William R. Rathvon (1854-1939) was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and died in Brookline, Massachusetts. Raised in the Lutheran church, he graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster and worked as a businessman in Colorado, making most of his wealth from silver mines. He married Ella J. Stauffer in 1883. The couple became acquainted with Christian Science during a visit to Chicago, Illinois, in 1893. While there, they had class instruction with Mary M. W. Adams, a student of Mary Baker Eddy's. They returned to Florence, Colorado, where they helped establish Christian Science, and then moved to Boulder, Colorado, where they joined First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boulder. They joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 31, 1894. Rathvon took the Primary Class taught by Edward A. Kimball for the Christian Science Board of Education in 1903 and was in the 1907 Normal class taught by Septimus J. Hanna. He taught his first class in Boulder the following year. From 1908 to 1910, he was a corresponding secretary to Eddy in her Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, home at 400 Beacon Street. After Eddy's passing in 1910, they moved back to Colorado, settling in Denver, where William taught until 1925, after which his classes convened in Boston. In February 1911, he was appointed to The Christian Science Board of Lectureship and lectured throughout the world. He retired from this activity to become Treasurer of The Mother Church from June to October 1918, and was then elected a member of The Christian Science Board of Directors, serving as such until his death. He was also a trustee of the Christian Science Benevolent Association and the Christian Science Pleasant View Home Association. He wrote for The Christian Science Journal, Christian Science Sentinel, and authored "The Devil's Auction" (1911). Rathvon was listed in the directory of The Christian Science Journal as a Christian Science practitioner from 1904 until his death. He is the only known eyewitness of President Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address to have left an audio recording describing that experience. He made the recording in 1938, a year before his death.

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