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Joseph Leo “Joe” Rasico

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Joseph Leo “Joe” Rasico Veteran

Birth
Death
3 Aug 1980 (aged 85–86)
Vincennes Township, Knox County, Indiana, USA
Burial
Billett, Lawrence County, Illinois, USA Add to Map
Memorial ID
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Joseph Leo Rasico married Harriet Leighty June 20, 1922. They had seven children: Joseph Theodore Rasico 1923-1923, Mary Elizabeth Rasico 1924-1983, Cecelia Rasico 1925-2014, Nancy Jane Rasico 1926-, Geneva Rasico 1927-2004, Betty Rasico 1932-2019, Harriet Ann Rasico 1935-.

Joseph Rasico second wife Dorothy Janie Seward had four children Carol Mardele Rasico 1947, Dorothy Jean Rasico 1948, Cindy Lou Rasico 1950, Shirley Ann Rasico 1955.

He was a veteran of WWI Army trained in Machine Gun Division at Sherman Camp in Ohio. He was also registered to serve in WWII.

He grew up in St Francisville Illinois. He was a descendent of early pioneer French families their births and deaths are registered at the Old Cathedral Catholic Church in Vincennes that came from Boucherville, Canada. The name was originally spelled Racicot. He married Harriet Leighty. They moved from a home in town in Lawrenceville to a 40 acre farm in rural Lawrenceville, Illinois. It was a very hard life. Their first child Joseph Theodore Rasico died at birth. Harriet went on to have six more children all were girls. She died shortly after her last child was born. They named her Harriet Ann. Joseph was left to raise the six little girls all by himself.

He hired a nanny later to help him. Her name was Dorothy Janie Seward who he married in 1947 she was 21 years younger than him. Joseph deeded his large 2 story home with the 40 acres over to his daughter Geneva and her husband. He had Dorothy sign a prenuptial contract that she could not inherit any of property that he owned before he married her. By this time all Joseph’s six daughters were raised and living on their own.

Then Joseph purchased a home in Ragsdale, Indiana for him and Dorothy. It was a small shotgun style home with no running water and no facilities except an out house. There were three rooms in this home-living room with a coal stove, one bedroom with no heat, and a kitchen with a wood burning stove to cook on. There was a hand pump in the kitchen used to get their well water to drink. In order to take a bath the water was heated by a tea kettle then poured into a metal tub that was kept on a hook on the outside of the house. There was electricity but Dorothy cleaned the family clothes on a ringer washer and hung the clothes on a clothes line to dry with clothes pins. It was a very hard life for her. She made most of the clothes for her daughters on a treadle sewing machine along with homemade quilts for their beds. The property did have around a half acre where Joseph and Dorothy grew a garden to supply vegetables for the family. Dorothy canned many of the vegetables they grew. They grew many vegetables, such as green beans, potatoes, peas, tomatoes, melons, sweet corn, cucumbers, plus strawberries. Dorothy would make sauerkraut, pickles along with jams and jellies. She also made her own lye soap. Joseph would catch fish in his John boat from the white river. He made his own nets which allowed him to catch several types of fish for the family to eat. Dorothy later worked at Brown shoe factory and Gossards bra factory as a seamstress and earned enough money to put an addition on the home. She added a bathroom and a kitchen with running water.

Joseph and Dorothy got a divorce Nov 10, 1968. Joseph passed away in a nursing home in Vincennes at the age of 85 of heart disease.

(I know that people do leave stories for the future generations to know a little about who their loved ones. Hope you can add some of this history if not all.)

Submitted by Cindy (Rasico)Davis
Joseph Leo Rasico married Harriet Leighty June 20, 1922. They had seven children: Joseph Theodore Rasico 1923-1923, Mary Elizabeth Rasico 1924-1983, Cecelia Rasico 1925-2014, Nancy Jane Rasico 1926-, Geneva Rasico 1927-2004, Betty Rasico 1932-2019, Harriet Ann Rasico 1935-.

Joseph Rasico second wife Dorothy Janie Seward had four children Carol Mardele Rasico 1947, Dorothy Jean Rasico 1948, Cindy Lou Rasico 1950, Shirley Ann Rasico 1955.

He was a veteran of WWI Army trained in Machine Gun Division at Sherman Camp in Ohio. He was also registered to serve in WWII.

He grew up in St Francisville Illinois. He was a descendent of early pioneer French families their births and deaths are registered at the Old Cathedral Catholic Church in Vincennes that came from Boucherville, Canada. The name was originally spelled Racicot. He married Harriet Leighty. They moved from a home in town in Lawrenceville to a 40 acre farm in rural Lawrenceville, Illinois. It was a very hard life. Their first child Joseph Theodore Rasico died at birth. Harriet went on to have six more children all were girls. She died shortly after her last child was born. They named her Harriet Ann. Joseph was left to raise the six little girls all by himself.

He hired a nanny later to help him. Her name was Dorothy Janie Seward who he married in 1947 she was 21 years younger than him. Joseph deeded his large 2 story home with the 40 acres over to his daughter Geneva and her husband. He had Dorothy sign a prenuptial contract that she could not inherit any of property that he owned before he married her. By this time all Joseph’s six daughters were raised and living on their own.

Then Joseph purchased a home in Ragsdale, Indiana for him and Dorothy. It was a small shotgun style home with no running water and no facilities except an out house. There were three rooms in this home-living room with a coal stove, one bedroom with no heat, and a kitchen with a wood burning stove to cook on. There was a hand pump in the kitchen used to get their well water to drink. In order to take a bath the water was heated by a tea kettle then poured into a metal tub that was kept on a hook on the outside of the house. There was electricity but Dorothy cleaned the family clothes on a ringer washer and hung the clothes on a clothes line to dry with clothes pins. It was a very hard life for her. She made most of the clothes for her daughters on a treadle sewing machine along with homemade quilts for their beds. The property did have around a half acre where Joseph and Dorothy grew a garden to supply vegetables for the family. Dorothy canned many of the vegetables they grew. They grew many vegetables, such as green beans, potatoes, peas, tomatoes, melons, sweet corn, cucumbers, plus strawberries. Dorothy would make sauerkraut, pickles along with jams and jellies. She also made her own lye soap. Joseph would catch fish in his John boat from the white river. He made his own nets which allowed him to catch several types of fish for the family to eat. Dorothy later worked at Brown shoe factory and Gossards bra factory as a seamstress and earned enough money to put an addition on the home. She added a bathroom and a kitchen with running water.

Joseph and Dorothy got a divorce Nov 10, 1968. Joseph passed away in a nursing home in Vincennes at the age of 85 of heart disease.

(I know that people do leave stories for the future generations to know a little about who their loved ones. Hope you can add some of this history if not all.)

Submitted by Cindy (Rasico)Davis


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