Rankin, William bio

History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co., Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 927, Vermont Township
Wm. Rankin, retired farmer, Vermont; was born in York Co., Pa., May 10, 1806, son of John and Martha Rankin, who moved to Jefferson Co., O., when Wm. was in his 7th year; the latter worked a short time as a miller; he married Miss Sarah, daughter of Robert and Martha Mercer, and they have had 13 children. In 1847 the family settled in this township, near where Vermont now is; some years afterward he bought 35 acres of land, which he has subsequently increased to a much greater amount and is now in affluence. Children - John, Rhodes, Jane (dec.), Martha, who married Charles Branson, of Woodland tp., Olive (?) A., who married Wm. Hall; Alice, who married Henry Taylor, Emily (dec.), Julia A. (dec.), James (dec.) and Charles D.