Ohio Governor Gravesites: #36 George Hoadly

George Hoadly

Born: July 31, 1826
Died: August 26, 1902
Political Party: Democrat
Term of Office: January 14, 1884 - January 11, 1886
Buried: Spring Grove Cemetery Cincinnati, Ohio
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George Hoadly was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1826. His father was at one time Mayor of New Haven. When he was still very young, Hoadly moved with his family Cleveland. He started studying at Western Reserve College when he was only 14. After graduation he went to study law at Harvard, where one of his fellow students was future Governor and President Rutherford B. Hayes. In 1846, Hoadly started working in the law office of Salmon P. Chase (future Governor, Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court). In 1847 he was admitted to the bar in Ohio and mad partner at Chase's law firm, making the law firm Chase, Ball and Hoadly.

    Hoadly gained recognition for himself as a lawyer and was appointed by the state legislature to a judge on the Superior Court of Cincinnati in 1851. Then in 1855 he became Cincinnati city solicitor. He was twice offered a seat on the Ohio State Supreme Court. The 1st by his law partner Salmon P. Chase when he became Governor. Then again by Governor David Tod. He turned down both offers. Instead he served on the superior court in Cincinnati and taught law at Cincinnati law school. He also served as trustee at the University of Cincinnati. In 1866, he began his own law practice Hoadly, Jackson and Johnson.

    Hoadly was a Democrat in the years leading up to the Civil War. Because of the influences of Chase and his opposition to slavery he switched to the Republican party. But by the 1870's he switched back to the Democratic party for good. And so it was as a Democrat that he ran for Governor of Ohio in 1883. He ran against Republican Joseph Foraker, who was also from Cincinnati and oddly enough is now buried in the same section of Spring Grove Cemetery. The fact that Republicans supported a tax on liquor during the Charles Foster administration really hurt them and helped George Hoadly win the election.

   As Governor, 2 big conflicts hurt his once great reputation. The Great Hocking Valley coal strike of 1884-1885 and the Cincinnati court house riots of 1884. The way that he handled using the state militia in these cases caused him to loose reelection in 1885 to his previous Republican challenger Joseph Foraker. In 1884, Hoadly sought out the Democratic parties nomination for President of the United States, but he lost the nomination to Grover Cleveland.

   Hoadly retired from politics after left the Governorship. In 1887, he moved to New York City and opened up a new law firm Hoadly, Lauterbach and Johnson. He became a very successful lawyer in New York City, where he lived the rest of his life. He died in 1902.

   George Hoadly was the 3rd of 6 Governors that we visited in Spring Grove Cemetery on February 26, 2012. He was the 1st of 3 that we found in section 86 of the cemetery. Hoadly was a little difficult to find in that there was no large stone marking his grave like most of the others I have found. Usually there is a large family marker, then smaller individual markers on the ground. Governor Hoadly only had a small individual marker on the ground.

George Hoadly gravesite. Spring Grove cemetery Cincinatti, Ohio

2 Governors in one picture. Front and to the left is the gravestone for Governor George Hoadly. Up and to the right is the gravestone for our next Governor- Judson Harmon.