 He was named for St.Elmo/ Erasmus, the patron saint of sailors.Rasmus went to grammar school at Southern Woods, now Waves, NC where he proved good at arithmetic and handwriting.Rasmus Midgett, one of a long line of North Carolina surfmen known as the Mighty Midgetts, was on patrol for the Gull Shoals Lifesaving Station on August 18, 1899.