John Rankin 1790
John Rankin 1790
John
Rankin (c1750-1790)
of Augusta County, Virginia
Compiled and copyrighted June
2010 by Linda Sparks Starr
John, the third son but fourth child of George Rankin and Martha, lived all
his life on his father’s plantation on the banks of Middle
River. His baptism wasn’t entered into Rev. John
Craig’s extant birth register (ended in 1749) which is the basis
for John’s estimated birth of “from late 1749 through
1751” which seems to be accepted by all researchers. He was thus
around ten years old when his father died early in 1760. Per his father’s will,
John received “the Lower third
of the Plantation together with a Childs part of the moveables.”
George’s will continued: “I appoint that the Plantation with proper
Instruments for tillage be undivided till the Children is of age and
the Benefit the place to before the use of the family and Education of
the younger Children.”
As the youngest of the three sons who each received one-third of the
undivided plantation, it fell to John to live up to this clause.
John paid the 1787 personal property tax for his brothers James and
Robert; thus we can reasonably assume they lived on the tract John
inherited per their father’s 1760 will. Brother William
lived nearby, if not with them, for all four were visited by the tax
collector the same day. [Schreiner Yantis-Love page 125;
141]
John is a more interesting subject than one first expects. Militia duty
was required of all able-bodied males between the ages of roughly 16
and 50. But John Rankin’s name doesn’t appear on any
of the extant lists found by this researcher. Is this a simple omission
by the recording officers or was there a physical reason he was excused
from duty? Yet he seems the nominal head of this family after the
death of eldest brother Thomas in 1787. William was older, but
perhaps his wanderlust was already apparent to the court officials. As
early as 1783 John, not William, was appointed to value the estate of
Samuel Hamilton along with neighbors George Crawford and John
Crawford. [Chalkley vol. iii p. 165 citing Will Book VI p.
282] And then when brother Thomas died without a will, the
Augusta County Probate Court appointed John and Thomas’s widow,
Mary, administrators of the estate. [Chalkley vol. i p. 251 citing
Order Book 18 September 1787 p. 398; Lloyd Rankin cites Order Bk 20 for
this] In connection with the lawsuit Young vs Patterson Thomas
Patterson in his
deposition assured everyone that John fully complied with all
requests made to him with respect to his father’s estate. Thus
John seems to be the person everyone deemed the head of this Rankin
family.
Between 1782 and 1789 John paid the Land Tax on his 110 acre legacy
from his father. The Alterations and Partitions Section of the
1790 land tax list reflects the transfer “by John Rankin to James Rankin 55
acres [and] by John Rankin to
Robert Rankin 55 acres.” [Sparacio pages 22; 68; 13;
55; 106] John, by his will dated 4 January 1790, gave
“my brothers, James and Robert
Rankin, my land, negroes and personal estate equally divided ... they
shall clear my brother Thomas’ heirs of what debt his
estate is in at present to my father’s estate or heirs and pay
ten shillings [each] to ...
my brother William, my sister Jane Bell, my sister Mary Young or her
heirs.” [Prichard p. 20 citing Augusta Co. Will Book
7 p. 200] He appointed James and Robert executors and they
entered the will for probate at the 16 February 1790 Court
Session. The Court appointed his neighbors, John Craig, Jno
Crawford and James Craig to appraise the estate; their report was
returned to the Court session of 26 March 1790. [Chalkley vol.
iii citing Will Book VI p. 187; 215]
SOURCES
Augusta County Chancery Suit Young
vs Patterson, dated Nov. 1793, located in Draw 448 Judgment.
Chalkley, Lyman, abstracter. Chronicles
of Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia: Augusta County 1745-1800
in three volumes. Genealogical Publishing Co.
Baltimore. Also see: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~chalkley/
Prichard, A. M. researcher. Rankin
Relations.
Schreiner-Yantis, Netti and Love, Florene, compilers. The Personal Property Tax Lists for the
Year 1787 for Augusta County, Virginia. Genealogical Books
in Print, 1987.
Sparacio, Ruth and Sparacio, Sam publishers. Augusta County, Virginia Land Tax Books
1782-1788 The Antient Press. 1997. Land Tax Books 1788-1790.
Wilson, Howard McKnight, author / compiler. The Tinkling Spring: Headwater of Freedom.
1954. Appendix F: Record of Baptisms 1740-1749.
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Linda Sparks Starr copyright (c) 2010