Rayner, Dr. James

"DR. JAMES B. RAYNER, a graduate of the Veterinary college of Philadelphia, and one of the founders of the United States Veterinary Medical association,and who has successfully practiced his profession in West Chester since 1864, is a son of Dr. William and Mary (Buckley) Rayner, and was born in Lancashire, England, march 18, 1826.  His paternal grandparents were natives and life-long residents of England.

"His father was born and reared in Lancashire, where he received his education.  At an early age he turned his attention to the study of the veterinary science, and soon became proficient therein.  He married Mary Buckley,of his native country, who died in 1868, aged seventy-six years.  In 1842,with his wife and their ten children, he came to Pennsylvania, where he settled at Manayunk, above the city of Philadelphia, of which place he was a resident until his death, in 1866, when he was in the seventy-second year of his age.  He was a very successful veterinary surgeon, and one of his
six sons, Dr. George Rayner, served as a veterinary surgeon in the Federal army during the last great civil war.  Dr. William Rayner was a very usefulcitizen, well qualified for his veterinary work, and after coming to this county, became an active republican in politics.

"James B. Rayner was reared in Lancashire, received his education in the schools of his neighborhood, and pursued his veterinary studies under his father, in 1842, from Lancashire to Manayunk, and in 1853 commenced the practice of his profession, which he followed until 1863, when, to fully perfect himself as a veterinary surgeon, he entered the Veterinary college of Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in 1864.  After graduation he came to West Chester, where he has built up his present extensive practice.

"On March 29th, 1846, Doctor Rayner married Sarah Jackson, of Lower Merion, Montgomery county, who died in 1881, aged fifty-five years.  After her death he wedded, on June 19, 1889, Mrs. Lizzie T. Hurford, a daughter of Joseph D. Taylor, of Kennett township, Chester county, Pennsylvania.

"Dr. James B. Rayner is a republican in politics.  He is a member of West Chester Lodge, No. 322, Free and Accepted Masons; Lodge No. 130, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Tamened Tribe, No. 192, Improved Order of Red Men; Goshen Castle, No. 78, Knights of the Golden Eagle; and Estella Lodge, No.131, Knights of Pythias.  He is one of the oldest Odd Fellows in the county, having become a member of that order in 1847.  Doctor Rayner is one of the founders and a member of the Veterinary association of Pennsylvania, and is one of the founders and active members of the United States Veterinary Medical association.  He is skillful and successful in his line of work, and ranks among those who, by energy and labor, have won merited success."