Rediscovered Seth Raynor Photos and Bio

I was contacted recently by a member of the the Country Club of Charleston who was looking for photos of Seth Raynor. It turns out that the club has commissioned a portrait of Raynor, the designer of their course, based upon photos that were uncovered at Princeton University where Raynor graduated in 1898, with most likely, a civil engineering degree. Princeton published bios and photos of the members of Raynor's class in conjunction with their 25th reunion in 1923.

In both pictures, Raynor comes across as a serious-minded fellow. One image is from the year he graduated, at the age of 24, and another from 1923 when he was 49, looking old for his age. Less than three years later, some surmise because of his incredibly hectic work schedule, Raynor was dead.

What I find most intriguing about the article--besides the fact Raynor's middle name was Jagger--is that it appears to indicate that Raynor might have traveled overseas to study the great golf courses. Perhaps, though, the sentence was meant to mean that Raynor, as an understudy of Charles Blair Macdonald, used the layouts that C.B. had visited in Great Britain as his guide. If Raynor did journey there, it would be quite a discovery. If not, this small item, nevertheless, gives an interesting glimpse into the life of man of who so little is known other than his work.