ASBURY DENHAM RATER

RATER, ROMANS, FRANKLIN, COVERT, SMITH, ELSWORTH, STAGGS

Posted By: Nancee Seifert (email)
Date: 8/26/2008 at 16:34:26

#11045: History of Adair county, Iowa, and Its
People. Lucian M. Kilburn, supervising editor.
Chicago: The Pioneer Publishing Company, 1915. 2v.

Asbury Denham Rater. The home farm of Asbury
Denham Rater is on section 26, Walnut
township. He was born in Marion County, Iowa,
August 16, 1863, a son of Daniel and Sarah Anthus
(Romans) Rater. The father was born in Indiana
and was of German lineage, while the mother, who
was born in Kentucky, represented an old American
family. Daniel Rater was reared to the
occupation of farming and prior to the Civil war
removed westward to Marion county, Iowa, where he
began the work of tilling the soil, there
residing until 1865, when he went to Jasper
county, Iowa, where he purchased land and carried
on farming until he retired from active
business. At that date he removed to Reasnor,
Iowa, where he continued to make his home until
he was called to his final rest on the 6th of
June, 1904. His widow also passed away there on
the 10th of May, 1910. Asbury Denham Rater was
reared as a farm boy, attending the district
schools and assisting in the work of the home
place. Ambition led him to start out in the
world for himself and he made his way to Rawlins
county, Kansas, where he homesteaded a farm and
resided thereon for five years. He then returned
to Jasper county, Iowa, where he rented land for
two years, after which he spent a similar period
in the Sunflower state. He next went to
Oklahoma, where he lived for six years, engaged
in the cultivation of school land which he
leased. In 1900 he again became a resident of
Jasper county, but in 1901 established his home
in Adair county. For two years he rented a farm
in Summit township and then went to Guthrie
county, Iowa, where he rented for a year. In
1905 he became a resident of Walnut township,
Adair county, and in 1911 purchased the eighty
acre tract of land whereon he now makes his home,
the place being situated on section 26, Walnut
township. He devotes all of his time to farming
and stock-raising and breeds a good grade of
stock. On the 28th of January, 1885, Mr. Rater
married Miss Ida Elizabeth Franklin, a daughter
of Andrew J. and Catharine (Covert)
Franklin. The father was born in Van Buren
county, Iowa, and is of French descent. The
mother’s ancestry was strictly American through
several generations. She died when Mrs. Rater,
the oldest of the four children, was but seven
years of age. Mr. Franklin was a farmer and for
years engaged in the tilling of the soil in Iowa
and Nebraska, but now makes his home upon a farm
in Oklahoma. To Mr. and Mrs. Rater have been born
seven children, but the eldest, Jessie Pearl, who
was born January 28, 1886, died on the 7th of
February of that year. The second daughter,
Ethel Victoria, born April 14, 1887, is the wife
of Elmer Sherman Smith, a resident farmer of
Walnut township, and they have two children,
Howard Leslie and Verle Elsworth. Lulu Anthus,
born April 10, 1889, is the wife of George
Franklin Smith, a resident farmer of Walnut
township, and they have one child, Boyd
Franklin. Ollie Alvin, born August 5, 1891,
married Alma Staggs, and is a resident farmer of
Walnut township. Virgil Asbury, born December
26, 1895, Daniel Arthur, born March 24, 1902, and
Ida Evelyn, born June 16, 1904, are at home. Mr.
Rater operates the home place with the aid of his
sons and is one of the highly respected farmers
of Walnut township. He has ever placed character
above success and yet in his business affairs has
been actuated by a laudable ambition that has
stimulated him to put forth his best efforts to secure advancement.