Archives West Finding Aid

The Raser family moved to Seattle in 1889. Harry Alfred Schroeder Raser and May Webb Raser, the heads of the family, were married in 1875 in Pennsylvania, where Harry was from and where they lived until moving back to Ohio, where May’s family lived sometime before 1882.

Upon moving to Seattle, Harry (who went by H. A. Raser), started W.L. Gazzam & Co., an insurance company, with Benjamin Goodwin, Alfred K. Fiskin, and John Thomas in 1893. The company was later reorganized under the name Goodwin, Raser & Fiskin. Harry, who was born in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on December 16, 1852, died on September 26, 1926 in Seattle. He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution (registered as a descendant of Philip Heyl) between 1985 and 1916, and was a founding member of the Knights Templar's Nile Temple in Seattle, which was formed in 1908, where he served as first guard.

May, who was born on July 21, 1854, in Warren, Ohio, and died on September 12, 1919 in Seattle, Washington, served as treasurer of the Queen Anne Fortnightly Club, a women’s literary club that was founded in 1894. She was also a member of the Classic Culture Club, a literary club founded in 1891, and performed at club events, including playing a part in a performance of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Michael Angelo" in 1893. May also served as Secretary of Literature for the Puget Sound Presbyterial Society from 1897-1899.

Laura Raser was born on February 22, 1887, in Warren, Ohio, and died on September 2, 1904 at the age of 17 in Seattle, Washington from appendicitis.

Charles Iddings Raser was born on May 15, 1890 in Seattle, Washington, where he died at the age of 21 on July 2, 1911. Charles attended the University of Washington and was a First Lieutenant with the University’s Cadet Corp.

The oldest child in the Raser family, Carrie Beth Raser, born on January 10, 1882 in Warren, Ohio, was an active member of the Seattle community until her death on July 27, 1975 at the age of 93. Carrie attended the University of Washington between 1900-1902, during which time she was a member of the University’s Glee Club, through which she performed regularly at events like UW Oratorical Contest, and in a musical at Denny Hall. Carrie was regularly mentioned in the Society section of the Seattle Post Intelligencer, was a member of the Women’s University Club, one of the first female social clubs in Seattle, and a longtime member of the Arboretum Foundation.

Carrie Beth endured the deaths of her family members in quick succession, living with them throughout at their family home at 1230 Warren Ave. As the only surviving member, she continued to live at their family home, renting out rooms to boarders until 1943 at which time she moved to a home on 42nd Ave N. until her death.