Jackson County IL Archives Biographies.....Rapp, Isaac 1830 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 21, 2008, 6:51 pm

Author: George Washington Smith (1912)

   ISAAC RAPP. This venerable and well beloved citizen of Carbondale, who is the
oldest resident of the city, both by reason of the number of his years in age
and because of the length of time he has had his home here, has been elevated to
the rank of a patriarch by the esteem and affection of the people, who know no
better man now living among them, and have never known a better one anywhere.
They revere him for his high character, for his clean and upright life, for the
unyielding fidelity with which he has performed every duty in peace and war, and
for the conspicuous services he has rendered to the community as one of its
founders and most zealous practical workers for the promotion of its progress
and improvement.

   Mr. Rapp was born in Orange county, New York, on June 24, 1830, and in 1832
was taken by his parents to New York city, where they had decided to reside. He
grew to manhood in the great metropolis of the Western world and was educated in
its public schools. The circumstances of the family were such that he was
obliged to leave school at an early age and prepare himself for the practical
requirements of life in this busy sphere. So he was apprenticed to an architect
and house-joiner to acquire a thorough knowledge of the business. He devoted
himself particularly and with studious attention to the architectural part of
the business, which was of great interest to him and well adapted to his
distinctive bent of mind toward designing and construction work.

   When he had finished his training he became an architect and builder, and
began operations in New York city. On June 24, 1851, his twenty-first birth day,
he was married to Miss Georgiana Shaw, a native of the Island of Jersey,
England, but at the time of the marriage a resident of New York. With the
establishment of his domestic shrine Mr. Rapp found his long cherished desire
for a life in a freer and more open environment, and one more fruitful in
opportunities for a man without capital, intensifying year by year, until at
length it became irresistible.

   Accordingly, in 1856, five years after his marriage, he set his face in the
direction of the established "course of empire," the great West, determined to
become a part of its sweeping enterprise and strident progress. He moved to
Carbondale that year, and soon after his arrival was engaged by the late General
D. H. Brush to build him a residence. The manner in which he performed this task
gave him reputation and standing as a capable architect and builder, and he
found his services in great demand.

   But when the Civil war descended like a besom of destruction on the country,
he could not withstand the promptings of his patriotism, and in 1862 enlisted
for the defense of the Union in Company D, Eighty-first Illinois Volunteer
Infantry, as a private. He was at once elected second lieutenant of his company
and assigned to the commissary department on detailed duty. Notwithstanding this
assignment he participated in many engagements with the enemy, and saw active
service in the midst of unrolling columns on many a field of carnage, although
in none of the great battles of the war. His term of enlistment expired in 1863
and he was discharged at the end of it. He then returned to Carbondale and
resumed his occupation as a contractor and builder. The town was then in its
embryo, and he found plenty to do, as it was on the move and required homes for
the incoming population and business structures to provide for their wants in
trade. He erected many of the earlier houses in the city, and many outside of
its limits in various places in Southern Illinois. He put up a number of the
first buildings on the Southern Illinois Normal University grounds, and after
the disastrous fire which destroyed most of his work, and that of others, he was
the leading factor in building new and more ambitious structures to take the
place of the old ones.

   The course of the patriarch has led him beyond the four score years fixed by
the sacred writer as the limit of human life, and, in the nature of the case, is
nearly spent. But he is still hale and vigorous beyond many men much younger,
and the sunniness of his nature yet abides with him, even in larger measure than
ever, if that is possible. He reminds all who know him of some genial year,
hastening to its close without doubt, but with its seasons of warmth, and beauty
and fruitfulness not yet wholly spent. The people of Carbondale cherish the hope
that they may have him with them for many years more to brighten their lives and
keep before them the strong influence of his great ex> ample of usefulness and
upright manhood.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People, and its Principal
Interests

BY
George Washington Smith, M. A.
VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1912

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