A. C. RARICK, one of the old and honored pioneers of Clarke
County, is a native of Darke County, Ohio, born April 12, 1833, a son of Philip
and Sarah (Chenoweth) Rarick. The father was a native of Pennsylvania, a son of
Philip R., Sr. and Susan (Hikeswell) Rarick, who were among the first pioneers
of Darke County, Ohio, locating in that county about the year 1818. They were
the parents of thirteen children. Ten children were born to Philip and Sarah
Rarick of whom our subject is the eldest. Eight of the children still survive –
A. C., Isaac, Jacob, Adam, Charles W., Ira O, Susan and Caroline. David and
Catherine are deceased. A. C. spent his
youth in assisting on the farm, and in attending the district schools. In 1851
he went with his father’s family to Jay County, Indiana, remaining there four
years, completing his education in a college of that county. In the fall of 1855 he started for Iowa,
being about thirty days on the way. He first located in Knox Township, Clarke
County, where he pre-empted a claim in the fall of 1856, proving 160 acres the
following fall, which he still owns. He
was married September 7, 1859, to Mary Hunt born in Virginia, but at the time
of her marriage a resident of Clarke County, Iowa, a daughter of James and
Sarah (Garretson) Hunt. Of the eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. Rarick only
four are living – Monroe, Allen, Alice and Eva. Those deceased are – Sarah,
Sherman, Lydia and Charlie. Mr. Rarick
enlisted in the late war, in July, 1861, a member of Company [F], Sixth Iowa
Infantry, and participated in the battles of Shiloh, Jackson, Mississippi, and
siege of Vicksburg. He was wounded in the neck, being struck by a piece of
shell. During the war he was promoted to Second Lieutenant, but resigned this
position August 2, 1863, and returned to his home in Clarke County. In 1864 he was appointed postmaster, holding
that office one year. Mr. Rarick has met with success in his farming and
stock-raising, and is now the owner of 240 acres of well-improved land under a
good state of cultivation. He was appointed deputy surveyor in 1858, and in
1859 was elected county surveyor, and held the same office till 1861, when he
resigned that he might go to the defense of his country’s flag. He is a member
of the Grand Army of the Republic, belonging to Leslie Post, No. 189. Both Mr.
and Mrs. Rarick are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are
numbered among the best citizens of Knox Township. In politics Mr. Rarick is a
Greenbacker.
SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Record of Clarke
County, Iowa, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1886 p. 377
