{{Short description|United States senator from Utah}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Use American English|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Joseph L. Rawlins | image = Joseph Lafayette Rawlins.jpg | caption = Portrait {{circa|1880–1890}} | alt = A portrait of Rawlins in his 40s dressed in formal wear. | jr/sr = United States Senator | state = [[Utah]] | term_start = March 4, 1897 | term_end = March 3, 1903 | predecessor = [[Arthur Brown (Utah)|Arthur Brown]] | successor = [[Reed Smoot]] | office1 = Delegate to the<br />[[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br />from [[Utah Territory|Utah Territory's]] [[Utah Territory's at-large congressional district|at-large]] district | term_start1 = March 4, 1893 | term_end1 = March 3, 1895 | predecessor1 = [[John T. Caine]] | successor1 = [[Frank J. Cannon]] | birth_date = {{birth date|1850|3|28}} | birth_place = [[Millcreek, Utah|Millcreek]], [[State of Deseret|Provisional State of Deseret]], U.S. (now [[Utah]], U.S.) | death_date = {{death date and age|1926|5|24|1850|3|28}} | death_place = Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. | resting_place = [[Salt Lake City Cemetery]] | resting_place_coordinates = {{Coord|40|46|37.92|N|111|51|28.8|W|type:landmark|display=inline}} | party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] | parents = {{plainlist| * Joseph Sharp Rawlins<ref name="joseph-sharp-rawlins-lds-bio-db">{{Cite web | title = Joseph Sharp Rawlins | author = <!--Not stated--> | website = Church History Biographical Database | url = https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/chd/individual/joseph-sharp-rawlins-1823?lang=eng | publisher = The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | access-date = April 30, 2025 }}</ref> * Mary Frost<ref>{{Cite web | title = Mary Frost | author = <!--Not stated--> | website = Church History Biographical Database | url = https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/chd/individual/mary-frost-1827?timelineTab=all-events&lang=eng | publisher = The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | access-date = April 30, 2025 }}</ref> }} | spouse = Julia Elizabeth Davis | children = 7, including Brent, Leda, Athol, Alta, Josephine, Lara, Boyce<ref>{{Cite book | last = Jensen | first = Alta R. | date = 1956 | title = "The Unfavored Few" ; the Auto-Biography of Joseph L. Rawlins, Delegate to the U. S. Congress from the Territory of Utah, 1892, U. S. Senator from the State of Utah, 1897. 1956. | url = https://utah-primoprod.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=UUU_ALMA21222458650002001&context=L&vid=UTAH&lang=en_US | location = Palo Alto, California | publisher = Privately published | page = 61 | quote = I had erected a two-story house where the rest of my children were born. }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title = Joseph Lafayette Rawlins | author = <!--Not stated--> | website = Rawlins.org | url = http://www.rawlins.org/histories/rawlins_in_draper/rawlins_joseph_lafayette.html | access-date = April 28, 2025 | quote = Julia and Joseph were the parents of seven children }}</ref> | occupation = {{hlist|Politician, lawyer}} | education = [[University of Utah|University of Deseret]] (Utah)<br/> [[Indiana University Bloomington]] | signature = Signature of Joseph Lafayette Rawlins (1850–1926).png | signature_alt = Cursive signature of Joseph L. Rawlins, signed as "J. L. Rawlins". }}
'''Joseph Lafayette Rawlins''' (March 28, 1850{{spaced ndash}}May 24, 1926) was a delegate to the U.S. Congress<ref>{{Cite book | last = Whitney | first = Orson F. | author-link = Orson F. Whitney | date = October 1904 | title = History of Utah in Four Volumes. Vol IV. Biographical | url = https://archive.org/details/historyofutahcom04whit/page/678/mode/2up | location = Salt Lake City | publisher = George Q. Cannon & Sons Co. | volume = 4 | page = 678 | quote = Another new political period dawned on Utah with the election of Hon. Joseph L. Rawlins as Delegate to Congress. }}</ref> from [[Utah Territory]] and a [[United States Senate|senator]] from [[Utah]] after statehood was achieved.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Rawlins, Joseph Lafayette | author = <!--Not stated--> | website = [[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]] | url = https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/R000073 | access-date = April 28, 2025 | quote = a Delegate from the Territory of Utah and a Senator from Utah }}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last = Harrow |first = Joan R. |date = December 1973 |title = Joseph L. Rawlins Father of Utah Statehood |url = https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1603441 |degree = Master's |location = [[Salt Lake City]] |publisher = [[University of Utah]] |access-date = April 30, 2025 |quote = The 'flash' indicated the signing of the Statehood Proclamation. }}</ref>
==Biography== Rawlins was the youngest of three children born to Joseph Sharp Rawlins and Mary Frost. He was born in the [[State of Deseret|Provisional State of Deseret]] near present-day [[Millcreek, Utah]], about fifteen miles southeast of [[Salt Lake City]], [[Utah]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last = Harrow |first = Joan R. |date = 1976 |title = Joseph L. Rawlins Father of Utah Statehood |url = https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/uhq_volume44_1976_number1 |journal = Utah Historical Quarterly |volume = 44 |issue = 1 |page = 60 |doi = 10.2307/45059675 |jstor = 45059675 |access-date = 2025-04-28 |quote = It was there in a small adobe house ... that Joseph L. Rawlins was born. |url-access= subscription }}</ref> In 1852, the [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Latter-day Saint]] prophet [[Brigham Young]] directed Rawlins's father to settle in [[Draper, Utah|Draper]], Utah to farm. As prophet, Young had significant influence over the affairs of early Latter-day Saint settlers. Rawlins's father was often absent serving various missions at Young's request. He was first called in 1855 to the Elk Mountain Mission when Rawlins was four, leaving his mother, sisters, and himself to tend the farm.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last = Law |first = Wesley R. |date = July 1959 |title = Mormon Indian Missions – 1855 |url = https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5866&context=etd |degree = Master's of Science |location = [[Provo, Utah]] |publisher = [[Brigham Young University]] |page = 8 |access-date = May 7, 2025 |quote = The men called as missionaries were: ... Joseph S. Rawlins ... }}</ref><ref name="joseph-sharp-rawlins-lds-bio-db" /> His father's frequent absences at Brigham Young's request deeply challenged Rawlins's faith and started his disaffection from the church.<ref>Jensen, Alta R. (1956). The Unfavored Few. p. 7. "The interference of the Church with people’s lives had become particularly obnoxious to my mind."></ref>
The young Rawlins enjoyed learning and developed an interest in mathematics. However, his duties on the farm took precedence over schooling, especially when his father was away. Between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, his education did not exceed sixteen months.<ref>Jensen, Alta R. (1956). p. 26. "the actual time I attended school ... did not exceed sixteen months."</ref>
Rawlins began his university studies at the [[University of Utah|University of Deseret]], but could not continue after his first year due to lack of finances.<ref>Harrow, Joan R. (1976). p. 64. "the young scholar left in March 1869 for the university [of Deseret]"</ref> Later, he pursued a classical course at [[Indiana University Bloomington]].<ref>Harrow, Joan R. (1976). Father. p. 62. "Rawlins longed for the broader educational opportunities available outside the [Utah] territory. He chose Indiana University."</ref> He was a professor at the University of Deseret in Salt Lake City from 1873 to 1875. He then studied law; he was admitted to the bar in 1875, and he commenced practice in Salt Lake City.<ref>{{Cite book | date = 1913 | title = History of the Bench and Bar of Utah | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HBFLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA186 | location = [[Salt Lake City]], [[Utah]] | publisher = Interstate Press Association | page = 186 | quote = Admitted to the bar in Utah in 1874 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title = Jones Waldo, Attorneys. Est. 1875 | author = <!--Not stated--> | website = Jones Waldo | url = http://joneswaldo.com/ | access-date = April 30, 2025 | quote = Jones Waldo traces its roots to 1875, when it was founded by Joseph Lafayette Rawlins in Salt Lake City, Utah. }}</ref> Raised in [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), young Rawlins disliked the practice of [[plural marriage]] and was grateful that his father, Joseph Sharp Rawlins, resisted the pressure of the church to take a second wife. However, when the elder Rawlins did succumb to the wishes of the authorities, his son began questioning the principles and practices of the Latter-day Saints. By the time Rawlins returned to Utah after his first year at college, he was well on the way toward apostasy in his views, and by the time he became Salt Lake's city attorney, he considered himself no longer a member of the LDS Church. He never returned to the church.<ref>Jensen, Alta R. (1956). The Unfavored Few. p. 6. "the change in my own religious convictions ... at college, and how inevitably this apostasy ... must bring me into conflict with the Mormon Church."</ref>
Rawlins was elected as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] as Utah Territory's delegate to the [[Fifty-third Congress]] (March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1895). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress. After Utah achieved statehood in 1896, Rawlins was elected by the [[Utah State Legislature]] as a Democrat to the [[United States Senate]] and served from March 4, 1897, to March 3, 1903. He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election.<ref name=NYTUT>{{cite news | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | publication-date=January 21, 1903 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-reed-smoot-senator/142947503/ | title= Reed Smoot Senator | page=3 |place=Salt Lake, Utah |date=1903-01-20 |access-date=2024-03-08 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Afterwards, Rawlins continued the practice of law in Utah in partnership with [[Edgar A. Wedgwood]] and [[Samuel R. Thurman]].<ref>{{cite news |date=February 1, 1920 |title=Soldier-Lawyer of Utah is Dead |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52014695/soldier-lawyer/ |work=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]] |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |page=1 |ref={{sfnRef|"Soldier-Lawyer of Utah is Dead"}}}}</ref> In 1921, he withdrew from public life and active business, and he died in Salt Lake City. He is buried in [[Salt Lake City Cemetery]].
==See also== *[[Utah's congressional delegations#Delegates from Utah Territory|United States Congress Delegates from Utah Territory]]
==Citations== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://archivespace.lib.utah.edu/repositories/3/resources/2124 Joseph Lafayette Rawlins papers] at J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections at the University of Utah. *{{Internet Archive author |sname=Joseph Lafayette Rawlins}} *{{Find a Grave|8218002}} *{{commons category-inline|Joseph Lafayette Rawlins}} *[https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/about/KWVR-H1K Profile] on FamilySearch
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Utah Territory | type=Delegate | before=[[John T. Caine]] | after=[[Frank J. Cannon]] | years= 1893–1895}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box | state=Utah | class=1 | before=[[Arthur Brown (Utah senator)|Arthur Brown]] | after=[[Reed Smoot]] |alongside=[[Frank J. Cannon]], [[Thomas Kearns]] | years=1897–1903}} {{s-end}}
{{USSenUT}} {{UtahUSRepresenatives}} {{USCongRep-start | congresses=55th–57th [[United States Congress]]es | state=Utah}} {{USCongRep/UT/55}} {{USCongRep/UT/56}} {{USCongRep/UT/57}} {{USCongRep-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawlins, Joseph L.}} [[Category:1850 births]] [[Category:1926 deaths]] [[Category:Delegates to the United States House of Representatives from Utah Territory]] [[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Utah]] [[Category:Indiana University Bloomington alumni]] [[Category:University of Utah faculty]] [[Category:Utah Democrats]] [[Category:Burials at Salt Lake City Cemetery]] [[Category:Former Latter Day Saints]] [[Category:20th-century United States senators]] [[Category:19th-century United States senators]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]]