Roland H. Hartley

Hartley, the eighth of twelve children, was born at Shogomoc in the British colony of New Brunswick on June 26, 1864. (It became the Province of New Brunswick after Canadian Confederation in 1867).{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4357314/roland_hartley_former_governor_of/|title=Roland Hartley, Former Governor of Washington, Dies|work=The Bee|location=Danville, Virginia|date=September 22, 1952|page=39|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=February 18, 2016}} He was the son of Rev. Edward Hartley and Rebecca Barker (Whitehead) Hartley.

Hartley moved to Minnesota about 1878, joining older brothers Wilder, Benjamin, and Guilford in Brainerd, Minnesota.

After moving to Minnesota, he worked summers on bonanza farms in Dakota Territory and winters in the logging industry. He later relocated to Minneapolis, finding work as a bookkeeper for Clough Brothers Lumber Company.

In 1888, he married Nina M. Clough, daughter of David Clough, cementing his ties to Clough Brothers. The couple had three children, Edward, David, and Mary.{{cite web|title=Roland H. Hartley|url=http://sos.wa.gov/legacyproject/HistoryMakersDetail.aspx?Hartley/Roland/715|publisher=Washington Secretary of State|accessdate=October 12, 2012}}

Hartley rose to become manager and then Vice President of Clough Brothers. His father-in-law was elected Governor of Minnesota in 1895, and in 1897 Hartley began serving as his private secretary.{{cite web|title=Roland H. Hartley|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_washington/col2-content/main-content-list/title_hartley_roland.html|publisher=National Governors Association|accessdate=October 12, 2012}} During the Spanish–American War of 1898, he additionally served as the Governor's representative and staff aide to the Minnesota National Guard, acquiring the honorific title of Colonel.

In 1900, David Clough moved to Everett, Washington to establish a new sawmill. Hartley, in turn, managed development of the new Cass Lake, Minnesota townsite for his older brother Guildford Hartley.

Hartley rejoined his father-in-law in Everett in 1902, eventually assuming roles as either manager or owner of Hartley and Lovejoy Logging Company, the Clark-Nickerson Lumber Company, the Everett Logging Company, the Clough-Hartley Mill, and Everett City Tug Boat Company.

Hartley had joined the Republican Party. He was elected mayor of Everett, Washington, serving one term from 1910 to 1912. He was next elected in 1914 to the Washington House of Representatives, serving from 1915 to 1917.

Hartley was elected, in 1925, as tenth governor of Washington.{{cite web|title=Roland H. Hartley|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/harte-hartling.html|publisher=The Political Graveyard|accessdate=October 12, 2012}} His father-in-law David Clough arranged to have the gavel used for his swearing-in as governor of Minnesota to be the one used for the swearing-in of his son-in-law Hartley as governor in Washington.

Hartley's major accomplishments during his governorship were the creation of a centralized state highway department and passage of new state timber laws.

In 1925, he vetoed House Bill 131, which would have created a separate state prison for women.{{cite web |url=http://web.leg.wa.gov/WomenInTheLegislature/Members/MemberBios/Reeves1923.pdf |title=Belle Reeves |author= |date= |website=Women in the Legislature |publisher=Washington State Legislature |access-date=18 March 2022 |quote=}} The bill had passed the legislature under the sponsorship of Belle Reeves (D-Chelan County) and Mabel Ingersoll Miller (R-Snohomish County). In his veto message, Hartley wrote that if the bill{{cite book |last=James-Wilson |first=Jennifer |title=Making a Difference |last2=Owings-Klimek |first2=Brenda |publisher=State Superintendent of Public Instruction |year=1990 |series=A Centennial Celebration of Washington Women |volume=2 |publication-place=Olympia, WA |pages=86–91 |chapter=Belle Culp Reeves—Madame Secretary |oclc=41619095 |ref=none |chapter-url=https://wshs.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/digipubs/id/4520/rec/1}}

{{Blockquote|text=is to provide an institution in which the state is to undertake the moral and physical regeneration of hapless and fallen women, the effort is futile and the undertaking doomed to failure before it is begun. Morality cannot be legislated, nor is there any escape from the truth of the saying, "Protect a fool against his follies and you populate the world with fools."}}

Hartley was the first Washington Republican governor to serve two terms and to run for a third. He lost the Republican primary to lieutenant governor John Arthur Gellatly and was succeeded by Clarence D. Martin.

Hartley died in Seattle, Washington, on September 21, 1952. He is interred at Evergreen Cemetery (Everett, Washington).

• List of U.S. state governors born outside the United States
• Roland Hartley House, his former home in Everett, Washington, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places

{{reflist}}

• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/harte-hartling.html Political Graveyard]
• http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=8008
• [http://sos.wa.gov/legacyproject/HistoryMakersDetail.aspx?Hartley/Roland/715 Washington Secretary of State]
• [http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_washington/col2-content/main-content-list/title_hartley_roland.html National Governors Association]

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{{s-bef|before=Louis F. Hart}}

{{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for Governor of Washington|years=1924, 1928}}

{{s-aft|after=John Arthur Gellatly}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for Governor of Washington|years=1936}}

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{{succession box | before = Louis F. Hart |title=Governor of Washington | years = 1925–1933 | after = Clarence D. Martin}}

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{{Governors of Washington}}

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Category:Republican Party governors of Washington (state)

Category:1864 births

Category:1952 deaths

Category:People from York County, New Brunswick

Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States

Category:Politicians from Everett, Washington

Category:Mayors of Everett, Washington

Category:Republican Party members of the Washington House of Representatives

Category:20th-century members of the Washington State Legislature