Rebecca Warner Rawle Shoemaker

Rebecca Warner Rawle Shoemaker (1730–1819) was an American woman whose journals provide insight into the issues of her day. She built the Randolph Mansion in Laurel Hill at a time when few women built mansions. The house continues to be occupied. Early life Rebecca Warner Rawle Shoemaker (1730–1819) Her family moved to Philadelphia to follow their Quaker religion, Philadelphia was then the center of Quaker life. Rebecca married Francis Rawle. They lived in what became known as the Randolph Mansion in east Fairmount Park. Rebecca and Rawle had three children, Anna, William, and Margaret, but Rawle died in a shooting accident in 1761. Rebecca then married Samuel Shoemaker. He was born and raised in Philadelphia and would later become mayor of Philadelphia. He would also lead the Loyalist cause against the colonial revolutionaries. After Samuel fled to England to avoid arrest, the family home (called "Laurel Hill") was seized and sold at auction.