Draft:Elmer J. Rathbun

Elmer Jeremiah Rathbun (April 16, 1870 – December 21, 1952) was a justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court from 1919 to 1935.

Judge Elmer Jeremiah RATHBUN, - Genealogy.com

Early life, education, and career
He attended East Greenwich Academy.

"He graduated from Brown University in 1896 and Boston University School of Law in 1898. He represented West Greenwich in the Lower House of the Rhode Island General Assembly from 1897 until 1909. From 1899 until 1900 he served as the Clerk of the District Court of the Fourth District of Rhode Island."

"Elmer J. Rathbun was born in Coventry, R. I., April 16, 1870, a son of James and Melissa D. (Capwell) Rathbun. He obtained his preparatory education at East Greenwich Academy, R. I., and completed his classical courses at Brown University, receiving his Bachelor's degree with the class of '96.Having decided upon the profession of law as his life work, he entered Boston University School of Law, receiving his L.L. B, class of 1898, and the same year was admitted to the bar in Rhode Island. From 1897 to 1909 he represented the town of West Greenwich in the Lower House of the Rhode Island General Assembly, and from 1899 to 1900 he was clerk of the District Court of the Fourth Judicial District."

Judicial service
"In 1900 he was elected Justice of the District Court of the Fourth District of Rhode Island, a position in which he was to serve for nine years. Justice Rathbun was appointed an Associate Justice of the Superior Court on January 22, 1909, to a seat vacated by the elevation of Judge William H. Sweetland to the state supreme court."

"In 1900, he was elected justice of the same court, and held that office nine years, until 1909, then was chosen associate justice of the Superior Court of Rhode Island, his tenure of that office continuing until March 19, 1919, on which date he was elected an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island. Politically, he is a Republican."

In 1935, Democrats "threw out the entire Supreme Court", including Rathbun, with the removed justices receiving lifelong pensions.

Personal life and death
Rathbun married Virginia Stratton Pollock on August 9, 1914. She died in 1923.

Rathbun died at Jane Brown Hospital in Providence, at the age of 82. In his will, he endowed a substantial scholarship fund to Brown University, proceeds of which were the subject of a legal case decided in the late 1990s.