Gravestone - Henry H. Raph
born - March 17, 1834
died - Aug 12, 1914, age 80 years
We can conclude that the year of birth of 1837 in the biographical sketch for Henry H. Raph was an error as his grave stone has 1834 which matches the birth/baptism record.
Rapp/Reeb Family of Northampton County, Pennsylvania
and Dane County Wisconsin
Henry Harrison Raph of Pipestone County, Minnesota, provided information about his life which was used in writing a biographical sketch which was published in 1889. He tells of the story of the death of both his parents, David and Margaret (Ruggles) Raph, and the scattering of their orphaned children. This is the sort of story which we always hope can be investigated further through location of primary sources, such that "the rest of the story" of Henry's extended family can be accurately told.
The obituary for Adam Rape [Rebh] of Bethlehem, Northampton County, Pennsylvania identifies his parents as David and Margaret (Rockel) Rape. It appears that Adam Rape and Henry Harrison Raph were brothers.
Once a reasonable hypothesis can be developed as to the likely identity of Henry's siblings, we would hope to be able to find sufficient evidence to provide "proof" of accuracy. In this case, that tool was genetic genealogy.
Baptismal Records from ___ Church in Northampton County, Pennsylvania for Henry Harisson Reb and Samuel Reb, sons of David and Margaret Reb. [Note the German surname spelled as "Reb" or "Reeb" was often spelled by English speakers as "Rape." Then it was often further modified to Rapp, or Raph.
Henry Harrison Reb, born 15 March 1834, baptized 22 June 1834
Samuel Reb, born 7 November 1836, baptized 28 January 1837
At the time of the 1850 U.S. Census (20 August 1850-5 September 1850) the following information was collected by Royal Buck, Ass't Marshal.
- Henry Rape, age 16, born in Pennsylvania, was living in household of Edgar Jones in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin
- Samuel Rape, age 12, born in Pennsylvania, was living in household of R.W. Salisbury in Greenfield, Dane County, Wisconsin
These two boys certainly seem to fit the church records from Northampton County, Pennsylvania as well as the story told by Henry Harrison Raph about the death of his parents sometime after the family had removed to Dane County, Wisconsin. Now we can begin to look for the other siblings of Henry and Samuel.