James Rankin3

James Rankin (c1780 – 1855)
1st wife, name unknown (      -before 1831)
Nancy McNeel (c1805 -   )

Compiled and copyrighted June 2010 by Linda Sparks Starr

The birth order, and thus birth years given by researchers for the children of Capt. Thomas Rankin and his wife Mary (Crawford), are estimates at best. Most researchers follow Woodworth’s lead saying the parents married “about 1778” and begin guessing birth dates from that year.  Woodworth, admitting to guesswork, gave the birth order as the three daughters first and then the three boys. He positioned James as the second son, but fifth child:

“153.  Mary Crawford, Augusta County; (born 1758) married 1778 Thomas Rankin, farmer, captain Augusta County militia, justice of the peace in 1781, who died 1787; six children.  ...   1535.  James Rankin soldier in the War of 1812 died Apr 1855 married Nancy McNeel and settled on the Greenbrier River Pocahontas Co. (now W VA) in 1822 -- three sons.”   [p. 700; 710 Descendants of Elizabeth Poage – P 15]

The two Henry Rankins as well as Prichard tentatively positioned James as older by a year than George with John coming in last.  John is the wildcard in this family. Records establish six children (heirs) survived the parents, but only five heirs reached adulthood.  Those five are named in various Augusta County court documents; but neither the name nor even the gender of the sixth heir is recorded.  Miss Dice is the farthest-back informant traced by this researcher who gave us “son John died after 1790 from injuries received when he was kicked by a horse.”

During the War of 1812 James served in Capt. Alexander Givens’s company.  [Pension Claim WC (or WO) 20719; also Woodworth p. 710]  James was still single and living in Augusta County March 1813 when he sold his one-fifth interest in two tracts inherited from his father’s estate.  Co-signers on the grantor deeds  were his brother George, sister Elizabeth Blair and their spouses.  Little more is known about this James until the 1850 census.  Most researchers take Woodworth’s lead in moving James into Pocahontas County, (now West) Virginia “by 1822.”  But perhaps he tarried elsewhere before making that final move?

All researchers agree this James Rankin married Nancy McNeel; but only one provides a specific date and place for their marriage.  Henry Rankin Jr. (without citation) reported the marriage as 25 July 1831 Bath County, Virginia. [FGS prepared 3/7/90; 4/29/91]  [ James 1781-1855 ]  Researchers also agree James had three sons:
George Washington Rankin married Martha Burnside
Abram McNeel born 1824
Thomas James 1826-1899

It appears most of the above information on James’s family comes from the 1850 Pocahontas County, (now West) Virginia census.  The census taker for the 47th District visited the household of the 70 year old James Rankin 8 October 1850. [Gillett citing p. 297a #514/517; p. 297b-298a #515/518]  James reported farmer as his occupation and gave Virginia as the birthplace of everyone residing in his household.  His wife Nancy was 45 years old; with them was 26 years old Abraham Rankin and 24 years old Thomas Rankin. Both identified themselves as laborers.  This researcher has no problem with this James being the son of Thomas and Mary (Crawford) Rankin since several of his extended family members were living nearby.  That year the husband of his sister Peggy Poage was head of household #159 in the same 47th District.  Living in the adjacent household to James was George W. Rankin, 37 year old Laborer born in Virginia, his 27 years old wife Martha and their four children.   Undoubtedly this is his son George Washington Rankin who married Martha Burnside.

Comparing the census data with the known facts of James raises several questions and alters Woodworth’s account. First, ASSUMING the census taker reported the correct ages for all individuals residing in the above two households, the 45 year old Nancy (born 1805) was not the mother of the 37 year old George W. (born 1813).   ASSUMING Henry Rankin reported the year (1831) of the marriage of James Rankin and Nancy McNeel correctly, and I have no reason to doubt him, then Nancy was not the mother of Abraham (born 1824) or Thomas (born 1826) either. 

Adjusting for these newly discovered facts, we can enlarge upon and modify Woodworth’s short sketch about this James.  James was single and living in Augusta County as late as March 1813, for his wife didn’t sign the grantor deed with the other spouses. But, James married his first wife (name unknown) shortly after signing the deed for their son was born later that year. [1850 Pocahontas Co. census]   The eleven years between George’s birth (1813) and that of the next KNOWN child (1824) suggests one of two things. (1) More unidentified children were born between 1814 and 1823; some perhaps died and/or the daughters all married by 1850.  (2) James was a single father for several years, married a second time early 1820s and was again widowed sometime after the birth of Thomas in 1826.   James was living in Bath County, Virginia 25 July 1831 when he married Nancy McNeel.   By 1850 they were all living in Pocahontas County, now West Virginia.  [Bath and Pocahontas counties are adjacent to each other; did James actually move or was there a boundary line change that put him into the other county?]   One researcher claims the full name of son Abraham is “Abraham McNeel Rankin.”  If true, was Nancy a sister of James’s previous wife?  


SOURCES

Chronicles of Scotch-Irish Settlers in Virginia:  Augusta 1745-1800 vol. II  by Lyman Chalkley

Gillett, Jean.  researcher of several Augusta County families.  She sent census data in the years when the only access was via microfilm.

Rankin, Henry P. Jr.  researcher.

Woodworth, Robert Bell, editor.  The Descendants of Robert and John Poage: Pioneer Settlers in Augusta County, Virginia, A Genealogy  based on the Manuscript Collections of Prof. Andrew Woods Williamson, Henry Martyn Williamson and John Guy Bishop. The McClure Printing Co., Staunton, VA 1954.


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