William Thomas Rawleigh

W.T. Rawleigh was born on the family farm, near Mineral Point, Wisconsin, on December 3, 1870. As the oldest of a family of three boys and four girls born to Charles David and Sarah Malinda Rawleigh, it was necessary for Rawleigh to take on adult responsibilities at a young age in order to help provide income beyond the daily chores that a life in agriculture required. Rawleigh's restless and inquisitive mind was not really interested in the endless and repetitive chores associated with living on a farm. It would take some time to work out exactly what he was interested in, but it had something to do with bringing a little bit of civilization to those who lived remotely in rural areas. Whatever the cause, his first notable achievement was at the age of nine when he began selling ink to his schoolmates and country storekeepers. Most importantly was that he not only made the ink himself but he also bottled and labeled it. Proudly, the name he printed on the label was Rawleigh's Mineraline Ink, which not only identified himself as the manufacturer but also where he came from, Mineral Point.

Rawleigh was very cognizant of the variety of salesmen who stopped at his home selling farm medicines, inspiring him to the overall potential that this type of operation provided. The combination of his incredible imagination, coupled with his natural organizational skills, pushed him to persuade his father to let him work for a neighbor as a farmhand for $20 a month in order to make money so he could get started selling farm medicines. By the end of the summer he had earned $120 and gave $100 of it to his parents. His father still objected to the idea of selling door-to-door, but by spring finally gave permission, though he refused to provide Rawleigh with money for freight and other starting expenses. He did, however; let him use a horse and helped him to buy a rig. Inspired by the selling methods of the J.R. Watkins Medical Company, Rawleigh packed his clothes and departed to Stephenson County, Illinois.

Rawleigh married twice, first to Minnie B. Trevillian on November 16, 1890, and second to M. Marguerite Schneider on March 14, 1923. He had three children, Anna May born June 6, 1892, Wilber Thomas, born April 6, 1896, and Lucille, born 1907, all with his first wife. By 1910, Rawleigh was the most prominent citizen of Freeport. Not only did he build his business from the ground up, but he was involved in community service as well as becoming the acting mayor from 1909 to 1911 and later served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1911 and 1912. He was a presidential elector in 1916. He also was a delegate to the 1932 Republican National Convention.

Through all of his travels, Rawleigh took it upon himself to collect a variety of art forms that, in his opinion, would bring culture back to his hometown. This collection is the basis of what is now the Freeport Art Museum. Rawleigh's premier collection contains pottery from the Pueblo cultures of the Southwest. He has a collection of 19th-century academic masters, a form of European painting. The collection contains an anonymous 17th-century portrait as well as a unique and extensive collection of pietra dura, stone mosaic paintings of the early 20th century, and a series of paintings from the natives of Madagascar. Particular Asian items in the collection include a 19th-century palace screen and a set of Hindu hand painted temple banners, known as kalamkari, from India. His collection also includes sculptures, including 19th-century marbles and bronzes from Italy, France and Belgium, and a 17th-century Spanish polychromed wood statue of St. Anthony of Padua.

Rawleigh died January 23, 1951, in Freeport. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery.