Charles Wesley Rarick, MD
The art of healing is as old as man, but it has been given to
moderns to penetrate into the mysteries of Divinity and comprehend that much
that once was accounted criminal and depraved is but the outcome of ill health,
and should be treated carefully as such. The modern physician .must have a
welltrained and well developed mind and nervous system, which can come only by
conforming to the laws of health and by familiarity with the facts that are
demonstrated by science and not through the influence of the metaphysical
theories of the present time. Darke county, Ohio,
has always given an earnest support to its regular practitioners, and one who
has won a well merited distinction in his learned profession is Dr. Charles
Wesley Rarick, of 11 Public Square, Greenville, Ohio. He was born in Darke
county,
Ohio,
December 9, 1843,
a son of Philip and Sarah (Chenoweth) Rarick, and grandson of Philip and Susanna
(Mikesell) Rarick, and John and Betsy (Foster) Chenoweth.
The American founder of the Rarick family was Conrad Rarick,
born in Germany
in 1722, who came to America
in
1749 and died at
Gettysburg,
Ohio, in 1790, being buried in the
cemetery at that place. Among his children was Henry Rarick, who was the
great-grandfather of Doctor Rarick. Philip Rarick,
St.,
grandfather of Doctor Rarick, and son of Henry Rarick, was born in
Pennsylvania
and his wife was a native of the same State, where they married, later coming to
Ohio, settling first in
Montgomery
county, but subsequently settled in Darke
county at a time when it was still under pioneer
conditions, with which they had to contend. He served the American cause during
the War of 1812, and did his full duty as a soldier, and carried his sense of
obligation to his country into his after life, never losing it, and transmitting
his patriotism to his children. The farm he secured from the government was
located six miles west of Greenville
in Washington
township, and this he cleared and developed, no easy task in those days when the
major portion of the land was covered with a dense growth. This property is now
owned by Boyce Eidson. On it he died, but his wife passed away at Deerfield, Ind.,
each being seventy-two years old. They had thirteen children, as follows:
Christina, Jacob, Daniel, Elizabeth,
Philip, Catherine, John, Susanna, Andrew, Nancy, Levi, and two who died in
childhood. The maternal side of Doctor Rarick's family is traced still further
back than his paternal ancestors, for John Chenoweth, his great-great-greatgrandfather
came to the colonies in the historic Mayflower. John Chenoweth had a son,
Arthur, whose son Thomas was the greatgrandfather of Doctor Rarick, and his son,
John, was the grandfather. The latter, born in Ohio, married an Ohioan
and they located in Washington
township, Darke county, on a farm in 1818, he
having rendered efficient service during the War of 1812 by fighting against the
enemy of his country. As he was born December 23, 1785, and died in 1871, and she
was born July 16, 1789,
and died in 1875, they were both about eighty-six years old at the time of
death. Thirteen children were born to them, all of whom attained to maturity,
they being as follows: Thomas F., Joseph F., Sarah, Casandra, Mary, Benjamin L.,
Richard P., John F., Rebecca, Isaac S. and Jacob L. (twins), James P., and
Rachel A.
Philip Rarick, Jr., son of Philip Rarick, Sr., and father of
Doctor Rarick, was born in
Pennsylvania, while his wife was born in
Ohio. He came to Darke county,
the latter State, with his parents when ten years old, in 1818, and grew
to manhood in Washington township, developing into a farmer
and becoming very successful in his chosen calling. He
cleared and developed a farm in that township, and later became the owner of 280
acres in Pike township, Jay county, Indiana,
and cleared 120 acres of it, his first property
being located in Darke county,
Ohio, and his second in
Jay county. His death occurred in the latter
county in 1886,
when he was seventy-eight years old. His first wife, mother of Dr. Rarick, died
in 1863, aged fifty-one years, having borne him ten children, namely: Abraham
C., who died at the age of seventy-four years; Isaac X., who lived in
Jay county, Indiana, until
October 6, 1913; Jacob J., who is deceased; Adam C., who is deceased; Dr.
Charles W., whose name heads this review; Ira O., who is deceased; Susanna B.,
who is the wife of Charles Morehouse, resides six miles east of Portland, Ind.;
Caroline, who is the wife of Samuel S. Roberts, of Mitchell, Neb.; Catherine,
who died at the age of sixteen years; and David, who died at the age of six
months. After the death of his first wife, Philip Rarick married (second) Mary
Vail and they had no children. She died, and he married (third) Isabel Watson
and they had five children, namely: Elsie, who is the wife of Harvey Green;
Rosa, who married John Thorp; Clara, who married Burleigh Wall; Cora, who
married a Mr. Carbaugh, and after his death she married (second) Philip Saxman;
and John A., who was the youngest child. Dr. Charles W. Rarick was only seven
years old when the family migrated to Jay county,
Indiana, and he grew up in the latter locality
upon his father's farm, he assisting in the operation of clearing 120 acres of
land. He attended the old fashioned district schools of his day and locality.
With the breaking out of the Civil war, he felt the call to arms, and responding
enlisted in Company H. One Hundredth
Indiana
volunteer infantry, served for three years,
principally in the Fifteenth army corps, as a private. He was in the battles of Vicksburg, Jackson, Missionary Ridge,
the Atlanta
campaign, March to the Sea, and that up through the
Carolinas, and his regiment participated in the Grand Review at Washington, being in the advance of Sherman's army. Returning
home, ne resumed his studies, attending school for fourteen months at Liberty, and still later
went to Marietta College, from which he was graduated in
1874 with the degrees of A. B. and A. M., in 1877. Taking up he study of
medicine, he was graduated with the degree of M. D. at Cincinnati, Ohio,
in 1883, having paid his way through college by his own work. In 1883 he located
at Greenville, Ohio, in an office over the Farmers' National
Bank, where he can still be found, having occupied these same quarters for over
thirty years. His home is on a farm just west of Greenville, and he finds recreation in
directing its operation, the property comprising 160 acres of finely improved
land.
On March 10, 1880, Doctor Rarick was married to
Miss Ella J. Griffin, a daughter of David and Mary (Conover) Griffin, and they have one son, Harry G. The
latter took a high school course at
Greenville, supplementing it with one at a commercial
college, and then for seven years he was a clerk in a bank, but he is now
engaged in farming in Greenville township, just outside the
corporate limits of Greenville.
Harry G. Rarick married Bertha Baldwin, of Dayton, Ohio,
and they have a son, Robert Griffin Rarick, born December 5, 1913. Doctor Rarick and wife are
consistent members of the Presbyterian Church, which finds in them generous
supporters. Dr. Rarick is a genial comrade of Jobes Post, G. A. R., of Greenville. In political
faith, Doctor Rarick is a Republican, but although repeatedly urged to accept of
office, has refused the honor as his practice and his private affairs have fully
occupied his time and attention.
Mrs. Rarick was born in
Montgomery
county,
Ohio, but was brought to Darke
county, Ohio, with her parents when only five years
old. The family located in Greenville
township, where she grew to womanhood, and there she still resides. Her father
was born in Ohio,
and his wife in New Jersey,
but they died in Darke
County, Ohio, he at the age of eighty-four years, and
she when ninety-four years old. They had eight children, two of whom grew to
womanhood: Mrs. Rarick, and Mrs. L. E. Jones.
Source-
History of Darke
County,
Ohio, from its earliest settlement
to the present ... By Frazer Ells Wilson, Hobart Publishing
Com pg 128
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