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 a founder 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. Earle became involved in the anti-slavery movement when he opposed the riot which resulted in the burning to the ground of Pennsylvania Hall in 1838. He was a delegate to the "Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Eastern District" around 1844, and was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar on 27 January 1845. 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." Lucretia Mott, a cousin of Earle's mother Mary Hussey Earle, sat beside Dangerfield during the trial. Dangerfield was released due to insufficient proof of his slavery.