Biographical Sketch of J. S. Raber, Johnson County, Missouri,
Rose Hill Township.

>From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell,
Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918.
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J. S. Raber, an enterprising and well to do farmer and stockman of Rose
Hill township, is a member of a widely known pioneer family of Missouri.
He was born in Hickory county, Missouri in 1865, son of Daniel and 
Susanna (Nofzinger) Raber.  The father was born in Baden, Germany, May
2, 1825 and when about eleven years of age came to America and located
in Ohio, where he grew to manhood and became a successful and prosper-
ous farmer.  Susanna (Nofzinger) Raber was one of the family of 
Nofzingers who emigrated from Germany in 1846 and settled in Ohio.  In
1859, the rabers moved from Ohio to Missouri and located in Hickory
county, where at one time Mr. Raber owned nearly seven hundred acres of
land and was extensively engaged in farming and stock raising.  He sold
his farm in Hickory county in 1890 and moved to Johnson county and 
settled on a farm in Rose Hill township, after residing a few years on
a place near Holden.  Mr. Raber and his son, S. W. Raber, bought a farm
in Rose Hill township one mile south of Medford, where he lived until
his death, October 24, 1905.  A year later the mother went to Ohio to
visit two daughters and one son and died at the home of her daughter,
Mrs. Josie Rychner at Pettisville, Ohio in March, 1917.  Her body was
brought back to Missouri and laid to rest by the side of the father's 
in the Mennonite cemetery.  They were the parents of ten children, 
seven of whom are now living.  S. W. Raber, a capable and influential 
farmer and stockman of Rose Hill township, of whom a sketch appears
elsewhere in this volume, is a brother of J. S. Raber, the subject of
this review.  In 1888, J. S. Raber came to Johnson county with a capi-
tal of fourteen dollars and forty cents, with which to begin business.
He and his brother, D. B. Raber formed a partnership and engaged in 
farming rented land for several years.  J. S. Raber invested fifty
cents in a plow, three dollars in a cultivator, and two dollars and 
sixty cents in a set of harness.  He had remaining of his original fund
but eight dollars and thirty cents, which he spent for feed.  It was
absolutely necessary that he have good crops that first year, and he 
did.  In the course of time, by practicing rigid economy and constant
industry, J. S. Raber began to prosper and to accumulate property.  In
1901, he purchased 120 acres of land in Rose Hill township, upon which
he built the ensuing year a comfortable, modern residence of eight 
rooms, supplied with hot and cold water, furnace, gasoline lights, and
all the latest conveniences.  The home is surrounded by large, beauti-
ful trees and a well kept lawn and is one of the attractive country
places in the township.  Forty acres of the Raber farm are in grass and
meadow and this season, of 1917, fifty-five acres were in corn.  Mr.
Raber raises Duroc Jersey hogs and is just beginning to handle white 
face cattle.  He owns six mares and is engaged in breeding mule colts.
He makes it a point to raise enough feed for the stock that he has.  He
is a progressive, intelligent agriculturist and is working hard to 
build up the fertility of his land by crop rotation and fertilization.
In 1915, J. S. Raber and Ellen S. Yoder were united in marriage.  Mrs.
Raber is a daughter of Levi and Susanna Yoder, a sketch of whom appears
elsewhere in this volume.  By a former marriage with Laura Slabach, in
1893, J. S. Raber is the father of two children: Nellie Marie and Ralph
D.  Their mother died in 1912.  For many years, Mr. Raber has been a 
member of the school board and a township committeeman.  He is affilia-
ted with the Republican party.  Mr. Raber is a worthy member of the
Methodist church, of which he has been a valued steward, trustee, and 
at one time Sunday School Superintendent.  The Raber family is consid-
ered one of the best and most highly regarded families in Rose Hill
township.

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