Ravaud H. Chittenden (1835-1927) was born in Pittsford, New York, and died in Long Beach, California. During the Civil War he enlisted as a private in Company H, Thirty-Sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, fighting in the battles at Pea Ridge and Lookout Mountain. After the War he enrolled at Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before transferring to The Long Island Hospital and Medical College. After completing his studies, he became a practicing physician for several years in Long Island, New York. He then moved to Lyndon, Kansas, where he owned a drugstore alongside his wife, Maggie. While living in Lyndon he became interested in Christian Science and studied with Estella E. Gillin, after which he practiced in Lyndon performing several cures. It appears as though his interest in Christian Science waned, and by 1900 he had moved to California, eventually settling in Long Beach, where he practiced medicine.

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