James W. Dawes

{{Short description|American politician (1844–1918)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = James William Dawes

|image = James William Dawes.jpg

|order1 = 5th

|office1 = Governor of Nebraska

|term_start1 = January 4, 1883

|term_end1 = January 6, 1887

|lieutenant1 = Alfred W. Agee (1883–1885)
Hibbard H. Shedd (1885–1887)

|predecessor1 = Albinus Nance

|successor1 = John M. Thayer

|office2 = Member of the Nebraska Senate

|term2 = 1877

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1845|1|8}}

|death_date = {{Death date and age|1918|10|8|1845|1|8}}

|birth_place = McConnelsville, Ohio

|death_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin

|resting_place = Forest Home Cemetery

|party = Republican

|spouse = Francis Anna Dawes

|profession =

|religion =

}}

James William Dawes (January 8, 1845{{spaced ndash}}October 8, 1918) was a Republican state politician. He served as the fifth governor of Nebraska from 1883 to 1887.

He was born in McConnelsville, Ohio. He was the great-grandson of William Dawes, a first cousin of Rufus R. Dawes, and a first cousin once removed of Charles G. Dawes.

Dawes attended Western Reserve Academy in Ohio and The Milwaukee Business College. He studied law in his cousin's law firm and was admitted to the bar in 1871.{{cite web|title=James W. Dawes|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_nebraska/col2-content/main-content-list/title_dawes_james.html|publisher=National Governors Association|access-date=September 16, 2012}} Dawes married his cousin, Francis Anna Dawes, in 1871. She died in 1909.

Career

After relocating to Crete, Nebraska, Dawes worked in the mercantile business and opened a law practice.{{cite book|title=James W. Dawes|date = January 1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rWkP0DM_upwC&pg=PA92|publisher=The Encyclopedia of Nebraska|isbn = 9780403098347|access-date=September 16, 2012}} He was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1875 and a member of Nebraska State Senate in 1877.{{cite web|title=James W. Dawes|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis-dawsey.html|publisher=The Political Graveyard|access-date=September 16, 2012}} Dawes was a chairman of the Republican State Central Committee from 1876 to 1882.

Dawes was elected Governor of Nebraska in 1882, and was reelected to a second term in 1884.{{cite web|url= http://nebraskaccess.ne.gov/pastnebraskagovernors.asp |title= Who were the former Governors of Nebraska?|publisher= Nebraska Access|access-date= September 15, 2012}} He later served as paymaster for the United States Army, working in Cuba and the Philippines.{{cite web|url= http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_nebraska/col2-content/main-content-list/title_dawes_james.html |title= Nebraska Governor James William Dawes|publisher= National Governors Association |access-date= September 15, 2012}}

Dawes served on the Doane College board of trustees for thirty-seven years.

Death

Dawes died on October 8, 1918, at the age of seventy-three, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20061202055441/http://www.nebraskahistory.org/lib-arch/research/public/state_governors/dawes.pdf Gov. James W. Dawes papers]}} at the Nebraska State Historical Society. Retrieved July 6, 2009. He is interred at Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.{{cite web|title=James W. Dawes|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_nebraska/col2-content/main-content-list/title_dawes_james.html|publisher=National Governors Association|access-date=September 16, 2012}}

Legacy

Dawes County, Nebraska was named in Dawes' honor.{{cite web|url= http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=22380|title= Profile for Dawes County, Nebraska, NE|publisher= ePodunk|access-date= September 15, 2012|archive-date= April 2, 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150402143328/http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=22380|url-status= dead}}{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n100 101]}}

Between 1885 and 1890, Dawes' portrait was painted in Omaha by artist Herbert A. Collins.Biography of Herbert Alexander Collins, by Alfred W. Collins, February 1975, 4 pages typed, in the possession of Collins' great-great grand-daughter, D. Dahl of Tacoma, WA

See also

References

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