Biographical Sketch of John Rodman PAUL; Philadelphia Co., PA

Contributed to the PAGenWeb Archives by Diana Smith 
[christillavalley@comcast.net] 

Copyright.  All Rights Reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm
*********************************************************


"Philadelphia, A History of the City and its People; A Record of 225 Years"
Publisher:  S. H. Clark; Philadelphia; 1912.     Vol. 3, page 23
Author, Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer
 
 
JOHN RODMAN PAUL
     John Rodman Paul, engaged in the practice of law in the civil courts, 
specializing in the field of admiralty practice, was bom in Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania. August 6, 1852, a son of Dr. John Rodman and Elizabeth Duffield 
(Neill) Paul. He is a representative of some of the oldest and most 
distinguished families of Philadelphia. His father, who was born in this city in 
1802, was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with first honors of the 
class of 1820. He studied medicine under Dr. Joseph Parish and received his M. 
D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1823. After three years' travel 
abroad, during which period he gave considerable time to the
study of medicine in Europe, he located for practice in Philadelphia, where he 
followed his profession until his retirement in 1844. He was afterward connected 
with the management of many important financial and philanthropic institutions 
of Philadelphia. He was for forty years treasurer of the College of Physicians, 
was a director or trustee of the Willis Hospital for Eye Diseases, of the 
University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Savings Fund, the Philadelphia 
Contributionship for Insurance and the Bank of Commerce. He was also inspector 
of city prisons and. following his election in 1844, served for a term in the 
city council, acting as chairman of the committee having in charge the erection 
of Girard College. On the 6th of October, 1828, Dr. Paul was married to 
Elizabeth Duffield Neill, a daughter of Dr. Henry Neill, an eminent physician of 
Philadelphia, and Martha Rutter (Duffield) Neill.  Mrs. Paul died January 18, 
1866, at the age of fifty-seven years, and Dr. Paul passed away on the 13th of 
October, 1877.
     The youngest surviving child of this union, John Rodman Paul, was educated 
in private schools of Philadelphia and in the University of Pennsylvania, from 
which he was graduated A. B. in 1872 and A. M. in 1875. He studied law in the 
office of Judge Robert N. Willson, where he was a fellow student of Richard C. 
Dale. Admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1875 he became associated in 
practice with the late George W. Biddle in the firm of Biddle & Ward of which he 
afterward became senior member. Since 1910 the firm name has been Biddle, Paul & 
Jayne. He has continued in the general practice of civil law, giving special 
attention, however, to admiralty practice and is solicitor for the International 
Mercantile Marine Company, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the Pennsylvania 
Hospital. He is likewise identified with a number of interests of a public and 
semi-public character, being a director of the Philadelphia Savings Fund, the 
Philadelphia Contributionship and the Drexel Institute; trustee of the Drexel 
estate and treasurer of the University Extension Society and identified with 
various other public institutions.  In the strict path of his profession he is 
known because of his authorship of Digest of Acts and Decisions Relating to 
Passenger Railways, 1884, and numerous papers on various legal subjects.
      Mr Paul is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the 
Pennsylvania Historical Society, the Wistar Party, the Phi Beta Kappa, the 
Society of the Colonial Wars and the Rittenhouse, University, Pennsylvania, City 
and Philadelphia Cricket Cubs. In religious faith he is an Episcopalian and in 
politics an independent republican. He was one of the organized members of  the 
City Park Association, the pioneer organization in the movement for civic 
embellishment in the way of city parks and squares, which brought about a  
change of thought in the city councils and accomplished much of benefit for  
Philadelphia.  He succeeded Richard Vaux as president in 1892 and held  that 
office until he resigned in 1907, since which time he has been vice president  
He was the organizer of the Philadelphia College Settlement, the first social 
settlement established in this city. He acted as chairman of its executive 
committee until it was incorporated, since which time he has been president. His 
residence is at No. 903 Pine street, his office at No. 505 Chestnut street.