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Kinyon Digital Library

History of Adair
County, Iowa, 1915.

Biographical.  Volume 2.

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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.

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