Lawrence McCully

Lawrence McCully (May 28, 1831 – April 10, 1892) was an American lawyer, businessman, politician, and judge, who served as a justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court and Speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives.

Early life, education, and career McCully, son of Charles McCully, was born in New York City on May 28, 1831. About two years later his father moved to Oswego, New York, and he was educated at Courtlandt Academy in Homer, New York. He entered Yale College at the beginning of his sophomore year, and graduated Yale in 1852. Having taught for several months for a family in New Orleans, and for a year in Kentucky, he then formed a plan of settling in the Hawaiian Islands, where he arrived in December, 1854. The introductions which he brought secured him an appointment as Police Justice of the Hilo district, which he held from Sept. 1, 1855, until his resignation on April 1, 1857. He then bought land and set out an orange orchard at Kona, Hawaii, but in 1858 moved to Honolulu, where he began the study of law in the office of Chief Justice Charles Coffin Harris. He gained admission to the bar in March, 1859. On November 5, 1881, he was promoted to First Associate Justice, which role also included duties as Vice Chancellor.