Person:George Rankin (12)

http://www.rankinfamily.org/Rankins%20of%20NC/Rowan%20County/The%20Rankins%20of%20Rowan%20County%20(676-708).htm

The Second Generation: The Family of

George Rankin and Lydia Steele

What we known of George Rankin comes to us from two sources. First is the county-level records in Rowan and Guilford counties in North Carolina. The second source is the handwritten autobiography of their son, Rev. John Rankin, which he penned in his 88th year.

George Rankin we know was a son of Robert Rankin, Sr. for his father lists him as such in his will of 1795. This is confirmed by the autobiography of Rev. John Rankin which further states that George was born in Ireland thus emigrating with his parents to the New World. He states:

"My parents emigrated from Ireland to the State of Pennsylvania and County of Lancaster in their youth, my mother, Lydia Steele, Junior, in the thirteenth year of her age; under the superintendence of my grandmother, Lydia Steele, Senior, about 1746, from the County of Derry and Parish of Newton. The elder branches of the family removed before and after this period, my eldest uncle, John Steele, who was educated in Scotland, settled, a Presbyterian preacher in the town of Carlisle, with pay for life. My father, from the County of Connegal and Parish Letterkenny, came about the year 1750, having then arrived to the year of maturity. My parents, after their union, emigrated to North Carolina in the month of July, 1755, to lands purchased of the Earl of Granville by a company in Lancaster County, Pa., of which my father was a partner, about the center of Guilford County, in the vicinity of Greensboro."

The first record found concerning George Rankin is a land deal between he and his father in which Robert sells him 480 acres in Rowan County on 14 Apr 1755. This and the autobiographical statement above tell us that George was likely born just prior to Apr 1729. He was a "Road Commissioner" in 1758.

George married Lydia Steele in Pennsylvania and settled near the Buffalo Presbyterian Church. Lydia was granted 620 acres in Rowan County by Granville on 30 Jan 1761. George filed his will in Rowan County on 23 May 1760 and the will was proven on 21 Oct 1760. In it he specifies that his wife, Lydia, is to get "one third of the benefit of my plantation." He also mentions two children, both sons and both under the age of 21. Indeed, Rev. John Rankin states that "two and one-half years afterward (John’s birth), my father was removed by death and my mother left with two helpless infants." This land seems to have been primarily in that part of Rowan County which became Guilford County in 1770. Those sons:

1. Rev. John Rankin — b. 27 Nov 1757 d. 12 July 1850 (further)

2. Robert Rankin — b. 29 May 1759 d. 21 Dec 1840 (further)

The records of Buffalo Church indicate that Lydia later married Arthur Forbis, a Ruling Elder in Buffalo Church. Arthur did not live very long but did indicate four daughters in his will. Robert and John were appointed executors of the will.