|
(Farmer
and stock – raiser, Post office, Duncan’s Bridge)
From beyond the poetic and vine-clad waters of the Rhine, celebrated
in song and story from time out of mind for the scenes of noble
courage and grand achievement, and of happy loves and gentle wooing
they have witnessed, came George Rauk, the subject of this sketch.
He was born in the land of the Nibelungen Lied, January 6, 1835, and
was a son of Erkwein and Eve (Modt) Rauk, whose families had been
settled in Germany since before the time that Caesar attempted to
conquer the brave spirits of her dark forests. Young Rauk was reared
in the noble fatherland and in 1853 shipped for the New World on
this side the mad-capped waters of the Atlantic. He landed in New
York and continued in the Empire State for two years. He then
migrated across the blue-mist peaks of the Alleghanies, and over the
sea-like valleys of the Ohio, to the distant shores of Lake
Michigan, settling on the rich, luscatine soil of Wisconsin, where
he remained pursuing the rural labors of Cincinnatus for five years.
From the land of the wolverines he came to Missouri, and settled in
Monroe County, where he has since resided.
Here he has followed farming and has been known as one of the
industrious, hard-working men of the township, respected by all for
his honesty and industry. During the late war he served for some
time in the militia. On the 20th of January, 1869, he was
married to Miss Betsey Baird, a daughter of Thomas Baird of ancient
Caldeonia. They have no children. Mr. and Mrs. Rauk are members of
the M.E. Church. Mr. Rauk is one of the sterling, substantial,
enterprising farmers and stockraisers of this part of the country, a
man progressive and liberal in his ideas and of marked intelligence,
one of the useful and valuable citizens of his community. Such men
develop a country and add more to its prosperity and advancement
than a score of inactive, inert men, who sit around and grumble at
the seasons, the soil, the markers, and their bad luck, instead of
going to work and accomplishing something for themselves, their
family and the prosperity of the country.
Source: From the files of Neil Block, transcribed by Lisa Perry;
newspaper article titled “History of Monroe County, Reprinted
from an 1884 history of Monroe County, which (provides) early
anecdotes and names of many early settlers.” From: MONROE
COUNTY APPEAL, Paris, Mo., Thursday, February 24, 1972, Page 7,
Section 2.
|
