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The life of any man is of great benefit to the community in which he lives if his efforts are directed torward its advancement and he is honest, upright, and progressive. Such a man was Virgil S. Rabb, Sr., a native of Fayette County, Tex., until his removal to Smithville some two years ago. He was born on February 15, 1839, the son of John and Mary Crownover Rabb. His grandfather, William Rabb, was born in the Keystone State, but at an early date removed his family to near St. Louis, Mo. on the Illinois side of the river, where he erected a flour mill for grinding flour. He ran it successfully, sold out, and moved to Washington, Ark., and from there in 1822 to Texas, going with Austin's colony. He first located on the west side of the Colorado River and built a water mill on Rabb's Prairie, getting the stones from Scotland and the rest of the material from New Orleans.

Virgil Rabb was educated at Rutersville College, Texas, and in 1862 he joined the Confederate army as a member of Company I, 16th Texas Infantry. He was made third lieutenant of his company, which served in the Trans-Mississippi Department, and he took part in the battles of his command in Louisiana except when he was on a leave of absence. Later he was made captain of his company by general promotion and was honorably discharged from the army at Hempstead, Tex. After his return home he engaged in milling and farming until 1884, when he removed to LaGrange and engaged in the lumber business. Later he was at West Point, Winchester, and Smithville in the same business.

Comrade Rabb was married in 1869 to Miss Dulcie Kennedy, and to them were born eight children, five of whom survive. His death occurred at his home, in Smithville, on October 23, 1915.