Person:Jean Ranc (3)

Research Notes

• Supposedly, Rev. Jean Ranc died in 1712, 2 years after his son and the same year as 2 of his son's children (suggesting possible disease in the house).

• The Ranck family was prominent in the French Protestant (Huguenot) Church. Rev. Louis Ranc was the pastor of the church at Die and sealed his faith with his life, suffering death under persecution in 1745. A relationship between Rev. Louis Ranc and Rev. Jean Ranc has not been determined.

1. ↑ Family Recorded, in Ranck, J. Allan; Ezra H. Ranck; and Harriet M. (Harriet Mae Spangler) Ranck. The Ranks of the Rancks : a Ranck - Rank family history and genealogy. (Lebanon, Pennsylvania: Privately printed, c1978).

   [When in 1685 King Louis XIV, revoked the Edict of Nantes and resumed the unbridled persecution of the Protestants, ordering all Huguenot clergymen to leave France in 14 days, Rev. Jean Ranc, then 44 years of age, fled with his family from Paris to escape the death which would undoubtedly have been their lot. When the persecution resumed with bitter vengeance, La Rochelle no longer existed as a haven and there was little political or military power to strain the vengeful King. Rev. Jean Ranc with his wife and son, Hans Valentine, fled first to the Alsatian city of Strasburg on the Rhine. It was not long until the armies of Louis recaptured the city, which throughout its history was sometimes German and sometimes French territory. The refugees had to flee even further down the Rhine to Mannheim, where the Rev. died.
   
   There is some validity to connect him to Bernadin Du Ranc, Seigneur De Vibrac. But it is impossible to make a direct connection other than to suggest that he was the younger son, cadet, who did not inherit the title.
   
   Hans Valentine was the only child of Jean Ranc and his wife whose name is known.]