years as a student at college his ambition kept him at the head of his class, of which he was president and recognized leader. At Ames, Iowa, he led a savage and relentless warfare against the college secret societies, which he deemed a nuisance, and while not successful in killing them, a few years later had the satisfaction of learning that the college faculty had prohibited their meetings in any of the buildings on the college premises.
The choosing of a profession was an epoch in Mr. Hanley's life, just as it is in the lives of many boys. His mother was desirous that he should follow medicine, and perhaps for the first time in his life he followed a course directly opposed to the wishes of her whom he loved and respected more than any other woman, and chose the law. It has since been proven true that the boy had a clear discernment of his own ability and that his choice was a wise one. Experience and time have demonstrated that he builded well. On June 23, 1888, or four days after leaving school, he began the practice of law with an office on the second floor of the Davenport block in his native town, Le Claire. Strangely and fortunately enough that which is so often known in the life of the young professional man as the "starving period” was unknown to Mr. Hanley. From the time he first began the practice of law he has been able to make a good income. Because of his acquaintance throughout the County, arising from a long residence here, his friends at once became his clients, and from the beginning he more than paid expenses.
In the justices' courts of Le Claire Mr. Hanley had remarkable success; in fact, he never met with defeat. During his residence there it became a matter of common remark among the attorneys of Daven port and other places who were opposed to him in the trial of cases, that Mr. Hanley could not be defeated; in fact, the members of the Davenport bar were nearly unanimous in declaring it was useless to " contest a suit with Hanley on his own camping ground.”
Successful in Le Claire, he concluded that this field was not large enough, and he decided to locate in Davenport. On the first day of April, 1891, he removed to the County seat, opening an office in the Whitaker building. This move was not made without many misgivings on the part of his mother, who reluctantly consented, but who was also soon convinced of the wisdom of the change which he made. In Daven port Mr. Hanley has had a wider field for the practice of his profession, and he has had superior advantages here for the development of the talents which he possessed. During the first years of his residence in this city his successful defenses in a number of criminal cases brought him prominently before the people, and his eloquent appeals to the juries attracted much attention . His rise has since been rapid, and there is to-day none of the younger members of the bar who ranks higher than he.
Mr. Hanley is a member of Columbian Lodge No. 333, Knights of Pythias, which he joined in 1891 as a charter member. He has always held an important office in this lodge and is one of the most useful members in the initiation of candidates.
He is not a politician but is identified with the Democratic party, although in the early agitation of the liquor question in this State he was an active prohibitionist. In 1885 he presided at 'a meeting in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Le Claire and introduced Hon. John P. St. John, who the year before was the prohibition candidate for the Presidency of the United States. His views on the subject of prohibition have changed materially in late years and are in harmony with the views of the majority of Iowa Democrats. In the local elections in Le Claire from 1888 to 1891 he conducted the campaigns of his party and brought about a change in his Township from one hundred and forty Republican majority to twenty-five Democratic majority. Since locating in Davenport he has been closely identified with the party, and in every campaign his voice is heard on the stump, proclaiming Democratic gospel.
He was married in the City of Davenport December 14, 1892, to Miss Ida Bell Davisson, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. T. Davisson. Mrs. Hanley's father was born and educated in Marshall, Michigan. He was an architect of the highest ability by profession. Her mother's maiden name was Katharine Fitzgerald, who was educated at Ann Arbor and married Mr. Davisson at Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1859. Mr. and Mrs. Davisson resided in Kalamazoo after they were married until 1873, when they removed to Santa Barbara, California, with their family, and in 1876 located in Davenport, where Mr. Davisson died in 1880. He was a prominent Mason. W. H. Davisson, brother of Mrs. Hanley, was born in Kalamazoo, and graduated at Griswold College, Davenport. He is a civil engineer of marked ability, and for ten years has been a trusted and faithful employé of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company. Mabel 0. Davisson, sister of Mrs. Hanley, was born in Santa Barbara, California, and educated in the Davenport schools. She resides with her mother in this city. Mrs. Hanley is one of the most lovable of women, is highly educated in music and has many other accomplishments.
BIOGRAPHIES