On June 14, 1918, in Denver, Colorado, Dawley married Grace Owens Givens, a native of Illinois."Colorado Statewide Marriage Index, 1853-2006", digital image of original typewritten card, "Marriage Record Report", Dawley to Givens, no. 69575, June 14, 1918, Division of Vital Statistics, State of Colorado; archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. FamilySearch. The couple remained together over 30 years, until Dawley's death in 1949. On March 29 that year, at age 71, Dawley died of undisclosed causes at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills in Los Angeles, California."J. Searle Dawley", obituary, Los Angeles Times, March 30, 1949, p. 27. ProQuest. A memorial service was held for him three days later in Los Angeles, followed by the "inurnment" of his ashes in the columbarium at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory. Silent film star and producer Mary Pickford and director Walter Lang, who early in his career was an assistant to Dawley, were among those who spoke at the service.Slide, p. 50. Dawley was survived by his wife Grace and his brother Hubert "Bert" Dawley. Later in 1949, Grace Dawley donated a selection of her husband's personal papers, scrapbooks, and several of his Edison production scripts to the Margaret Herrick Library at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California.
