Margaret Irene Maggie Rankin

Margaret Irene "Maggie" Rankin

Margaret Irene “Maggie” Rankin (1874-1964) and Fred McDaniel
From Calhoun to Atlanta

Margaret Irene was born 10 April 1874 in Calhoun, Georgia, the third surviving child of W. R. and Margaret (Ramsay) Rankin. Like her mother, she was called Maggie by family and friends. And like her older sister, Allie, little is known about her as a person. One newspaper clipping lists Maggie among the students giving a recitation at the end of the 1886 school year for Gordon County University. Specifically it described the event as an “interesting program of recitations, declamations and music.” [Reeve p. 48] Later, Maggie is listed among the five graduates in the 1894 Class of Calhoun Collegiate Institute. [Ibid p. 95]

Maggie and Fred McDaniel were married February 1898 and by 1905, when the photo below was taken, were parents of two children: Ouida Christine and Roy.

Twins William Robert and William Harry were born in 1909. Woodworth gives Fred’s occupation as auditor. [p. 716 #1534114] They were living in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at the time Woodworth contacted them or members of the family in Calhoun.

Maggie McDaniel, 1950

Only one undated Christmas letter from Maggie to her sister Pauline Starr, was found in Pauline’s extant family papers 2000. Written after 1956 (Pauline was a widow) but before Mamie’s death June 1963, Maggie wrote: “Was glad to get the short message from you, I think, we are all getting past the writing stage, as you can see, I can hardly write, -- my health is good but I seem to be nervous and weakening, but still manage to get around. Don’t know any news, every body is well, Robert is with me now. Had a card from Mary says Mamie is not doing so well, has had two bad falls. I am so worried about her. Well, this is the letter I have promised so long— now, let me hear from you again. Love & kisses for every one.”

Margaret “Maggie” (Rankin) McDaniel died 20 August 1964 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Fred and Maggie had four children. Information on these comes from Woodworth and family photos.

1. Roy Esmond McDaniel listed his occupation as railroad clerk when information was given to Woodworth. Roy was living in Atlanta, Georgia at the time. He was born 25 Jan 1898 and on 21 June 1922 married Annie Mae Peacock, daughter Augustus Theodore Peacock and Jessie Lou Faye.

1921: Two poses of Roy McDaniel

Roy and Annie Mae in 1978

According to her obituary: Annie Mae (Peacock) McDaniel died July 1979 in Riverdale, Georgia and was buried in Westview Cemetery. Roy and two children survived her. Christine’s note to Helen (Starr) Wade provided a few more details. The letterhead reads:

Mrs. W. P. Stovall, 803 Yorkshire Rd, N.E. Atlanta, GA 28 July 1979

Dear Helen,
... I am enclosing a clipping of Annie Mae’s funeral. She suffered so much the last week or so of her life, it is a release to know she won’t suffer any more, altho we will miss her. Brother seems to be holding up pretty good. His son and his wife have been wonderful to him and he has been having dinner with them nearly every night since and going home to sleep in his own bed. Their 57th wedding anniversary was June 21st. Ann and Margaret [Mamie’s descendants, Ann Jones and Margaret (Norton) Porter Sudduth] came by and took me to the funeral and the cemetery. ...

They had two children:
a. Martha Louise b. 27 April 1924 Atlanta married 17 April 1944 Harry Marvin DePew
b. Theodore Esmond McDaniel, Atlanta b. 3 July 1932

Martha McDaniel in 1930

2. Ouida Christine McDaniel was born in Calhoun, Georgia 29 Aug 1901. She graduated from Commercial High School in 1921. She married 14 April 1929 Wiley Pope Stovall, son of Thomas Jefferson Stovall and Mattie Callaway. At the time they were contacted by Woodworth, Wiley was employed as a Rail Road passenger agent. He served as 1st Lt 12th Machine Gun Battalion during WWII. No children.

Ouida Christine McDaniel in 1918

3. William Robert McDaniel (twin) was born 10 May 1909 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. During WWII he served as a technical Sergeant for the US Army Air Corps 8th Air Force. He married 27 August 1944 Alice Willlard, daughter Charles William Willard and Clara Edith Tallmadge. No children. His undated obituary: “Graveside services for William Robert McDaniel, 57, of 803 Yorkshire Road NE, were held Wednesday at Westview Cemetery. Dr. F. W. Widmer officiated. Mr. McDaniel, a native of Chattanooga, died Monday. He had been a laboratory statistician for the International Mineral Corp. for 33 years. He spent 18 years in Chicago before returning to Atlanta in 1960. As a World War II Air Force veteran, Mr. McDaniel flew 50 missions over Germany. Surviving are a sister, Mrs. W. P. Stovall, Atlanta, and a brother, R. E. McDaniel, Riverdale.”

4. William Harry McDaniel (twin) was working as a book keeper in Atlanta, Georgia when he or other family reported to Woodworth. He was not married at that time.

SOURCES

Bell, Burton J., compiler and editor. 1976 Bicentennial History of Gordon County Georgia. Gordon Co. Historical Society, Calhoun, 1976. Includes the complete history of Gordon County written by Lulie Pitts. My original notes were taken from Pitts, but I cite page numbers from the Bell work. Neither work is indexed.

Jones, Ann. Rankin family researcher and granddaughter of Maggie’s sister, Mamie (Rankin) Norton.

Reeve, Jewell B. compiler. Climb the Hills of Gordon. 1962. Southern Historical Press, Easley, SC reprint 1979.

Wade, Helen Starr and Schisler, Alice (Starr). After the death of Harry Starr, Pauline (Rankin) lived a number years with these daughters. The old photos were from Pauline’s collection and most information from newspaper clippings comes from Pauline’s scrapbook.

Woodworth, Robert Bell, editor. The Descendants of Robert and John Poage (Pioneer Settlers in Augusta County, Va.): A Genealogy Based on the Manuscript Collections of Prof. Andrew Woods Williamson, Henry Martyn Williamson and John Guy Bishop. Volume One (Descendants of Robert Poage of Augusta County). Privately printed by The McClure Printing Company, Staunton, Va. 1954

Home: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lksstarr/
Linda Sparks Starr copyright (c) 2010