Francis Rawle (28)

Francis Rawle (10 July 1729–7 June 1761) was a merchant and a member of the Young Junto, elected c. 1758. Born into a Quaker family in Philadelphia, he traveled to England and Ireland in 1755, returning to Pennsylvania in 1756 with a wide array of goods for sale. His grandfather, also named Francis Rawle, penned a pamphlet promoting paper currency in 1721 and was a director of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Similarly public-spirited, the younger Rawle was director of the Philadelphia Contributionship and a partner in the Pennsylvania Land Company. He was appointed to the Governor’s Council but did not serve on it, owned the lease on a Delaware River ferry, and made a generous donation to the Pennsylvania Hospital in his will. He was a regular attendee of the meetings of the Young Junto, circulating queries for debate and serving as the organization’s treasurer. Rawle’s brother-in-law Joshua Howell was also a member of the Young Junto, and following Rawle’s untimely death just before his thirty-second birthday, his widow remarried APS member Samuel Shoemaker. (PI)