Hello---

Several years ago I went about researching the Rachford line. Here's what I found....
Chris C. Rachford (my ggggrandfather) was descended from Philip Ratchford and Mary O'Reilly from Trim, Ireland in County Meath. They were Catholics and probably emigrated to Quebec due to the potato famine. They had 11 children and eventually came to Minnesota. One of their kids was Chris C. Rachford. Chris C. Rachford dropped the "t" in the name and went on to have 7 kids of his own with wife Augusta Snyder. They went to Alturas California and lived in Fort Bidwell for a time.
Peggy Sloss Dekker is the "Rachford" expert from Alturas California and gave me the information on them.