Carroll County IAGenWeb

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY IOWA

A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement

VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912

Transcribed and donated by Vance Tigges & Kathy Weaver.

A prosperous and highly regarded citizen of Union township is Solomon Raygor, who owns a fine homestead of ninety acres on section 2. His birth occurred in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, on the 30th of September, 1835, his parents being Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Rodocker) Raygor, who were also natives of the Keystone state. To them were born two sons, Solomon and Thomas. Mrs. Raygor passed away in 1837, and for his second wife he chose Miss Catharine Schrawger, who bore the following children: Jacob, Sarah, Elizabeth, Susan, James, Bella, Oliver, Joseph, Nathaniel, and one who died in infancy. The father who was a shoemaker, followed his trade for many years in connection with agricultural pursuits. He passed away in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1891, at the age of seventy-nine, having survived his wife for about six years. The paternal grandparents were Thomas and Elizabeth (Leasee) Raygor, who spent their entire lives in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. Thomas Raygor, who was sixty-five years of age at the time of his death, was a veteran of the war of 1812, and his father, Peter Raygor, of the Revolutionary war. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Raygor were the parents of three children: Nathaniel, Joseph and Thomas. The maternal grandparents were John and Elizabeth (Rocker) Rodocker, who spent their entire lives in the Keystone state where he engaged in farming. They lived to a ripe old age and were the parents of a large family, among whose members were: Samuel, John and Elizabeth.

The entire life of Solomon Raygor has been spent on a farm. He was reared in Fayette and Westmoreland counties, Pennsylvania, his education being obtained in the district schools in the vicinity of his father's homestead. He was early trained in the work about the home, and by the time he had mastered the rudiments of the common branches he could till the fields and care for the crops. Terminating his studies, he worked in the factories for a time, remaining a member of the parental household until he was married, following which he engaged in farming. Accompanied by his wife and children he moved to Iowa in 1861, locating in the vicinity of Salem, Henry county, where he farmed as a renter for nineteen years. During this period he acquired the capital to buy forty-five acres of land in Union township upon which he settled. The cultivation of his farm proved so profitable that he has added to the same until he now owns ninety acres of excellent land, well improved and in a high state of cultivation.

On the 22d of October, 1857, Mr. Raygor was united in marriage to Miss Rosanna Grim, a daughter of John and Nancy (Sample) Grim. Mrs. Raygor was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of February, 1839. Her parents, both of whom were natives of the Keystone state, had ten children: Mary Ann, Elizabeth, Margaret, Joseph, Nancy, John, Rosanna, Catharine, David and Charlotte. Mrs. Grim passed away in Salem, Iowa, in 1875, at the age of seventy-two. For his second wife Mr. Grim chose Miss Alice Chamberlin, and of the five children born to them four attained maturity: Samuel, George, Belmont and Grover. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Raygor were Ezekiel and Elizabeth (McBride) Sample.

To Mr. and Mrs. Raygor there were born eight children. Nancy Catharine, the eldest of the family, died at the age of three months. Mary married James Flatt, of Spirit Lake, Iowa, and they have three children surviving: Frank, Fred and Elizabeth. Joseph, who lives in the vicinity of Wilton, North Dakota, married Ida Sapp and they have five children: Ralph, Lylah, Otha, Warren and Arnold. Savvanah, who lives in Coon Rapids, Iowa, married Otha Blanchard, and they have three children: Ethel, May and Frank. John, who is living in Rugby, North Dakota, married Ida Cooley and they have eight children: Vernie, Winnie, Harold, Blanche, Mabel, Emerson, Ida Belle and Albert. Nathaniel, who married Mrs. May Thomas, the widow of Wesley Thomas, is living in Union township. Celia, who passed away at the age of twenty-five was unmarried. Thomas Albert, who is the youngest member of the family, is living at home with his parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Raygor affiliate with the Friends church, while politically he is independent. He has always been progressive and public-spirited in matters of citizenship, and served for several terms as supervisor and also as school director. While residing in Henry county he was secretary of the board of independent school directors. During the thirty years of his residence in Union township Mr. Raygor has impressed all those with whom he has come in contact as a man who is loyal in all of his relations of life, trustworthy and reliable.

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