Rawle, Henry - Hon.

HON. HENRY RAWLE was born in the Juniata valley, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, August 21, 1833, son of Francis W. Rawle. He was educated at the public schools, and Lewistown Academy, and also spent four years at Bolmar’s boarding school at West Chester, Pennsylvania. At the age of seventeen he was appointed to the engineer corps on the Pennsylvania railroad, with headquarters at Johnstown, New Florence, and Summer Hill. In 1852 he was transferred to the Philadelphia and Erie railroad, where he held the position of principal assistant engineer until 1859, when he resigned and engaged in the iron business at Sharon, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, under the firm name of Boyce & Rawle. On the 20th of December, 1860, he married Harriet G., daughter of Gen. Charles M. Reed, of Erie, Pennsylvania, and in 1862 he located in that city, where he resided until 1876. In 1868 he built a furnace at Erie, and also engaged in shipping coal on the lakes until 1870. In 1874 Mr. Rawle was elected mayor of the city of Erie, and filled that office for two consecutive terms, having no opposition for the second. In 1875 he was nominated and elected by the Republican party, State treasurer, and filled that position with credit until 1878. He purchased a home in Philadelphia in 1876, and resided in that city until 1884, and then removed to Williamsport, subsequently settling on the Fairfield farm of the Muncy Farms estate, where he has since resided. He still retains his interest in Sharon and in coal works in Butler county; he organized the Shenango & Allegheny railroad, of which he was president, and is a director in the Susquehanna Trust and Safe Deposit Company, of Williamsport. His wife died in 1869, leaving two daughters: Alice, wife of H.L. Geyelia of Delaware county, and Marion, wife of Thomas Paton of New York City. Mr. Rawle was again married, in 1890, to Mrs. Encie M. Herdic, widow of Peter Herdic, and a daughter of the late Hon. John W. Maynard. Mr. and Mrs. Rawle are members of the Protestant Episcopal church of Montoursville, in which body he holds the office of vestryman.

History of Lycoming County, Pa 1892