James Hawthorne, son of Thomas Hawthorne and Jane Morris. was born May 14, 1814 in County Down, Ireland, When he was about one year old, his father died. At the age four his mother immigrated to America with her eight small children, sailing from Belfast to Georgetown on the Potomac.
The family settled in Hagerstown, Washington County, Maryland where James spent his boyhood and pursued what schooling was permitted. At an early age he was put to work in a bobbin factory and later was a carpenter’s apprentice. When he reached his majority he tramped west bundling his few belongings in a bundle that he flung with a stick over his back. He ran out of money at Columbus, Ohio and took a job as a carpenter. But developing ague, he went to the home of his brother at Fairfield, Ohio. On October 11, 1835 in Oxford, Butler County, Ohio he married Rachel Hoover.
He and his wife moved further west to Indiana. He prospered here, held various offices, including that of sheriff, and was made major of a militia regiment, thus attaining to a title which ever after adhered to him. On July 4, 1849, Rachel (Hoover) Hawthorne died in Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana.
Later that year on November 29 in Brookville, Major Hawthorne married Mary Jones, daughter of Isaac Jones and Jane Osborn. Their marriage lasted only seven years and Mary (Jones) Hawthorne died in Franklin County, Indiana on December 15, 1856.
In the early spring of 1856, James Hawthorne with five small children, once again moved west and located on a farm in Johnson’s Grove in Richland Township. They stayed there for a year before moving to Nevada when James married his third wife, Elizabeth (Mitchell) Davis, widow of William Davis, on April 26, 1857 in Story County, Iowa.
In 1858 Martin Batzner, who was a barber and had a little grocery on the north side of the south square committed suicide, and he having no known relatives, Major Hawthorn was appointed to wind up his affairs. This circumstance brought the major into the merchandise business, in which he continued very successfully until 1876.
As the country was developing, Major Hawthorn was ambitious and recognized opportunities not only for himself but his community in the development of railroads and he set out to get railroads for Nevada. In those days railroads were largely a matter of land grants and subsidies. He was instrumental in establishing and was made director of the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad running from Cedar Rapids to Council Bluffs. It was this railroad, organized in 1860, that gave the city of Ames its name when it was chartered in 1864. It was named by CR&M President John Blair for Massachusetts Congressman Oakes Ames.
In 1867, he was elected to the state legislature from Story County. He served from January 1868 to January 1869. After serving in the House of Representatives, Major Hawthorne was determined to develop a cross railroad, and with men of similar enterprise in other towns, he tried to establish the Iowa, Minnesota and Dakota Railroad which would begin on the Des Moines River and run to Eagle Grove where it would fork north and northwest. He dedicated the greater part of two years, canvassed the country along the route, talked in the school houses, got a five per cent tax voted in every township, had the bonds negotiated, and was apparently assured success for the enterprise and anticipated large rewards for himself. When the elections of 1873 resulted in the choice of the "Granger Legislature" and the political climate changed, the capitalists who had agreed to back the this railroad backed out of their bargain and the railroad failed—the biggest disappointment of Major Hawthorne’s life.
He served two terms as Nevada’s mayor from 1875 to 1876,
On May 11, 1893, Elizabeth Hawthorne died in Nevada, Story County, Iowa. The major was almost 79, but he married a fourth time. On November 12, 1896 he married Jane “Jennie” (Kirkwood) Duff in Story County, Iowa.
Major James Hawthorne died on October 21, 1904 in Nevada, Story County, Iowa. He was survived by his fourth wife and several children.