[alvares2.FTW]
Rachael Margaret Edmondson was born January 11, 1882 in Claiborne County, Tennessee. She was the fourth of thirteen children born to George Washington and Virginia Ann (Cole) Edmondson. She met German
Jackson Ratliff who was living with her uncle, Elijah Edmondson, who was a Baptist Minister. Rachael and German were married by her uncle Elijah on March 8, 1897. They continued to live in Claiborne County
after they were married and their first two children were born there. They moved to Davis County, Kentucky where they had two more children. Their next move was to Dunklin County, Missouri where they had seven children.
The Ratliff family moved to Arkansas where Flossie was born. In 1922 they brought six of their children with them on the train to visit Rachael's parents who were living in the Pecan Grove Community near San Saba, Texas. They liked San Saba and decided to settle in Pecan Grove. Their thirteenth and last child, Elizabeth Josephine, was born December 22, 1923 in San Saba County, Texas.
Rachael cooked big meals, sometimes not knowing how many she would have to feed. She always planted a large garden and cooked fresh vegetables that were in season. She also canned fruits, berries and
vegetables for use when fresh vegetables were not available. She had a flock of chickens to supply eggs and fryers. She milked the cows, separated the cream and and churned butter for family use. Any eggs,
fryers or butter that wasn't needed for family use was taken to town to sell or trade for groceries. Sometimes fresh produce such as peas, green beans, tomatoes and turnips were traded at the grocery store for items that couldn't be raised on the farm. Rachael made her own lye soap that was so pure it would float and garanteed to remove dandruff. She canned sausage when pigs were butchered and helped cure ham and bacon which she kept in the smoke house. Rachael never had a home with electricity until she was 60 years old and didn't have indoor plumbing until after she and German retired and moved to town. She
had to heat water in a cast iron kettle in the yard and wash clothes outside. She hung clothes on the line to dry and sometimes had to use the fence if the wash was too large. She chopped wood and carried it in to cook with or heat the house. Rachael would work in the field until time to fix dinner or supper and leave the others working in the field while she cooked dinner. She would call everyone in when dinner was ready, serve everyone without sitting down herself and then clean up and wash the dishes while the others went back to the field. She would do her household chores such as sweeping, making beds, churning butter, sewing, mending and preparing the evening meal. She nursed and cared for her babies and sometimes her grandbabies as well. She raised her own family as well as two grandsons from the time they were toddlers. Her home was always open to any of her family that needed a place to live until they got back on their feet. During the fall and winter Rachael would make beautiful quilts for her family.
Rachael loved to read the Bible, but had very little spare time, so she would read while she churned her butter. She said that she could finish a churning while reading the book of Ruth. Rachael and her husband were active members of Pecan Grove Baptist Church and seldom missed attending church on Sunday.
Several of her children attended the school and church in Pecan Grove Community and were baptized in the San Saba River. After she and her husband retired from farming they moved to the edge of town where she lived until her death in 1972. Her husband, German, died of heart failure February 13, 1959 and was buried in the Terry Cemetery. Rachael died in St. David's Hospital in Austin, Texas on May 29, 1972. She was buried beside her husband in the Terry Cemetery near San Saba, Texas. Pallbearers were grandsons
Wayne Ratliff, Tommy Domingo, Leslie Hosman Bobby Ratliff, Alvie Hosman and Fletcher Lackey. Honorary pallbearers were Randal Ratliff, Steve Ratliff, Doug Lackey and Tommy Karnes. Final rites were conducted Wednesday, May 31, 1972 at Howell-Doron Funeral Chapel in San Saba by the Reverend Albert Brown. At the time of her death, Rachael had 51 grandchildren, 131 great-grandchildren and 35 great-great-grandchildren.

• Married: 8 MAR 1897 in Claiborne, TN ¹

1. Vesta Virginia RATLIFF b: 30 JUN 1914 in , Dunklin, MO

1. Repository:
   Name: Jared Jones Personal Library
   
   Title: Alvares Family import
   Author: Claude Drew
   Abbrev: Claude Drew
   Abbrev: Alvares Family import
   Note:
   Subset of Alvares, Edmondson, Cole, DeBusk, Ratliff tree.
   Text: Date of Import: Jan 30, 2001