Toensing, the Minnesota Legislative Manuals, 1875 and 1876, and Biographical Sketches of the Officers of the State Government of Minnesota and of the 19th Minnesota State Legislature by C.L. Hall, 1877 list his last name as Rathbun. The Minnesota Legislative Manual, 1877 lists both Rathbun and Rathburn.
He moved to Illinois in 1846. He went to Iowa in 1850. He came to Minnesota in 1855.
"In politics a Republican." (Biographical Sketches of the Officers of the State Government of Minnesota and the 19th Minnesota State Legislature by C.L. Hall, 1877, p. 49)