WILLIAM RUCKER.
It is a source of pleasure to the biographer, who approaches his work with personal interest, to trace, if he can, the effects of early environment upon the life and conduct of the subject of his inquiry. Often it will be found that events and circumstances, which at the time of their occurrence may have seemed trivial and unimportant, have had a strong influence in shaping the tastes or activities of after life. Both heredity and environment unquestionably play a large part in the lives of men and women, and while scientists are trying to determine which is the more potent of the two factors, the student of biography may derive some pleasure from tracing the law in his own field of observation, even if only very hastily. In the present case, this law is quite marked. A man is found prominent in the social, educational and intellectual life of a certain community, entering joyfully into any enterprise that will benefit his county. Going back one generation, it is learned that his father was a school teacher, practically giving his services to the children he loved, a very public-spirited man. The mother also was an intelligent, amiable woman, careful unto the ways of her household. Here, altruism in the parents was handed down to bless succeeding generations.
William Rucker, now a well-known retired farmer of Audubon county, was born on September 6, 1852, in Rockingham county, Virginia. the son of Benjamin Franklin and Sarah (Herndon) Rucker, both natives of Virginia. Benjamin F. Rucker was finely educated, held many offices of trust and of a public nature, and was very widely known in eastern Virginia. He taught school and music, teaching in what was known as "the old subscription school" of three months, and receiving pay on the basis of one dollar and twenty-five cents each for as many as seventy-five pupils during this length of term. Some of his pupils were as old as their teacher, and some showed their appreciation of these educational advantages by going ten and fifteen miles to school. The senior Rucker was very fond of the hunt, and thought a great deal of horses. He was much interested in politics and at the outbreak of the Civil War was ranked as a Douglas Democrat. Although a Southerner by birth, he was opposed to slavery and used his influence and energies to keep Virginia in the Union. In his later years, he was a retail merchant.
To Benjamin and Sarah (Herndon) Rucker were born ten children, the eldest of whom was William, the subject of this biography. The three children following him died early in life. James, the fourth child, was a farmer in Audubon county, Iowa, for twenty years, and is living now in Pope county, Minnesota. Walter, a farmer, has returned to the state of his grandfather, and lives in Rockingham county, Virginia. James is a railroad conductor on the Norfolk and Western railway at Shenandoah, Page county, Virginia. George died in infancy. Mary Susan, is the widow of Charles Osborn, who was master mechanic on the North Western railroad, and now lives at Shepardstown, West Virginia.
Most of the early schooling which William Rucker received was obtained through his father, and early in life he began working away from home, in an iron foundry in Page county, Virginia, where he was employed for two and one-half years, after which he went to McDonough county, Illinois, where he farmed from the year 1870 to the year 1881, in which latter year he came to this county and engaged in the same occupation. In 1892 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Greeley township, to which he later added one hundred and twenty acres, living on this property until 1907, in which year he sold out and moved to Audubon, where he lived for two years, during thirteen months of which time he was a brakeman on the Burlington railroad between Rock Island and St. Louis.
On December 29, 1887, William Rucker was married to Fannie Carper, of Warren county, Iowa, the daughter of W. R. and Laura (Turner) Carper, the former a native of Berkley county, West Virginia, and the latter of Ohio. W. R. Carper was a farmer and auctioneer, who died on February 20, 1914, His wife died on December 18, 1890. Mrs. Rucker is the eldest of the eight children born to W. R. Carper and wife, the others being Maggie, widow of W. H. Stearns of Leroy township, this county; B. F., a farmer in Tripp county. South Dakota; James, a baker in Audubon, this county; Eva, who married Everett Bates of Howard county. South Dakota; Burile, a chef in Chillicothe, Ohio; Robert, a dentist living in Maxwell, Iowa, and Alma who passed away in infancy.
For twenty-six years William Rucker was actively engaged in farming in Audubon county and was considered one of the best farmers in the vicinity. He raised Shorthorn cattle, Poland China hogs and a fine grade of horses. His business ability is shown by the fact that land which he bought for twenty-seven dollars an acre, he afterwards sold for one hundred and five dollars an acre, he having spent about eight thousand dollars for improvements, these including a splendid grove and orchard. His attractive modern ten-room home in Audubon, where he is now living in comfortable retirement, was built six years ago, and its appearance is much enhanced by the large yard surrounding it, this consisting of four adjoining lots.
The two eldest daughters in the family of eight children born to William and Fannie (Carper) Rucker are away from home, Edith being employed in Wilkin's department store in Des Moines, Iowa, and Ethel, who is the wife of Robert McKinney, a lumberman, living at Logan, Iowa. The remaining children, Lola, Mary, Sadie, William, Charles and Dorothea, are at home.
While Mr. and Mrs. Rucker have been content to work hard, and climb the ladder of success by degrees, they have not allowed family and personal interests to usurp all of their time or interest. Any movement that meant benefit to the county, they have loyally supported, and have given both of time and means to the betterment of the community. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that they have many friends. They are both genial and likeable and are held in high esteem by all who know them.
Mr. Rucker has always kept informed on the leading events of the day, and is a man who would be considered well-read in any society. He has been deeply interested in politics, as a Democrat, has been a school treasurer for manv years, and a justice of the peace and road supervisor.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 452-454.
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