William Henry Rhawn (Philadelphia, PA)
William Henry Rhawn (September 12, 1832 – June 27, 1898)
Biography
- Name: William Henry Rhawn
- Birth: September 12, 1832; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Death: June 27, 1898; Fox Chase, Pennsylvania
Early life and family
William Henry Rhawn was born in Philadelphia, September 12, 1832. He attended public and private schools in Philadelphia, taking special courses in mathematics, for which he manifested peculiar aptitude. His first business experience was in a country store in the suburban village of Fox Chase. Prior to this, however, he had done the work on a farm which falls to a hardy boy, and thus early in his career had learned to respect labor and sympathize with the laborer. Being ambitious and exceptionally handy with tools, he took a fancy to learn carpentry, which was then a distinct trade, vastly different from what it had become, as the carpenter of those days was really an expert wood worker, and did not acquire merely a special part of the work. Mr. Rhawn then lived with the master to whom he was apprenticed, and having access to a fine library, devoured and mastered much of the art and mystery of the trade. Not content with this, he studied the mixing and application of paints, his taste directing him to the more artistic work of a painter, and he soon became skillful in sign work, having an eye sensitive to proportion and to mental measurement, which is a requisite to proficiency in this trade. The close confinement of sign painting did not agree with him, nor did it furnish sufficient occupation for an unusually active brain, and it was not long before he returned to the general store at Fox Chase, where he became a partner with his father under the firm name of George W. Rhawn & Son. Before attaining his majority he was both married and a member of the business firm.
He married Esther Elmira "Hettie" Brown, a daughter of Jesse Brown of Bustleton, Pennsylvania. She was a great-grand daughter of John Knowles. Children included: Alice Rhawn Studebaker, married Clement Studebaker, Jr., president of the North American Light and Power Co. and son of Clement Studebaker, one of the original five Studebaker brothers, wagon and automobile manufacturers of South Bend, Indiana.
Banking career
At the age of 24, Mr. Rhawn had aspirations which could not be gratified in the narrow circle of village life, and he left home determined to obtain a position in a Philadelphia bank. While seeking this he accepted a temporary situation without pay as entry clerk in the wholesale dry goods store of Smith, Murphy & Co., and shortly afterwards became bookkeeper and cashier for the American Baptist Publication Society. In April. 1857, his wish was gratified by securing a temporary appointment in the Philadelphia Bank to fill the place of clerks while absent upon their vacation. Only a few months elapsed before he was given a permanent clerkship and thus obtained his first experience during the great financial panic of that year. He served the bank nearly seven years in almost every capacity, and participated in the opening of the Philadelphia Clearing House in January 1858, making the first exchange for the Philadelphia Bank. In 1863, when chief accountant, he organized the "Runners' Exchange," a supplementary daily exchange peculiar to the Philadelphia Clearing House, which was still in active use for many decades. In entering the Philadelphia Bank, it was with the expressed determination of becoming the cashier of a bank within ten years. With the passage of the national bank act, in 1863, he boldly struck out for himself by organizing the Second National Bank in the suburb of Frankford, and became its cashier. He opened the first telegraph office in town, being the first bank officer of Philadelphia to introduce the electric wires behind his counters, and he was never since without them. While there he took an active part in the organization of the Central National Bank in 1864, writing the articles of association. In May 1866, he replaced Mr. Alexander Ervin, Jr., as cashier of the Central National Bank when Mr. Ervin was promoted to vice president.
In August, 1866, he retired from the Central National Bank to assume the presidency of the National Bank of the Republic. He had fitted himself for this position, and secured it within ten years from the time he left the village store, no small achievement for a young man of 34 in conservative Philadelphia. He also became vice-president of the National Exchange Bank, and consolidated it with the National Bank of the Republic in 1870. He was for several years vice-president of the Fame Fire Insurance Company. He was chairman of the committee charged with the reorganization, without the aid of a receiver, of the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad Company as the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad Company, and vice-president of the latter from 1877 to 1888. He was the founder and first president of the Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company in 1872. He was a member of the Union League during his residence in Philadelphia.
Other career highlights
For over ten years, Mr. Rhawn was warden of the Church of St. Matthias, and, as chairman of its Building Committee, superintended the erection of its beautiful church edifice completed in 1873, and raised a large part of the money to pay for it and its great organ. He was a vestryman of Trinity Church, Oxford, one of the oldest Episcopal churches of Philadelphia. He was a member of various learned societies, such the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, American Academy of Political and Social Science, American Society for the Extension of University Teaching, American Statistical Association, and also of the Indian Rights Association.
During the Civil War, Mr. Rhawn was anxious to go to the front and share the lot of the nation's defenders, but his business connections were such that he could not be spared. He did the next best thing, or perhaps a better thing, by actively interesting himself in the welfare of the soldiers. He was one of the organizers of the Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloon and the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon, twin institutions that sprang into existence with the earliest passage of the soldiers of the Union through Philadelphia in 1861. The beneficent ministrations of these were continued until the war closed, and it was estimated that upwards of one million of the nation's defenders had been refreshed, comforted, sustained and relieved. In this noble and self-sacrificing work of benevolent men and women, Mr. Rhawn engaged with patriotic fervor and labored on un-stintingly. His rural life caused him to become much interested in the improvement of country roads, and as chairman of the Kensington and Oxford Improvement Association, which he organized, he entered into a contest with the city authorities to secure better work upon the highways, in which he received the support of the press and the people, and which resulted in the revision of the specifications for such work, making them more in accordance with the requirements of scientific road building. Mr. Rhawn exerted his influence in other directions for the promotion of financial education. In connection with others, he instituted a course of lectures on finance which were delivered before large audiences under the auspices of the University Extension, which were given wide publicity.
Since the organization of the American Bankers' Association in 1876, Mr. Rhawn was an active member. He was in turn a member of its executive council, chairman in 1891 and 1892, and president in 1893.
In 1898 Mr. Rhawn was the candidate of the Municipal League for Receiver of Taxes, who was supported by independent Republicans and Democrats alike, being a non-partisan candidate. He was not successful, and it was said he didn't stand a ghost of a chance, as he was beaten by the Republican Party's candidate.
Later life and death
On June 27, 1898, William Henry Rhawn, the well-known banker and ex-president of the American Bankers' Association, died late in the night at Knowlton, his residence at Fox Chase, a suburb of Philadelphia, aged 66 years. Mr. Rhawn was connected with the banking business since his youth and was president of the Bank of the Republic, which went into liquidation the previous year. He left a widow, a son, Horace Rhawn, with the Fourth Street National Bank, a daughter, Mrs. Clement Studebaker of South Bend, Indiana, and his father, George A. Rhawn, who lived on a farm adjacent to Knowlton.
On July 1, 1898, the funeral services of the late William Henry Rhawn were held at Knowlton, his residence at Fox Chase. A large number of the deceased financier's friends were present, and the following acted as honorary pall-bearers: Henry F. West, Edward M. Needles, Benjamin Rowland, Joseph P. Mumford, Charles E. Pancoast, James M. Earle, J. Horace Harding, Henry W. Sharpless, Ellwood Johnson, Benjamin Allen, Robert Dornan, Henry C. Lippincott, David C. Nimlet, and Rush Rowland. William P. Drew, former Bank Examiner, paid a high tribute to Mr. Rhawn in a paper written in memoriam. The Interment, which was private, took place in the family lot at Cedar Hill Cemetery.
Bank Officer Summary
During his banking career, William H. Rhawn was involved with the following bank(s):
- The Philadelphia Bank: Clerk and Chief Accountant 1857-1863
- Second National Bank, Philadelphia, PA (Charter 213): Cashier 1864-1865
- Central National Bank, Philadelphia, PA (Charter 723): Cashier 1866
- NB of the Republic, Philadelphia, PA (Charter 1647): President 1867-1897
Sources
- William Henry Rhawn on Findagrave.com
- Banks & Bankers Historical Database (1782-1935)
- The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA, Sat., May 1, 1866.
- The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA, Tue., Jan. 4, 1898.
- The Times, Philadelphia, PA, Thu., Jan. 6, 1898
- The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA, Sun., Feb. 6, 1898.
- The Philadelphia Times, Philadelphia, PA, Wed., June 29, 1898.
- The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA, Wed., June 29, 1898.
- The Philadelphia Times, Philadelphia, PA, Sat., July 2, 1898.
- Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, Mon., Mar. 5, 1945.