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Francis Rawle Edit Profile

lawyer author

Francis Rawle was an American lawyer and author.

Background

Francis Rawle was born on August 7, 1846 at Freedom Forge, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, the son of Francis William Rawle, iron master and lay judge, and Louisa Hall, and grandson of William Rawle.

Education

He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and at Harvard College, where he received the degree of A. B. in 1869. He played on the Harvard baseball team and always maintained an interest in the college, serving from 1890 to 1902, when he was ineligible for reëlection, on the Board of Overseers. After a year in the law office of his cousin, William Henry Rawle, he attended the Harvard Law School and graduated with the degree of LL. B. in 1871.

Career

In November 1871 he was admitted to the Philadelphia bar, of which he was a member for nearly sixty years. But in him, as in others who bore his name, the literary bent was manifest early in his career and his work was accordingly diversified.

In 1878 Rawle participated in organizing the American Bar Association at Saratoga Springs, New York, and for over a half-century it provided a field for his extraforensic activities. He was its first treasurer and served until 1902, nearly a quarter-century. In the latter year he was elected president and served the usual annual term. He was present at each of its first twenty-six meetings and was but rarely absent thereafter. He attended the convention of 1924 in London and often presided by invitation over sessions of the Association's meetings.

In 1926, at the Denver meeting, he was one of three founders to be honored with life membership and at his death he was the last surviving founder. Rawle's literary output included a life of Edward Livingston, for S. F. Bemis' American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy, and numerous magazine articles, legal and historical.

Achievements

  • Francis Rawle has been listed as a reputable lawyer by Marquis Who's Who.

Connections

On November 25, 1873, he married Margaretta C. Aertsen. They had five sons, three of whom died young.

Father:
Francis William Rawle

Iiron master and lay judge

Mother:
Louisa Hall

Spouse:
Margaretta C. Aertsen

Grandfather:
William Rawle