A champion of Fort—and a founder of the Society—but not really a Fortean.
Arthur Burton Rascoe was born 22 October 1891in Fulton, Kentucky, to Matthew Lafayette and Elizabeth (Burton) Rascoe. The family moved to Shawnee, Oklahoma, where Arthur and his brothers Henry and George spent their childhoods. According to family lore, the paterfamilias Matthew was saloon keeper, whose fortunes changed when Oklahoma went dry. He went into farming. The census has the family in Fulton in 1900—where Matthew was a hotel clerk—and Shawnee in 1910—where he was a farmer. Oklahoma went dry in September 1907—a few months before it became a state; it allowed for alcohol sales only in 1959.
Rascoe was inclined to literature; he attended the local schools, and worked at the “Shawnee Herald” when he was 14—so just around the time his family’s fortunes changed. In 1911, he moved to Chicago to attend the university there, and became the Chicago Tribune correspondent for the University of Chicago. He left the university after two years, and went to work for the Tribune full time as a reporter and assistant city editor. Rascoe married Hazel Luke on 5 July 1913. They had two children, Arthur Burton (born in 1914) and Helen Ruth (born in 1918).
Arthur Burton Rascoe was born 22 October 1891in Fulton, Kentucky, to Matthew Lafayette and Elizabeth (Burton) Rascoe. The family moved to Shawnee, Oklahoma, where Arthur and his brothers Henry and George spent their childhoods. According to family lore, the paterfamilias Matthew was saloon keeper, whose fortunes changed when Oklahoma went dry. He went into farming. The census has the family in Fulton in 1900—where Matthew was a hotel clerk—and Shawnee in 1910—where he was a farmer. Oklahoma went dry in September 1907—a few months before it became a state; it allowed for alcohol sales only in 1959.
Rascoe was inclined to literature; he attended the local schools, and worked at the “Shawnee Herald” when he was 14—so just around the time his family’s fortunes changed. In 1911, he moved to Chicago to attend the university there, and became the Chicago Tribune correspondent for the University of Chicago. He left the university after two years, and went to work for the Tribune full time as a reporter and assistant city editor. Rascoe married Hazel Luke on 5 July 1913. They had two children, Arthur Burton (born in 1914) and Helen Ruth (born in 1918).