| Notes |
- WILLIAM RANKIN, farmer and miller. For over forty-five years Mr. Rankin has been running the oldest and the first flouring mill establishment ever built or operated in Cooper county - the old Boyd mill on the Petite Saline. Originally it was a water mill with a capacity of but two bushels of wheat per hour and was only fifteen feet square. For this, with twenty-six acres of ground, his father paid $2,750 as far back as 1838, the water power being considered the valuable part of the property. The mill had then been run eight years, and the following year Mr. Win. Rankin commenced the erection of a new mill on the site of the old one, and completed it in 1840, then one of the largest and best mills in central Missouri. For fourteen years he run it by water power, but about 1854 added steam to it, since which it has been run by the latter power almost exclusively. It now has a capacity of over 800 bushels of grain per day, or more correctly twenty bushels of wheat and fifteen bushels of corn per hour. This mill has a wide reputation for the purity and excellence of the breadstuffs it manufactures, and is one of the noted popular mills in the county. Besides this, Mr. Rankin has an excellent farm which he conducts with substantial success. His parents, Matthew and Nancy (Smith) Rankin, were both of Irish birth, the father born near Londonderry in 1777, and his mother near Dublin in 1779. Both came to America early in life and were married in Hagerstown, Pennsylvania, in 1802. Subsequently they removed to Virginia, and there William, the subject of this sketch, was born in Winchester, Frederick county, October 20, 1806. Of four brothers and four sisters, but one brother, James, now of Hickory county, this state, is living. The father and family came to Cooper county in 1830, and here both parents lived until their deaths. In 1844, April 4, William Rankin, the subject of this sketch, was married to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of William and Susanna McFarland, of this county. Two sons were born to them: Silas, born January 9, 1845, and Robert S., born December 13, 1849. Robert S. was married May 14, 1873, to Miss Louisa Duncan, and now has three children; Maud, born February 25, 1874; Mabel, horn June 11, 1875; and Myrtle, born April 20, 1877. Both sons are identified with their father in the conduct of both the mill and farm. Mr. Rankin has sought no political office through life, nor held any except that of township collector in 1868. His son, Robert, is a member of the A. F. and A. M. and A. O. U. W.
WILLIAM RANKIN, farmer and miller. For over forty-five years Mr. Rankin has been running the oldest and the first flouring mill establishment ever built or operated in Cooper county - the old Boyd mill on the Petite Saline. Originally it was a water mill with a capacity of but two bushels of wheat per hour and was only fifteen feet square. For this, with twenty-six acres of ground, his father paid $2,750 as far back as 1838, the water power being considered the valuable part of the property. The mill had then been run eight years, and the following year Mr. Win. Rankin commenced the erection of a new mill on the site of the old one, and completed it in 1840, then one of the largest and best mills in central Missouri. For fourteen years he run it by water power, but about 1854 added steam to it, since which it has been run by the latter power almost exclusively. It now has a capacity of over 800 bushels of grain per day, or more correctly twenty bushels of wheat and fifteen bushels of corn per hour. This mill has a wide reputation for the purity and excellence of the breadstuffs it manufactures, and is one of the noted popular mills in the county. Besides this, Mr. Rankin has an excellent farm which he conducts with substantial success. His parents, Matthew and Nancy (Smith) Rankin, were both of Irish birth, the father born near Londonderry in 1777, and his mother near Dublin in 1779. Both came to America early in life and were married in Hagerstown, Pennsylvania, in 1802. Subsequently they removed to Virginia, and there William, the subject of this sketch, was born in Winchester, Frederick county, October 20, 1806. Of four brothers and four sisters, but one brother, James, now of Hickory county, this state, is living. The father and family came to Cooper county in 1830, and here both parents lived until their deaths. In 1844, April 4, William Rankin, the subject of this sketch, was married to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of William and Susanna McFarland, of this county. Two sons were born to them: Silas, born January 9, 1845, and Robert S., born December 13, 1849. Robert S. was married May 14, 1873, to Miss Louisa Duncan, and now has three children; Maud, born February 25, 1874; Mabel, horn June 11, 1875; and Myrtle, born April 20, 1877. Both sons are identified with their father in the conduct of both the mill and farm. Mr. Rankin has sought no political office through life, nor held any except that of township collector in 1868. His son, Robert, is a member of the A. F. and A. M. and A. O. U. W.
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1806 - 1895 (88 years)
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