George Hussey Earle Sr.

George Hussey Earle Sr. (December 8, 1823 – June 18, 1907) was a prominent Philadelphia lawyer. As an abolitionist, he represented many fugitive slaves. He was one of the founders of the Republican party.

Biography Born a "free Quaker" in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Thomas Earle and Mary Hussey, Earle was an eighth-generation descendant of Pilgrim John Howland. The August 1907 issue of Law Notes states that Earle was a "personal friend" of Abraham Lincoln, and "the oldest surviving delegate to the first Republican National Convention that nominated Fremont for the presidency."

He worked at the Baldwin Locomotive Works, and was apprenticed to Matthias Baldwin for a time. He was a delegate to the "Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Eastern District" around 1844, Earle "possessed an abhorrence for slavery [and] voluntarily gave his services to the cause of the fugitive slaves." In April 1859 he was retained by local abolitionists to represent Daniel [Webster] Dangerfield, a case which gained nationwide attention because "it was one of the first judicial decisions dealing with the interpretation of the Fugitive Slave Law." Dangerfield was released due to insufficient proof of his slavery.

He was a leading pioneer in the legal battle against the Fugitive Slave Laws. dedicated to ending bossism politics in Philadelphia in the late 1800s. Primarily made up of Independent Republicans "seeking to reform the management of the Republican party," the Committee was influential in the election of Democrat Samuel G. King as Philadelphia mayor.

Earle died on 18 June 1907. His funeral was held at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Edward Hine Johnson (Frances Van Leer Earle Johnson). His remains are interred at Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Works about George Hussey Earle Sr. (1907) , a poem by his daughter Florence Earle Coates

Notable ancestors and descendants Pliny Earle I, inventor (Grandfather) Thomas Earle, abolitionist, lawyer, philanthropist (Father) Caroline Earle White, philanthropist and anti-vivisection activist (Sister) Florence Van Leer Earle Coates, poet (Daughter) George Howard Earle Jr., lawyer & businessman (Son) George Howard Earle III, Governor of Pennsylvania, 1935-39 (Grandson) Ralph Earle II, U. S. Ambassador (Great-grandson)