Dr. William E. Rath

        Dr. William E. Raht, a retired physician of Chattanooga, is a son of Julius E. and Matilda (Dombois) Raht, both natives of Germany, where they were reared. The parents came to America thirty-five years ago, and found a home in Tennessee. For many years the father was superintendent of the Coffer Mines in Polk County. He was a mining engineer and a graduate of a German college. He died in 1879. The mother is still living. Their family consisted of eight children, our subject being the third. He was born in Polk County, Tenn., February 6, 1858, and while growing up had good educational advantages. He paid considerable attention to mathematics. He spent three years at Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College, and graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1883 as an allopathic physician. He also took a post graduate course at Hahnemann Homoeopathic Medical College, after which he came to Chattanooga and entered into partnership with Dr. D. G. Curtis with whom he practiced until 1886. In 1883 he married Alice Edmiston, a native of Logan County, Ohio, by whom he had one son, Theodore. Dr. Raht is a Knight of Pythias, and since retiring from his profession has been devoting his energies to surveying.
Goodspeed's "History of East Tennessee" 1887