Following is one of the Biographies and Stories which where gathered by Charles Sumner McKamy in the 1950s for publication in a Crawford County History Book. Unfortunately he passed away before the book was published.
Laura Grace Newlin was born January 14, 1900 in Crawford County, Illinois on her present farm. She is the only child of Clinton and Emily Rains Newlin.
Her father was born on the same farm September 27, 1872 and was the tenth child of Andrew and Mary Holmes Newlin.
Andrew Newlin was born in Crawford County, Illinois June 25, 1829. He was the youngest son of William and Rachel Hill Newlin. He was married to Mary Holmes April 8, 1852.
Mary Holmes was born August 23, 1830 in Licking County, Ohio. She was a daughter of Reuben A. and Barbara Hockman Holmes.
Miss Newlin's parents were married December 28, 1898. Her mother was born July 24, 1874. She was the eighth child of Lafayette and Mary Cox Rains of Quaker Lane vicinity.
Lafayette Rains was born in Crawford County, Illinois September 26, 1833. He was the son of Ambrose B. and Charlotte Cox Rains. At the age of seventeen he went to California and was engaged in mining for about sixteen months. He was married to Mary Cox January, 1856. She was the daughter of Thomas and Deborah Lindley Cox. Miss Newlin's early education was at Newlin, the country school near her home. She is a graduate of the Hutsonville High School and studied Art three years at the Cincinnati Art Academy and Broadmoor Academy, Colorado Springs.