William Thomas Rawleigh
| W.T. Rawleigh | |
|---|---|
W.T. Rawleigh c. 1900
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| Born |
December 3, 1870 Mineral Point, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | January 23, 1951 (aged 80) Freeport, Illinois, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Business magnate |
| Known for | Door-to-door salesman of "Good Health Products" |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Children | 2 |
William Thomas Rawleigh was a businessman and politician in the state of Illinois.
W.T. Rawleigh was born on the family farm, near Mineral Point, Wisconsin, on December 3, 1870. As the oldest of a family of three boys and four girls born to Charles David and Sarah Malinda Rawleigh, it was necessary for Rawleigh to take on adult responsibilities at a young age in order to help provide income beyond the daily chores that a life in agriculture required. Rawleigh’s restless and inquisitive mind was not really interested in the endless and repetitive chores associated with living on a farm. It would take some time to work out exactly what he was interested in, but it had something to do with bringing a little bit of civilization to those who lived remotely in rural areas. Whatever the cause, his first notable achievement was at the age of nine when he began selling ink to his schoolmates and country storekeepers. Most importantly was the fact that he not only made the ink himself but he also bottled and labeled it. Proudly, the name he printed on the label was Rawleigh’s Mineraline Ink, which not only identified himself as the manufacturer but also where he came from, Mineral Point.
Rawleigh was very cognizant of the variety of salesmen who stopped at his home selling farm medicines, inspiring him to the overall potential that this type of operation provided. The combination of his incredible imagination, coupled with his natural organizational skills, pushed him to persuade his father to let him work for a neighbor as a farmhand for $20 a month in order to make money so he could get started selling farm medicines. By the end of the summer he had earned $120 and gave $100 of it to his parents. His father still objected to the idea of selling door-to-door, but by spring finally gave permission, though he refused to provide Rawleigh with money for freight and other starting expenses. He did, however; let him use a horse and helped him to buy a rig. Inspired by the selling methods of the J.R. Watkins Medical Company, Rawleigh packed his clothes and departed to Stephenson County, Illinois.
Rawleigh's life as an independent salesman began on April 6, 1889 when he was 18 years old. Initially he turned his mother's kitchen into a part-time factory in order to produce liniment, until he could get enough money together to rent a small building. Many medicines were made, bottled and labelled in the Rawleigh family home. His first products were functional and filled the needs of the rural population. They included an antiseptic salve, a liniment that was labeled; For the internal and external use for man or beast!, a medicated ointment and a product named External AP (anti-pain) Oil. All of these products were manufactured by Rawleigh and sold from farmhouse to farmhouse in a buggy drawn by a horse named Bill that he borrowed from a neighbor. It's clear that he had found a ready market for the products he was offering and, in his travels, he also heard from the wives of farmers about what else they would like him to bring the next time he called. Rawleigh secured a large number of customers with his dependable service, honest methods, and free trials. He would leave products on “time and trial” knowing that the products would sell themselves. Beyond the previously listed items, the company also sold sewing machine oil, cough syrup, mustard, chewing gum and hog mixture, as well as cosmetics. Rawleigh also distributed spices such as vanilla, peppermint and many others in his stock of consumer offerings.
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