Greenbrier County, West Virginia         Biography of BURKE ANDREW RAPP

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History of Greenbrier County 
J. R. Cole 
Lewisburg, WV 1917 
p. 262-264

BURKE ANDREW RAPP.

Benjamin C. Rapp, of Pocahontas county, was the grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch. He distinguished his career in that county as a teacher and also 
as a farmer. Valentine S. Rapp, his son, was horn in Greenbrier county, 
October 21, 1830, and died at his home near Renick on March 9, 1917.  He 
lived at 'Little Levels," in Pocahontas county, before the Civil war, but 
moved back to Greenbrier in i866. He was a soldier in the cavalry commanded 
by Capt. William L. McNeel and served in the Confederate army as a 
blacksmith, having enlisted in 1861.
About the year 1854 he married Miss Sarah Hayes White, of this county, and 
from this union came nine children, eight of whom are still living in this 
county. He and his family were members of the Presbyterian church.
Burke Andrew Rapp was born September 7, 1869. As one of the influential 
citizens of the Upper Greenbrier his career as a teacher, farmer, merchant 
and progresssive agriculturist has already given him an honorable standing 
among men of affairs in this part of the State. Inured to hardships, he has 
worked his way from a country hoy on the farm and from a common school 
education, supplemented by a term at Lewisburg, under the instruction of the 
Rev. J. M. Sloan and of James Rucker at Williamsburg, this county, to a 
self-made man, in lead of agricultural pursuits in particular. From 1888 he 
taught school in the Falling Spring district and in other places until 1913, 
his success as a teacher both in the school room and in institute work having 
been pronounced a success. In the meantime his career as a farmer has kept 
pace with his educational one.
On November 30, 1893, Mr. Rapp celebrated the day as a Thanksgiving one very 
appropriately by taking unto himself Miss Mary J. Jameson for a wife.  She 
was the daughter of David Jameson, a Confederate soldier in the late war 
between the States, a farmer and a man of much business ability. Thomas 
Jameson, the grandfather, was a hatter in Frankford.
Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rapp, a girl and a boy. Vera, the 
daughter, first saw the light of day October 10, 1894, and her young life 
went out while in pursuit of an education at the Lewisburg Seminary on March 
17, 1910, at the bright young age of sixteen. David Stuart, the second child, 
is at home. The mother died June 2, 1896.
On February 9, 1898, Mr. Rapp was married to Ruth Jameson, and life on the 
old homestead farm was resumed. She was a sister of his first wife and is 
still living.
On July I, 1917, Mr. Rapp went into partnership with his brother, Doke B. 
Rapp, in commercial pursuits. A store was es-tablished in Renick on borrowed 
capital, but money was lost in order to satisfy creditors and the business, 
in time, was abandoned.
In February, 1913, Mr. Rapp took the civil service examination and became 
postmaster of Renick on May 15th, the same year, a position which he still 
holds. On June 28, 1917, when the United States was forced into the war with 
Germany, he bought a Liberty bond of $100 to show his patriotism, while his 
son, David, being twenty-one years of age. registered as a soldier.  That was 
on June 5th and was his bit in the cause of democracy.
As an agriculturist Mr. Rapp has been honored with the presi-dency of the 
Greenbrier Farm Bureau, a position well earned by his having taken the 
initiative for the establishment of that bureau. He was the first farmer in 
Upper Greenbrier to build a silo and his bureau was the first to employ a 
county agent.
Mr. Rapp is a member of the Falling Spring Grange. He is also president of 
the Greenbrier Farm and Loan Association. As a breeder of fine stock he 
confines his attention to Guernsey cattle, of which he has a number on his 
Riverside farm.
Mr. Rapp belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. He has taken the third 
degree in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge, and as a Christian is 
identified by his eldership in the Spring Creek Presbyterian Church