My great grandfather Frederick Henry Rasa (1873-1937) has been on my mind a lot lately. He was a farmer, entrepreneur, stock-raiser, store owner, bank and telephone company founder, and first-generation American. His parents, Friedrich A.W.L.F. (1846-1929) and Wilhelmina Brandt (1852-1927) Rasa, were born in Germany and immigrated with their parents to the new world. Fred and his eleven siblings were surrounded by family for their entire lives. Born on the family farm outside the small town of Florence, Missouri, Fred likely planned to be a life-long farmer, but fate took his first wife, Elizabeth Schupp during the birth of their second child in 1900. In December of the following year, he married Caroline Tieman (1875-1969) and moved into the Town of Florence.
Florence sits at the intersection of two state highways, Hwy JJ (the Butterfield Trail) and Hwy 135. During my lifetime Florence has had a general store, a feed store, a restaurant/saloon, two churches and a range of small businesses. I have spent countless hours researching Florence and its citizens over the last few months. Using FamilySearch.org’s full text search, I have come to understand many of the circumstances of life in this small town during its first one hundred years, from its early days in the 1830s to the challenges of the Great Depression. I’m working on writing many of the stories from Florence as well as sharing on my YouTube Channel the riches I’ve discovered in Morgan County land records. I’m in the process of editing my first sessions now so they will be available soon!
I think Grandpa Fred will appreciate the sharing of his town’s stories. While Fred was a successful businessman, his life was not without tragedy or the inevitable business wins and losses. We had seen so many land transactions bearing his name, that it was a bit of a shock to see him take a sizeable loan to buy land, only to lose it a few years later. I picture him as always on the move. He was certainly an early adapter of new things, including owning one of the first automobiles in town. I doubt he “retired” as it seems he was involved in business nearly until his death in October 1937. Fred didn’t get to see Florence make it through the Depression, but he did see his daughter Roma and son-in-law Carl Siegel running a successful general store across the street from where he had done the same decades earlier. I have written about his role in Florence’s Bank here. Recent deed research has resulted in “dividends” including the discovery that Fred and his mercantile partner C.C. Lemke owned the lot where the Bank of Florence was built. Fred was on the Board of Directors and President of the Bank (1922-1926).
The Rasa home in Florence had been built in 1879 for the local potter, J.M. Hummel. The property on Main Street included the pottery factory. Roma remembered the house she was raised in was heated by two stoves made from pottery tiles that had been used as kilns to create the earthenware. The Rasa home was known for town social events including dances and movies. The large two-story house was razed in 1976, three years before its 100th anniversary. Several reminders of Fred Rasa’s life remain including his store and the bank buildings, as well as the German Evangelical church his family attended. Florence is still alive and kicking and I’m sure Fred is pleased to see part of his legacy lives on.