William F. Rankin is a native of Northampton, Mass., born March 23, 1828. His father, Zebina Rankin, was born June 5, 1791, and was married April 22, 1815, to Nancy Packard, who was born Feb. 17, 1790. They were natives of Massachusetts, and had a family of seven children, viz.: Ira P., born Jan. 10, 1817; Austin L., Aug. 30, 1819; Adeline, Oct. 9, 1821; Nancy J., Jan. 5, 1824; Jane, March 27, 1826; William F., March 23, 1828; and Edward, March 18, 1830. The father died Aug. 21, 1854; the mother Jan. 15, 1850. The subject of this memoir was married Aug. 15, 1850, to Margaret A. Westfall, of New York. She died Aug. 6, 1875, leaving three children--Clarence Z., who married Jourline Bemus; N. Jane, wife of W. D. Tremain, and Guy F. Mr. Rankin was married the second time on Feb. 23, 1878, to Mrs. Mertie J. Blakeley, nee Armstrong. She was born in January, 1850, in Walworth County, Wis., and was a daughter of Addison and Mary A. (Perry) Armstrong, the former of Pennsylvania, and the latter was the first white child born in Genesee County, Mich. Mrs. Rankin had two children by her first husband, viz.: Lula A. M., and Luella M. Blakeley, and one child baby--by her last marriage. Mr. Rankin followed farming in Loraine County, O., until 1855, when he became a resident of Lodomillo Township, Clayton County. He owns a farm of sixty acres, forty under excellent cultivation, twenty of timber. In politics he affiliates with the Republican party. He has held the offices of the Justice of the Peace three terms, Assessor twelve years, and Secretary of the School Board six or eight years. He is one of the early settlers and representative men of the county. source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa, 1882, p. 901 |