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John Benjamin Rahier
Jeremy Anderson2023-11-25T13:17:08-06:00
- Name: John Benjamin Rahier
- Location of Birth: Green Bay, Wisconsin
- Date of Birth: October 18, 1840
- Date of Death: July 3, 1927
- Parents: John Joseph Rahier & Anna Rahier
- High School and Class:
- College:
- Highest Rank: Pvt (Private)
- Branch: Navy
- Other Branch:
- Date Sworn In: November 26, 1863
- Place Sworn In: Green Bay, Wisconsin
- Date of Discharge: November 26, 1864
- Place of Discharge:
-
- Military Awards:
- Military Highlights:
When the Civil War broke out, John enlisted at Green Bay, Wisconsin and served until the close of the war. He was wounded in action three times, twice receiving bullet wounds above the heart and suffering a crippled hip from the bursting of a shell. The last wound crippled him permanently.
- Wars Involved:
Civil War
- MIA / POW:
- Civilian Life:
John Rahier moved to Annandale, Minnesota shortly after the close of the Civil War. He married Mary Maurice in 1867 in Annandale and the couple had seventeen children. From 1873 to 1875, the Rahier family made a trip from Minnesota to Texas, traveling in a covered wagon. On this trip two more children were born, one in Texas and one on the return trip through Missouri. John's first wife died in 1891 and in 1896 he was married to Mrs. Selina Nikefaro. The couple had two children.
In 1903, John Rahier homesteaded near Effie, Minnesota where he lived until the time of his death. Taking up the burdens of the pioneer, he did his full share of transforming the forest lands into fertile fields. His name has always been prominently connected with the development of the region near Effie.
John died in Effie, Minnesota and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Annandale, Minnesota. He is survived by his wife, Selina; twelve children; a brother, Robert Rahier; two sisters, Susan Kamhoot and Mary McDonald; thirty-three grandchildren and thirty-four great-grandchildren.
Information from a news article in the Grand Rapids Herald Review, dated November 12, 2023; written by Chris Marcotte:
Effie - 1902
John Rahier was born in Wisconsin in 1840. On November 26, 1863, he enlisted in the United States Navy and was discharged in December the following year. After the war, he moved to Wright County, Minnesota, married Mary Maurice and raised a family of fifteen children. Mary died four months after the birth of their last child in 1891. John married Celina Bastian in 1896 and fathered three more children.
In 1902 Rahier, his wife, and a good number of his children moved to the community of Effie where land was available to homestead. When he applied for a pension in 1915, he explained his injuries. "In swinging a nine inch gun, the gun slipped and ruptured my left gland and bruised a hip at the same time which has been with me ever since - and also at Alexander Lusa, on the Red River, the Mound City went aground hitching a tug to her, the wratchet [rachet] slipped and wounded nine of us and broke my collar bone which was never set back." [Civil War Veterans of Itasca County by Robert Anderson]
Rahier died in 1924 at the age of 86 in Bigfork and was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Annandale, Wright County, Minnesota.
- Tribal Affiliation(s):
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