SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

John Rawling, Page 239

JOHN RAWLING, of No. 1204 Beech Street, is a veteran of the War of the Rebellion, and is a native of England, born in Cambridgeshire July 28, 1838.  He is a son of William and Eleanor (Robinson) Rawling, also natives of the shire of Cambridge.  William Rawling was a farmer by occupation.  In 1849 the family, consisting of parents and five children, one son and four daughters, emigrated to the United States.  An elder son, William, came previous to that time, but died of cholera in New Orleans.

    The Rawling family landed in New York, and settled in the town of Smithfield, Madison County, State of New York, where the parents spent the remainder of their lives.  The father died November 11, 1853, at the age of fifty-one years, his birth occurring November 11, 1804.  A rather remarkable fact connected with him was that his marriage and death occurred on his birthday.  The wife and mother died February 28, 1865.  Her birth occurred in 1806.  The family they brought with them to this country are all living except the eldest daughter, Esther Ann, who died, leaving one daughter.  John is the second in order of birth of the five; the third is Mary, wife of Charles Chamberlain, of Chicago; Eleanor is the wife of Butterfield Wilson, of Utica, N. Y., and the youngest is Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Latimer, of Willard, Seneca County, N. Y.

    John Rawling, who was reared to the life of a farmer, was brought up on the home farm in the State of New York.  On April 5, 1857, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Giles, a daughter of Daniel and Harriet (McCoy) Giles.  The former was born in Washington County, Md., October 23, 1809.  The latter was also a native of Maryland.  Mrs. Rawling was born in Franklin County, Pa., March 11, 1836.  She went to the State of New York with friends, and there met her future husband.

    Mr. Rawling enlisted in the service of his country on the 28th of August, 1862, in Company F, One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Regiment New York Infantry.  He enlisted for three years, but was discharged a few months before the close of the war.  In the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Olustee (Fla.) he took part.  From the effects of army life he has never recovered, his health having been quite badly broken while in the service, and from this he will probably never fully recover.  When he enlisted in the army he left at home his wife and three small children, the eldest being but five years old, and the youngest an infant of about eight weeks.  Mrs. Rawling cared for her family of little ones, her husband's widowed mother, and also the youngest sister of her husband, who was then an invalid, while Mr. Rawling was in the service of his country; and thus it was that the women of the country did their duty in those sad and gloomy days.  In 1871 Mr. Rawling came to Sheboygan County.  After a residence of fours in Sheboygan Falls he came to Sheboygan.  His occupation since the war has generally been as a railroad employe.

    Mr. and Mrs. Rawling have three children, two sons and a daughter, namely:  Harriet, wife of Dr. E. W. Lamoreaux, of Battle Creek, Mich.; John W., of Sheboygan, and Edward Thomas, of the same city.  Their eldest child, Eleanor, married Wallace Whitcomb, and died April 16, 1877, at the age of nineteen years, leaving a young son, Wallace Scott Whitcomb, now of Milwaukee.

    Mr. Rawling was a good soldier in the war for the preservation of the Union.  He and his wife are faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are respected by all who know them.  They have a pleasant home, in which they hope to spend the remainder of their lives.