Thomas R. Rankin

THOMAS RICHARD RANKIN.

For over fifty years Mr. Thomas R. Rankin, of this review, has been one of the leading business men of Burlington. There is no man in the city at this writing who has a record equal to his. He has not only witnessed, but has aided largely in, the growth and development of the city, and has been among the first to assist in any public good. He is a man of nearly fourscore years, yet is as active and ambitious as though he was just making a start on his business career, and is proud to show a continuous pay-roll which is now over fifty-two years old.

Mr. Rankin is a son of William and Catherine (Gault) Rankin, and was born in Sevier county, east Tennessee, Dec. 11, 1827. His ancestry dates back to the times of the Revolution, as his grandfather. Richard Rankin, was the father of ten sons and one daughter, of whom the following four enlisted in the War of 1812 with their father, and served under General Jackson: Thomas, David, William, and Samuel Steele. David was killed in battle with the Indians in Alabama, at Horseshoe Bend, on the Tallahassee River. There were also fort\'-two men who were grandsons and great-grandsons of his grandfather who participated in the Civil War, six of whom were of his uncle John's family; also one grandson. This uncle was called the father of Abolitionism, and wrote a book called "Rankin's Letters on Slavery," by which Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison were converted to Abolitionism. It was through personal contact with slaves that Mr. Rankin wrote these letters to his brother Thomas, entreating him to free all slaves in his possession, which he did at the time of his death. This uncle of our subject, John Rankin, was a Presbyterian minister, and gave most of the characters in L'ncle Tom's Cabin to Harriet Beecher Stowe, and it was in his home at Ripley, on the beautiful Ohio River, where Eliza Harris, of this good old book, sought refuge, and Mr. Rankin has a picture of the same in his possession of which he is justly proud. His grandfather also had four sons who were Presbyterian ministers: John: William C, father of Thomas R.; Alexander T.: a;-id Robert H. He also was the father of four sons who were elders in the Presbyterian church.

The father of Mr. Rankin was born June I, 1795, in east Tennessee, and in 1833 went to North Carolina, where he remained four years. He then went to Indiana, and after a residence of four years removed to Iowa in 1841. He had a charge in Yellow Springs township, Des Moines county until 1842; was in Marian, Linn county, until 1844; in Plymouth, Hancock county, Ill., for a year, and then settled in Ouincy, Ill., where he remained until 1872, after which he came to Burlington, Iowa. He died in Farmington, Iowa, March 7, 1889, at the advanced age of ninety-four years. He was married five times, and was the father of seven children by his first wife, in the early years when he began his study for the ministry at Maryville College, east Tennessee. The first wife was of Scotch-Irish descent, as were also the Rankins, and died when Thomas was only six months old. Of the seven children born of the first union our subject is the only one living. John G., brother of Thomas, went from the Alission Institute, in Ouincy, to Lane Seminary, in Ohio, where he studied theology under Lyman Beecher, the father of Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Elizabeth C. Rankin, a daughter of the third marriage, is now Mrs. J. W. Kennedy, and resides in Chicago.

Our subject was educated in the mission Institute, in Ouincy, Ill., which turned out many men and women who were not able to attend pay schools. There was a cracker factory in connection with this institute, in order that the boys might have work, and it was here that Mr. Rankin learned the baker's trade, at which he worked from 1844 to 1852 in Quincy. Coming to Burlington in the fall of 1852 he built a bake-shop on IMain Street, adjoining what is now the Pauly house, the oven being built by Simeon Russell, one of the first men;\Mr. Rankin became acquainted with in Burlington. S. C. Treat was associated in business with him, making the candy and bread, while Mr. Rankin made the crackers. In 1855 they moved around on Xorth Third Street, and continued until 1857, when Mr. S. E. Taylor, who now resides in Beatrice, Nebr., bought out Mr. Treat. They made several changes, also being in the old Ransom house, on Jefferson Street, from ieS6i to 1868, and were also largely engaged in the shipping of fruits and vegetables. In 1870 they sold out their bakery to Seamen and Harry Kendall, and Mr. Rankin entered into partnership with Gus Dodtre in the fruit business on

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She is actively connected with the Congic national church, of which they are both memljers, the benevolent fund of which Mr. Rankin has had charge of since 1870, and has been an honored deacon for the past ten years. In politics he has given his allegiance to the Republican party, but has never aspired to any office. He is a memlK'r of the Royal Arcanum. He was not a soldier in the Civil War, though he was in N'vicksburg for about four months, where he and.Mr. Taylor took turns baking for the Thirtyfourth Iowa Infantry.

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As printed in Biographical review of Des Moines County, Iowa (1905). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.