RATHBUN, John C.

History of Northern Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical, 1881, p 164

John C. RATHBUN, Alma [Buffalo County, Wisconsin], County Superintendent of 
Schools, was born 19 December 1854 in New Haven [New Haven County], 
Connecticut. When he was two years old his parents removed to Wisconsin, and 
their first location was in Gilmanton, Buffalo County. His father, C. W. 
RATHBUN, was one of the first settlers of that town. [C. W. is said in some 
sources to have settled in Gilmanton in 1856, but if John C. was two, then C. 
W. more likely settled there in 1857, unless he came in late December of 
1856.] Mr. RATHBUN's early life was spent on his father's farm, and in 
winter attending school. In 1872 he went to Madison [Dane County, Wisconsin] 
and attended the State University, and graduated in the summer of 1877. In 
the same fall he was elected County Superintendent of Schools, and in 1879 
was re-elected. [John C. RATHBUN succeeded the first superintendent of 
schools, Lawrence KESSINGER. For additional information on Lawrence 
KESSINGER, see his Buffalo County, Wisconsin biography. The part of this 
text dealing briefly with the history of Buffalo County schools calls both 
men "efficient and lifelong educators who did much, in their management of 
the school system of the county, to elevate the standard of scholarship."]

In 1878 he [John Chauncey RATHBUN] married Libbie GOLDENBERGER, a native of 
Boston [Suffolk County, Massachusetts]. They have one child, Chauncy B. 
[This family is enumerated in the 1880 census of Alma, Buffalo County, 
Wisconsin: John C. RATHBUN, twenty-five, school superintendent, born in 
Connecticut, about 1855 by his census age, to a father born in Connecticut 
and a mother born in Wales; Elisabeth ("Libbie" of the biography), 
twenty-four, born in Massachusetts, about 1856, to parents who were both born 
in Switzerland; Chauncey, age ten months, born in Wisconsin, father born in 
Connecticut and mother in Massachusetts; Lillie T. GRACE, nineteen, teacher, 
unrelated to John C. RATHBUN, born in Wisconsin; and Mary McKAY, twenty-five, 
teacher, also unrelated to John, born in New York to parents both in 
Ireland.]

[In the 1880 census of Gilmanton, Buffalo County, Wisconsin, is the family of 
Chauncey RATHBUN, likely related to the subject: Chauncey, forty-seven, 
farmer, born in Connecticut, about 1833 by his census age, to parents also 
born there; his wife, Mary RATHBUN, his wife, also forty-seven; and his two 
daughters: (1) Minnie E. RATHBUN, seventeen; and (2) Inez N. RATHBUN, 
fourteen. A son-in-law of Chauncey's also resides in the household: Alfred 
MINER, twenty eight, farmer, born in Wisconsin to parents born in Vermont; 
and two other individuals unrelated to Chauncey: William CLARK, sixteen, 
laborer; and Curtis GUMBERT, nine. Is Chaucey RATHBUN, also born in 
Connecticut and bearing the given name Chauncey, related to John C. RATHBUN 
of the biography? Bracketed material added by submitter (who is not 
researching these surnames) to support and clarify information given in the 
biography and to raise questions.]

Submitted by Cathy Kubly