Elbert Olin Raymond Autobiography
Microfilm MS 10.03
Biography
Elbert Olin Raymond was born to Jepperson and Elizabeth Matilda (Robinson) Raymond in a one room log house in Attica, Ohio, on July 14, 1852. Four years later, Jepperson Raymond moved his family to Stark County, Illinois. Elbert Raymond attended school there, graduating from Hedding College in Abingtoh, Illinois. In 1876 he joined the Central Illinois Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
On Christmas Eve 1879, Raymond married Laura Elizabeth Scott originally from Hacketstown, New Jersey. Elbert and Laura raised a family of seven children, four of them born in Illinois, three in Kansas.
Raymond moved to Kansas in 1888. His motivations to move were that he had contracted pneumonia and his doctor suggested that he move to a drier climate, and one of his sisters had moved to Wilsey, Kansas.
Once in Kansas, Raymond first settled in a farm halfway between Wilsey and Delavan. The farm on which he settled was provided for him, as his congregations did not have the funds to provide an adequate salary. The churches in his circuit included Wilsey, Olive Branch Schoolhouse, Council Grove, Herington, Topeka, Overbrook, Havensville, Centralia, Westmoreland, Dunlap, Delavan, Mount Ida, Scranton and Highland.
Raymond’s career as a minister spanned forty-three years, from 1879 to 1922. He died on May 6, 1935, at the home of one of his sons in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Researchers looking for supplemental information on Raymond should also see the article entitled “Prairie Preacher,” by Robert S. Raymond, published in the autumn 1981 issue of Kansas History (v. 4, no. 3) , pp. 191-210.
Notes on This Microfilm Copy
This microfilm contains the Elbert Olin Raymond Autobiography in its entirety. The microfilm is a copy of a typed transcript from the original handwritten books, now in the possession of Raymond’s descendants. The typescript copy was donated to the Kansas State Historical Society in 1949 by Robert S. Raymond.
Additional Information for Researchers
Preferred Citation
Citations referring to this collection should include Elbert Olin Raymond Autobiography, Kansas State Historical Society microfilm MS 10.03.
Notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code)
The user is cautioned that the publication of the contents of this microfilm may be construed as constituting a violation of literary property rights. These rights are derived from the principle of common law, affirmed in the 1976 copyright act, that the writer of an unpublished letter or other manuscript has the sole right to publish the contents thereof for the duration of the copyright. Unless he or she affirmatively parts with that right, the right descends to his or her legal heirs regardless of the ownership of the physical manuscript itself. It is the responsibility of an author or his or her publisher to secure permission of the owner of literary rights in unpublished writing.
Prepared for microfilming by Robert A. McInnes
Date: 1995
