Women In My Family History: Part 9

Elizabeth Bair Rairigh

1789-1868

Elizabeth Bair was referred to as a "Southern Lady"  in the biography of her husband that is contained in the book "Two Centuries Of the Church Of The Brethren In Western Pennsylvania 1751-1950".  I have never been able to locate who her parents were.  Bair is a common name with many spelling variations and,  is often the case,  the women in family histories are poorly documented.  I am not quite sure when she married her husband George Rairigh but the first child that I have for them was a son named Samuel who was born in 1816.  George and Elizabeth had a farm in  Cowanshock Township, Armstrong County Pennsylvania.  On the map above of Pennsylvania,  Armstrong County is red.  On their farm,  George and Elizabeth  had a log house, a log barn and six children.  As if that was not hard enough on Elizabeth,  George decided he was "called"  to be a circuit rider preacher.  Since he could not read she taught him to read German so he could read aloud the scripture text. And when his congregations requested he read in English she taught him to read in English too. He traveled his circuit some on horseback but mostly he had to walk it so it took him 26 weeks.  It was up to Elizabeth to manage the farm while he was gone.  I chose to honor Elizabeth in this blog series because she amazes me that she would be so supportive of her husband in something that would cost her so much sacrifice and hard work.  It makes me wonder if there was any way she could have put her foot down or if she had no choice.   My mother's maiden name was Rairigh so this is a direct line of mine.  My mother's father was Loyd Rairigh,  his father was William Harvey Rairigh,  his father was James Quinter Rairigh,  and his father was Samuel Rairigh.  Elizabeth and George were Samuel's parents.  Since George died at age 63,  Elizabeth went to live with Samuel and died in his home in Darke County Ohio in 1868.  I was unable to find a good video on the area of Pennsylvania that is west central.  But I did find a couple of excellent ones on the Pennsylvania Dutch community that is located in South Eastern Pennsylvania.  This is the same group that some of the members migrated on west to where Elizabeth and George were.  I am sure there farm was much more humble than the ones on the video but the culture would be similar.  Please enjoy the videos and view the photos of the  book that has the biography of George.