Potatoes and Peas: A Love Story Rooted in Iowa Soil

 

Did you know that in early 1900s Iowa, neighbors sometimes held friendly vegetable-growing contests in their own backyards? Well, in one garden in Coon Rapids, the competition got personal. Ed Raygor and his wife Detta didn’t just grow food—they raced each other to see whose crops came in first. New potatoes versus sugar snap peas. Winner got bragging rights and probably didn’t have to do dishes that night.

Let’s rewind.

Thomas Edison Raygor—yes, Edison, like the inventor—was born on May 10, 1881, in North Versailles, Pennsylvania. His parents, Jacob Schrawger Raygor, a 41-year-old father with a solid work ethic, and Susannah (Suzie) Cable, 31, moved the family west when Ed was just three. In 1884, they settled in Coon Rapids, Iowa, a small town surrounded by cornfields and bustling with promise.

Coon Rapids was pure Americana. Kids walked barefoot through the dust in summer, church bells rang on Sundays, and neighbors popped by unannounced—sometimes with pie and sometime with a live chicken. The food was hearty and homegrown. Cornbread made from stone-ground meal, pork from the family hog, and apple pie that was more than just dessert—it was an institution.

But life wasn’t all sunshine. When Ed was just 11 years old, his mother died on August 24, 1892, in Coon Rapids. Suzie’s passing left a hole in the family and in Ed’s heart. By age 13, Ed was already living apart from his family in Orange, Guthrie County, likely working as a farmhand while maybe, just maybe, squeezing in a bit of school.

Let’s not sugarcoat it—life was tough, but Ed was tougher.

By the turn of the century, Iowa was booming with farms and fierce community spirit. The year 1905 marked the birth of the first high school equivalency exam in the U.S.— right there in Iowa. Education, innovation, and manual labor went hand in hand. Churches were the social glue, and town events like barn raisings and quilting bees weren’t just pastimes, they were survival strategies.

It was around this time, in his late 20s, that Ed met the woman who would become the center of his universe. At a boarding house full of transient workers and wide-eyed newcomers, he crossed paths with Martha Bernadetta Muller, known to all as Detta. She was Catholic and a schoolteacher, smart as a whip and quick with a hug. He was a hardworking farmhand with calloused hands and a soft heart.

They clicked and became great friends with her sister Amanda Petronilla Muller and her husband Elbert James Beatty.  

On February 22, 1911, in Coon Rapids, Ed and Detta were married. He was 29. She was determined. They started a family that would grow faster than Iowa corn.

Their first child, Elizabeth (Bessie) Amanda, was born later that year on November 3, 1911. Ed's father Jacob passed away the next year on July 29, in Regan, North Dakota, at 72. Then came Clara Ann on August 18, 1913. Then Willard Anthony was born on May 19, 1915, and Edward Raymond (Eddie) on 16 May 1918—just as the world was in the throes of World War I. Ed registered for the draft, described as short, with a medium build, dark brown eyes, and black hair, slightly graying. But with a growing brood, he was exempt from service.  Madalyn Bernadetta was born August 6, 1919.

By 1920, he was a farmer in name—though truth be told, he never owned much more than a truck garden. That's a small-scale family plot, not a full-fledged farm. He worked for Jensen Creamery, which later became Armour & Company (one of the five leading firms in meat packing), and also drove a truck for a man named Leo Watrus. His days started early and ended when the last chore was done.

More kids followed:

• Jacob Henry (Jake) on May 25, 1921,
• Omar Francis exactly one year later,
• Twins Leonard John and Lawrence Andrew on May 17, 1924 (sadly, Leonard passed away just three weeks later),
• Twins Josephine Cleo and Jonathan Leo on September 19, 1926,
• And their final child, Henry Channing (Harry), born on Ed’s own birthday—May 10, 1928.

Now here’s a little something about Ed: he adored hunting in the winter and fishing in the summer. So much so that fresh fish for breakfast became a Raygor family tradition. He taught his sons to shoot and clean game and his daughters to work the garden (walking beans). Summers meant contests with Detta over who could harvest first—potatoes or peas.

Their house was full of love, food when they could get it during the depression, and the constant chaos that comes with 11 kids. Detta, ever the teacher, would line them up in the kitchen for impromptu spelling bees. Ed, on the other hand, kept discipline with a firm hand—and a belt. Times were different, and so were expectations.

In 1936, they gathered the entire family for their 25th wedding anniversary. The resulting family portrait is the only one they ever took together with all their living children. It’s a moment frozen in time.

But joy turned to sorrow in 1942. Detta passed away on September 22, after a battle with stomach cancer, at Carroll Hospital, aged 57. They had been married for 31 years. That same year, Ed again registered for the draft (he didn’t go, of course—he was 61 by then). He was listed as 5'2½" tall, 113 pounds, with grey hair and a scar on his forehead.

In 1945, while working at the municipal light plant, Ed caught pneumonia. He was treated at Greene County Hospital in Jefferson, Iowa. Just as he was set to be released, he suffered a fatal heart attack on April 30, 1945, just ten days shy of his 64th birthday. He was buried in Coon Rapids Cemetery, leaving behind a house that would never be noisy again.

Ed and Detta lived a life of grit, faith, and family. They weren’t famous. They didn’t make headlines. But they raised a small army of children during some of the most transformative decades in American history. From draft cards to potato races, their story is as deeply rooted in Iowa soil as the cornstalks they walked past each day.

And just like those early morning fish fries or spelling bees in the kitchen, their legacy still lingers—simple, strong, and unforgettable.