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A. C. Raines is a son of Asa and Rebecca (McMahon) Raines, and was born
in Tennessee, October 20, 1844. He attended the common schools, and when
but seventeen years of age enlisted in Company H, Twelfth Tennessee Cavalry,
and rose to the rank of orderly sergeant. He was in many important battles
and served until the final surrender. His company surrendered in North
Carolina in May, 1865. He returned home and October 11, 1865, married Mollie
E. Thompson, who died November 24, 1871, having borne four children: Joseph
Forrest, Thomas M., Nander W. and Alice O. (deceased). December 24, 1872,
Mr. Raines married Ann T. Thompson, sister of his first wife and daughter
of Hugh M. and Jane E. Thompson. To them were born four children: Mary
O., William D., Elijah C. and Sallie Ann (deceased). This wife died December
8, 1880, and July 12, 1885, he took for his third wife Martha L., daughter
of James M. and Elizabeth Dunlap. Since his first marriage Mr. Raines has
resided on his present farm of seventy-two acres. He is a Democrat. Asa
Raines, father of our subject, is a son of Stephen and Margaret (Williams)
Raines, and was born in Stewart County, Tenn., in 1811. Stephen Raines
was born in Virginia in 1766, and his father, John Raines, was born in
England and came to the United States prior to the Revolutionary war, locating
in Virginia, and served in that conflict. Stephen Raines went to North
Carolina at the age of twenty-five where he married Mary Rory, and after
her death married Margaret Williams. About 1828 he took up his permanent
residence in Tennessee, and located on the farm where his son Asa now lives.
He died in his ninety-sixth year. His wife was born in Virginia in 1775,
and died in 1824. Asa Raines only attended school about nine months during
his life, but possessing a remarkable memory and being very observing,
he became a well-informed and intelligent man. In January, 1833, he married
Rebecca McMahon, who was of Irish ancestry, and by her became the father
of four sons and four daughters, three of the daughters of whom are deceased.
Those living are Erasmus B., Asa C., William Z., Albert and Rebecca E.
Since 1828 Asa Raines has been a resident of the farm of 107 acres on which
he now resides. Mrs. Raines was born in Alabama, May 28, 1812, and died
January 22, 1876. August 19, 1876, he married Martha L. Reeves. Mr. Raines
is a Democrat, and for over fifty-six years has been a deacon in the Primitive
Baptist Church. His present wife was born in North Carolina in 1845, and
is a member of the same church as her husband.
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