Raub was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on March 28, 1840, and lived on a farm until he was 17 years old, when he began teaching near his home.

In 1868 he left Kutztown for Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, where he held successively the positions of principal of public schools, city superintendent, and county superintendent of Clinton County.

In 1877 he was chosen first principal of the Central State Normal School, which had been established at Lock Haven largely through his own personal efforts.

In 1885 he left Pennsylvania to assume the principalship of the academy at Newark, Delaware, from which position he was called in 1888 to the presidency of Delaware College, a position which made him ex-officio president of the state board of education.

Yearbook and List of Active Members of the National Educational Association 1903-1904.