According to David McNeely Stauffer in his American Engravers upon Copper and Steel, vol. 1 (1907), "In 1813 Ralph Rawdon was engraving in a very crude manner in Cheshire, Conn.; he was associated in this work with Thomas Kensett, the father of the American artist. About 1816 Rawdon removed to Albany, N. Y., where he engraved stipple portraits over his own name, and with his brother and with A. Willard he was in the bank-note and general engraving business in that city."

 

Rawdon was born December 19, 1793, to Erastus and Lucy (Lathrop) Rawdon of Tolland, Connecticut. He became a well-known banknote engraver and upon moving to around 1815 or 1816, he formed the banknote company of Balch, Rawdon & Co. His later partnership of Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Co. eventually became part of the American Bank Note Company of New York.

 

See Americana Illustrated, vol. XVI, no. 3 (July 1922), pp. 268, 269.