William Robert Williams

Notes:

!SOURCE: (1) Ellis Co, TX Marriage Records, Book D, Page 105. (2) 1860 Ellis
Co, TX Census, Waxahachie Post Office, Dwelling 365. (3) 1870 Ellis Co, TX
Census, Dwelling 14, Family 17, Page 302. (4) 1880 Ellis Co TX Census, ED 49,
Dwelling 489.

!NOTE: Bought land on Onion Creek, 3/4 mile NE of Rankin Chapel, about 1 Nov
1886, from J.C. Stallworth. Later deeded to N.B. Rankin. Ellis Co Brand Book A,
page 92, #1369, Reg. 1 May 1876, trans. 9 Feb 1880 to R.M.C. Gartin.

William married Mollie E. Prestridge on 4 Feb 1879 in Ellis Co, TX. Mollie was born about 1855 in MS; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Jr. William Robert Williams was born in Apr 1880 in Ellis Co, TX; and died.
2. Thomas J. Williams was born in Dec 1884 in TX; and died.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: Fact 1

Notes:

!SOURCE: (1) Raised to degree of Master Mason 11 April 1848, Mt. Moriah Lodge
#37, Cold Springs, TX. (2) 1874 Annual Return of Masonic Lodge #90, Waxahachie,
TX, listed as member.

!NOTE: (1) Taxpayer, Republic of Texas, Sabine Co 1837, in book published by
Beth & Emily Dorman, 14 W. Mountain Lane, Grand Prairie, TX 75051, published
1988. (2) Signed Ellis County Register as a loyal citizen eligible to vote 12
June 1866, #819. (3) Ellis Co Tax Rolls, 1855, Reel #1, he owned 400 acres in
Polk Co, 9 acres & 2 1/2 acres in Navarro Co. Also, 1 negro, 30 horses and 100
cattle.

George married Harriet Rankin about 1843 in TX. Harriet (daughter of Frederick Harrison Rankin and Elizabeth Smith) was born about 1823 in Liberty, Co. Texas; died in Ellis Co. Texas - Buried Myrtle Cem.. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: Fact 1

Notes:

!SOURCE:
(1) 1826 Atascosito District, TX Census, page 5.

!NOTE:
(1) 1826 Census gives Harriet's age as 3, born in Texas.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: Fact 1

Notes:

[update july.ftw]

The Coldspring United Methodist Church; Its 1858 Santuary is believed to be the oldest Methodist Church in continous use in Texas today. The church actually was organized in 1848 with a gift of of land donated by Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Rankin to the congregation. Among the trustees named to receive the gift from the well known Indian agent of Sam Houston's was Henderson Yoakum who later published two volumes of Texas History that are still used for reference by present day scholars.

Facts about this person:

Fact 1 1822
came to texas as one of Stephen F Austin's Three Hundred

Source: update july.ftw
Medium: Other
Date of Import: Apr 2, 1999

Fact 2
He was issued a league of land on San Jacinto Bay in Harris county.

Source: update july.ftw
Medium: Other
Date of Import: Apr 2, 1999

Fact 3
He later settled in Ellis county and built the community of Rankin

Source: update july.ftw
Medium: Other
Date of Import: Apr 2, 1999

Fact 4 1936
The state honored Fredrick and Elizabeth by erecting a monument over their grave

Source: update july.ftw
Medium: Other
Date of Import: Apr 2, 1999

RANKIN, FREDERICK HARRISON (1794-1874). Frederick Harrison Rankin, son of Margaret "Peggy" (Berry) and Robert Rankin,qv was born in Kentucky on February 15, 1794. He lived in Alabama and Mississippi before coming to Texas in 1822. On July 7, 1824, as one of Stephen F. Austin'sqv Old Three Hundredqv colonists, he received title to a sitio and a labor of land in what later became Harris County. The census of March 1826 listed him as a farmer and stock raiser with a household including his wife, Elizabeth "Polly" (Smith), two sons, and three servants. Rankin had eight children. His house at the head of the San Jacinto River was a polling place in October 1830. After several years he moved near to Spring Creek and in 1832 to Polk County. He attended a meeting of "Old Texians" held in Houston in March 1849 to recommend quieting of land titles in the state. In 1850 he was Undisclosed in Polk County. He subsequently resided in Navarro County and in 1874 was Undisclosed on Chambers Creek in Ellis County. He later purchased the Ellis County property, eighteen miles south of Waxahachie, and settled there. He died on July 2, 1874, and was buried in Myrtle Cemetery at Ennis. In 1936 the Texas Centennialqv Commission erected a monument at his grave.

Frederick married Elizabeth Smith about 1822 in Louisana. Elizabeth was born on 30 Jan 1802 in Louisana; died on 1 Jun 1894 in Ennis, Ellis Co. Texas - Buried Myrtle Cem.. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact 1: Fact 1

Notes:

!NOTE:
(1) Father: William Smith. Parents believed born in England.
(2) According to the membership application of Mary Frances Noel to the Society
of Colonial Dames, William Smith's death date was 6 June 1882.
(3) Cattle Brand No. 375, Brand Book A, page 26, dated 25 April 1853.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Category: American Revolution Heroes, Texas Revolution Heroes, Texas Pioneers

Notes:

Colonel Robert Rankin, was the first County Clerk of Mason County when the first court was convened at his home, May 26, 1789, in the town of Washington, KY, then VA. In 1817, Colonel Rankin and his wife were residents of Jefferson City, Mississippi Territory. Both died in Texas.

Burial December 01, 1837
Frederick Co, VA

Full Name: Robert Rankin Location:
Veteran, American Revolution; Veteran, War of 1812; Veteran, Republic of Texas Birth Date: 1753 Died: November 13, 1837 Buried: Reinterred June 11, 1936

Biography:
RANKIN, ROBERT (1753-1837). Revolutionary War veteran Robert Rankin was born in the colony of Virginia in 1753. He entered the service of the Continental Army in 1776 with the Third Regiment of the Virginia line and participated in the battles of Germantown, Brandywine, and Stony Point, as well as the siege of Charleston, where he was captured; he remained a prisoner of war until exchanged, at which time he received a promotion to lieutenant. On October 1, 1781, during a furlough, he married Margaret (Peggy) Berry in Frederick County, Virginia. He returned to active duty on October 15 and served until the war's end. Robert and Margaret Rankin had three daughters and seven sons, one of whom was Frederick Harrison Rankin. The family moved to Kentucky in 1784. In 1786 Rankin was named by the Virginia legislature as one of nine trustees for the newly established town of Washington, in Bourbon County (later Mason County), Kentucky. In 1792 he served as a delegate from Mason County to the Danville Convention, which drafted the first constitution of Kentucky. He also became an elector of the Kentucky Senate of 1792. The last mention of Rankin in Mason County, Kentucky, is in the 1800 census. The Rankins moved to Logan County, Kentucky, in 1802 and to the Tombigbee River in Mississippi Territory in 1811; the area of their home eventually became Washington County, Alabama. Four of the Rankin sons fought in the War of 1812. The family suffered a severe financial reversal around 1819-20, probably in conjunction with land speculation and the panic of 1819. In July 1828 Rankin first made an application for a pension for his Revolutionary War service.

In 1832 the Rankins moved to Joseph Vehlein's colony in Texas, along with the William Butler and Peter Cartwright families. Rankin was issued a certificate of character by Jesse Grimes on November 3, 1834, as required by the Mexican government. He applied for a land grant in Vehlein's colony on November 13 of the same year and received a league and labor in October 1835. The town of Coldspring, San Jacinto County, is located on Rankin's original grant. Rankin had the reputation of being a just and diplomatic man. He was a friend of Sam Houston, and his influence with the Indians in the region was well known. Houston reputedly called upon him in the spring of 1836 to encourage neutrality among the Indians during the crucial Texan retreat toward San Jacinto. Toward the end of 1836 Rankin became ill, and he and his wife moved to St. Landry parish, Louisiana, where he died on November 13, 1837. His body was brought back to the family home near Coldspring, in the new Republic of Texas, and buried in the old Butler Cemetery. In 1936 he was reinterred at the State Cemetery in Austin. His widow lived in Texas with her sons, William and Frederick, in Polk, Montgomery, and Liberty counties until her death sometime after December 1852.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Louis Wiltz Kemp Papers, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin. Veterans Administration Records, U.S. National Archives, Washington.
(Research):Colonel Richard Robert Rankin is buried in Texas State Cemetary behind the statue of Stephen Austin. His body was moved from Cold Springs Texas and reinterred in Austin in the State Cemetary. He was advisor and friend and neighbor of Sam Houston. He was the only officer of the Continental Army to die and be buried in Texas.

Robert Rankin(s) b King George Co. VA 1753 m Margaret Berry in Frederick Co. VA. In Rev War pension application he says he is a "near kinsman" of John Marshall (Sup Crt J.). He moved to Mason Co. Ky with the Thomas Marshall family after the war and named a son John Keith Rankin.

Robert married Margaret (Peggy) Kendall Berry on 1 Oct 1781 in Fredrick County, Virginia. Margaret (daughter of Captain Thomas Berry and Frances Ann Kendall) was born on 16 Feb 1756 in Frederick Co. Virginia; died about 12 Mar 1844 in Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Category: Texas Pioneers
• Fact 1: Fact 1
• Name: Peggy

Notes:

Facts about this person:

Fact 1 October 25, 1841
petioned the 6th congress to manumit her slave Inez and her 3 children.

Source: update july.ftw
Medium: Other
Date of Import: Apr 2, 1999