George P. Raney

Who was George P. Raney?

George Pettus Raney was a Florida lawyer and a Democratic politician who served on the Florida Supreme Court from 1885 to 1894. He served as the first Florida native Chief Justice from 1889 to 1894. He was born October 11, 1845. He fought for the South in the Civil War. He served in the Florida Legislature and served two terms as Florida Attorney General from 1877 to 1885. He was one of the founders of the Florida Historical Society. He died January 8, 1911.

Raney was born in Apalachicola, Florida on October 11, 1845. He was the son of David Greenway and Harriet Frances Raney. Raney was tutored as a child. He left the University of Virginia to become serve in the Confederate States Army, and worked his way up through the ranks to Serjeant Major. After the war ended, he returned to school. He passed the Bar in 1867 and opened a legal practice in Apalachicola. On November 4, 1873, he married Mary Elizabeth Lamar, the niece of United States Supreme Court Justice Lucius Q. C. Lamar.

The following year, the voters of Franklin County elected him to the House of Representatives, where he served on the judiciary committee.