Warren H. Rankin

As printed in 1902

WARREN H. RANKIN, Sr.

Warren H. Rankin, Sr., was born in Springfield, January 6, 1821, and was a son of George Rankin, who was a prominent character in the early history of Springfield. The father was a contractor and ‘builder and erected the old courthouse here and also the old newspaper building where the Bushnell building now stands. It was built, however, as a hotel and was known as the Exchange Hotel but later it was converted into a newspaper office. He also built the brick and stone building at No. 67 North Spring street. The year 1811 witnessed the arrival of the family in Springfield. George Rankin was a native of Virginia and there made his home until his removal to this state in 1811. The following year he joined. the American army to serve in the war of 1812. He bought land in Springfield and was the owner of a plat of ground from North street to Main street and all east of the alley to Spring street, also from the National pike and from Greenmount avenue east to Belmont avenue and south to Mill Run. He was a very prosperous man but the heirs never realized anything from the estate because of the mismanagement of guardians. George Rankin was married in 1821 to Sarah Meadows, who was connected with the Lyons and Meadows families of Virginia, prominent and early settlers of that state represented by loyal American soldiers of the Revolutionary war.

Unto George Rankin and his wife were born ten children: ‘Cyrus, who went south in 1840, became a captain in the Confederate army during the Civil war and has never been heard from since; Charles died in Clark county; William died in Columbus; Warren H. is the subject of this review; Mary Jane and Lorenza Dow are the next younger of the family; Eliza A. is living in Springfield; George is deceased; John makes his home in Moorefield township, Clark county: and Joseph died in childhood. The family is noted for longevity. The children received good educational privileges, fitting them ‘for life's practical duties. All were born at the family home on Spring street. John was a soldier in the Civil war and his son William became a soldier in the Spanish-American war. On the material side the Rankins come of German lineage and of Scotch ancestry on the paternal side. George Rankin died in 1852 when about sixty-four years of age, his birth having occurred in 1788 and he was buried in the northwest corner lot in the Columbia street cemetery. After his death his wife purchased ten acres of land in Moorefield township and there made her home until her death, in 1866, when she was laid to rest-in Greemount cemetery-

Farther back than the first generation, however, could Warren H. Rankin trace his ancestry, for the family was founded in America by James Rankin, who was a native of Scotland. Coming to the United States he settled in Virginia on the banks of the James river near Stanton, Augusta county. He brought with him his six sons and three daughters. He had considerable money which he invested in land and slaves in the Old Dominion, but his sons did not like the portion of the state in which they were

As printed in A Biographical Record of Clark County Ohio (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.