MARTIN RANKIN is of Hibernian ancestry, his grandfather, John Rankin, having been born near Belfast, in County Down, Ireland. He was married in the old country, where his only son, John, was born and reared to manhood. The latter was married to Miss Kate Martin, a native of the same place, and the young people (accompanied by the elder Rankin) then immigrated to America. John and Kate (Martin) Rankin located on a farm of eighty acres in Allegheny county, Penn., where children were born to them as follows: Mary J., Charlotte, Ellen, William, John A., Andrew, Edward, Joseph and Martin. Martin Rankin, whose name introduces this sketch, was born June 17, 1835, on the pioneer farm in Allegheny county, Penn. He was married to Appalonia, daughter of Jerry Stilley, a resident of Allegheny county, and they settled on a farm near Gill Hall, in that county. In 1876 he purchased 181 acres in Union township, this county, where they are yet living, and in addition to general farming he conducts a profitable dairy, keeping about twenty cows. Politically he is an earnest advocate of the principles embodied in the Republican party. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Martin Rankin: Albert, Edward, Sarah, Linnie, Lewis, George, John and William.

Text taken from page 1273 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed January 1997 by Sharon McConnell of Fontana, CA as part of the Beers Project. Published January 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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