This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Raber, Rostovfer, Chamberlin,
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Ik.2ADE/147
Message Board Post:
This book has no cover, and no index, and no author. I bought it on Ebay; it just has the
insides, but it is full of Indiana biographies. I am not researching this family, just
thought I would share. I do not know anymore about these families or these surnames. NOTE:
I don’t know if there is any additional mention of this family in the book, it has no
index. I do not want to sell this book. I am typing the biographies from it.
Typed by Lora Radiches:
Surnames in this biography are: Raber, Rostovfer, Chamberlin,
R. FRANK Raber has significantly proved his eligibility and efficiency in offices of
public trust, has served as county recorder of Whitley County and is now holding the
office of county auditor, in which position he is giving a characteristically loyal and
effective administration. He is a native son of this county and here has inviolable place
in popular confidence and esteem, as shown by his election to the offices mentioned, the
while he has standing as one of the progressive citizens of Columbia City, the county
seat. Mr. Raber was born on the parental home farm in Jefferson Township, Whitley County,
and the date of his nativity was February 22, 1870, he having been the eighth in a family
of nine children of Samuel and Elizabeth (Rostovfer) Raber, the former of whom was born
near Berne, Switzerland, May 6, 1827, and the latter of whom was born and reared in Ohio,
where their marriage was solemnized, in Auglaize County, and when they came to Indiana and
established resi!
dence in Whitley County in 1850. Samuel Raber was reared and educated in his native land
and was a youth of about seventeen years when he thence came to the United States, in
1844, he having passed about two years in Pennsylvania and then having removed to Auglaize
County, Ohio whence he came with his wife to Indiana in 1850, as previously noted. Mr.
Raber was long numbered among the substantial farmers and highly honored citizens of
Whitley County and here he passed the closing period of his life at Columbia City, where
he died in 1904, his wife having passed away in the year 1900. R. Frank Raber was reared
to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and his early education was acquired in the
rural district school. He later was a student in the preparatory department of what is now
Valparaiso University, at Valparaiso, this state, and he made a record of two years of
successful service as a teacher in the rural schools of his native county. During the
ensuing three years he !
was again associated actively with farm enterprise, and in 1898, as candidate on the
Democratic ticket, he was elected county recorder. He retained this office four years, and
upon his retirement there from he engaged in the abstract business in Columbia City. To
this line of enterprise he continued to give his attention until 1926, when he was elected
county auditor, the duties of which office he assumed January 1, 1927. He is giving a
careful and well-ordered administration and is one of the popular officials at the court-
house in Columbia City. Mr. Raber has ever given loyal allegiance to the
Democratic Party, has been influential in its councils and campaign activities in his
native county, and he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church in their
home city. August 16, 1896, marked the marriage of Mr. Raber to Miss Lusette Chamberlin,
who likewise was born in Whitley County, on the 26th of October, 1875, and who is a
daughter of the late Joshua C!
hamberlin, who served as treasurer of Whitley County a short time, he having been the
incumbent of this office at the time of his death, in 1889. Mr. Chamberlin was born near
Lancaster, Perry County, Ohio, and was long numbered among the representative farmers in
Whitley County, Indiana. His wife was a representative of one of the pioneer families of
Indiana, whither the first members came from the old home in Virginia, and a distant
kinsman was General Winfield Scott. Mary Frances, only child of Mr. and Mrs. Raber, was
born March 3, 1905, and after completing her studies in the Columbia City High School she
was a student two years in Earlham College, at Richmond, this state. She next entered
DePauw University, at Greencastle, and in that institution she was graduated as a member
of the class of 1927 and with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. She was a high-school
teacher one year and in 1929 she took a special post-graduate course in Manchester
College. She taught one year at!
Scott Center, Indiana, and is now in her father’s office.