Alexander Rankin 1789-1865

Previous posts listed James Rankin (Surgeon) as the earliest Rankin we could find with enough information to share.  But further research into his parents ( Alexander and Margery Banks), grandparents (William and Margaret Horn ), and great grandparents (John and Margaret Finlay) 
has led to many discoveries about our Rankin ancestry.  This blog entry will feature Alexander's family. The following blog entry will feature the rest of the story including a time line of Rankin Scottish history as far as it is recorded.

ALEXANDER RANKIN was born in November 12, 1789 to William and Margaret (Horn) Rankin at Broomfield, Barony Parish, Lanarkshire, Scotland and was Christened on November 22, 1789 at the Church of Scotland, Borony Parish, Lanarkshire, Scotland. (record copied from "Scotland Births and Baptisms 1564-1950" ) The 1861 Census records birth town as Tollcross.

Other siblings of Alex:
Margaret (July 27, 1778-) Barony, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Marion (October 26, 1780-) Sunny Hills, Barony, Lanarkshire, Scotland
William (July 10, 1783-)Barony, Lanarkshire, Scotland
James (April 27, 1788-)Broomfield, Barony, Lanarkshire, Scotland

FYI:

"Barony is: A geographic barony is a remnant from mediaeval times of the area of land held under the form of feudal land tenure termed feudal barony, or barony by tenure, either an English feudal barony, a Scottish feudal barony or an Irish feudal barony, which all operated under different legal and social system." Wikipedia

"Barony was a huge parish covering much of the present-day city of Glasgow. Maryhill, Possil & Possilpark, Springburn etc: now all part of Glasgow. Plus many more districts"

Kilmarnock- etching by D.O.Hill.    early 1800's

Alexander married Margery Banks on June 21, 1816  in Kilmarnock, Ayr, Scotland.
(Record found on "Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910") Margery is a cousin to the Reverend James Banks who was the founder of the Holms United Presbyterian Church in Kilmarnock.

Alexander and Margery had 4 children all born at Kilmarnock:
(1841 Scotland Census- 71 Titchfield Street)

William  (1816-1873)
Margary (1829-1884)
James  (1831-1905)
Annie  (1834-)

 Since there is a wide gap between some siblings, there may have been other children that died in infancy.

Alexander died on 19 March 1865, Kilmarnock. Margery died May 5, 1868.

Alex's profession on his death record is listed as a twister. It is recorded on his son  William's death record, Alexander is again listed as a twister.  From James' death record we learn that a twister is a handloom weaver.

Alexander's wife, Margery Jean, listed occupation is Pirn Winder on the 1841 Scotland Census
Their daughter Marjory is listed as an apprentice cotton hand loom weaver.
Also at  the same address is John Rankin (age 65) is a journeyman cotton hand loom weaver.
He is most likely Alexander's uncle.

FYI: A description of hand loom weaving:

"A pirn is a spool or reel on which a thread or yarn is wound.  A pirn winding wheel  was used. Pirn filling was a job done  for a weaver. Generally women would do this work at home,  the weaver calling for them when his stock was exhausted.  The pirn would be inserted into the shuttle and woven  between the warp until empty when a new one would be inserted." " Like many people in Kilmarnock at this time, he was a hand loom  weaver of worsted cloth. Worsted is made from smooth compactly  spun yarn. Long fibered wool is combed and spun using an average  to hard twist in the spinning. The fabric is napless and tightly woven.  Worsted is used for clothing, like suits. A pirn winder, had the monotonous job of winding the yarn onto the reel that is loaded into the shuttle

History of the local area explains the rise of the textile industry:
"Proximity to Glasgow also stimulated the Barony's industrial potential. Coal mining was associated first with Camlachie and then far more profitably with the Shettleston area. By the 1760s steam engines were operating in Shettleston's collieries, preventing them from becoming waterlogged. Textiles were another of the Barony's great growth areas. Calton, in the east, and Anderston, in the west, had become flourishing handloom weaving villages by the mid-18th century. Other increasingly populous textile villages were Bridgeton, Grahamston, Finnieston, North Woodside and Parkhead. By the 1790s the number of Barony inhabitants had risen to 18,500 and the parish had acquired a distinctly urban profile." http://www.theglasgowstory.com

This post office page for Kilmarnock shows James at 60 Portland Street, 

his brother William at 122 King Street

Kilmarnock City Directory for 1846/7 lists Alexander as a Druggist and a Twister, 

living at 71 Titchfield Street.

Not sure the label as a Druggist is accurate 

This post card shows where Porter and King Street crossed.  

The "Wm Rankin and Son" you see on the sign actually belong to the wine and spirit merchants listed above at address 96 King Street and 1 Portland St.  (not our William) 

More old photos of Kilmarnock can be found at : http://www.oldscotlandphotos.co.uk/kilmarnock-2/  or

http://www.old-picture.com/pics/europe/000/Kilmarnock-Scotland-cross-The.htm or

https://www.google.com/search?q=kilmarnock+scotland+images

Alexander's children: 

1) William (1816-1873) married Mary Gibson (1814-) on June 21, 1839 and had 11 children
all born in Kilmarnock.  (1861 and 1871  and 1881 Scotland Census--also some information gathered from Ancestry.com family trees may not be completely accurate)
Mary (1840-1909)
Alexander (1841-1914)
Margery (1843-1911)
Jeanie (1845-1917)
Ann (1848-1928)
Peter (1850-1922)
Jessie (1852-1855)
William (1855-)
Margaret (1859-)
Sarah (1861-1862)
Elizabeth Galt (1861-)


2) Margery (1829-1884) married William Macskimming April 29, 1851 in Kilmarnock.
They had 3 children:
Alexander Rankin ( 1854-)
Marjory Banks (1855-)
Isabella Mary (1859-)
Margery also married John Sym (1826-1889) Sept. 1870 They had one son:
Robert Sym in 1871

3) James (1831-1905) married Margaret McClymont on June 18, 1858 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire
They had 7 children:
Margaret Ingleton (1859-1861
Alexander (1859-1861)
John McClymont (1860-1864)
Alexander (1861-) married Caroline and moved to Leeds, Yorkshire England
James Banks (1863-1946) married Louise Chilton Hanna in 1891
John Rankin (1866-1867)
Agnes Marjory Banks (1868-) married Walter Todd in 1902

4) Annie  (1834-),  no further information

James is our direct line through his son James Banks Rankin (see previous posts for these two)

FYI Kilmarnock:

"Kilmarnock has origins that probably go back more than a thousand years, but it owes its transformation from market town to major industrial hub to one man, William Boyd, Lord Kilmarnock. He made the mistake of backing the Jacobites in the 1745 uprising and, as a result, on 18 August 1746 he was beheaded in London.

As well as his head, Lord Kilmarnock's misjudgement also cost his family estates, which were seized by the Crown. The result was a removal of any real control over development in Kilmarnock. In the free-for-all that followed, entrepreneurs flocked here to make their fortunes.

The town had long made an income from weaving, and this expanded dramatically, making an early name for itself in the production of bonnets. In 1728 Maria Gardiner started manufacturing carpets and blankets in Kilmarnock on hand looms, using spinners and weavers she had brought in from Dalkeith. (Edinburgh  area)  Bonnets and carpets remained staple products of the town thereafter, with several thousand people being employed in the local textile industry by the early 1800s.

Kilmarnock's associations with the railways began as early as 1812, when the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway was built by the Duke of Portland to move coal mined from his land around Kilmarnock to Troon for shipment. Wagons were drawn by horses and by law only freight could be carried, so anyone wanting to make the journey was weighed and charged at freight rates."

https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/kilmarnock/kilmarnock/index.html

For history of the town to now http://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/207416#

About a mile from Kilmarnock is Dean's castle: http://www.kilmarnock.com/dean.html  for Dean Castle photos and info

https://youtu.be/n2t6lQuDH-o  for video of Dean’s castleHD video featuring Dean Castle and the Country Park kindly provided by Coast-TV Scotland.

Below is a recent drone HD video of Dean Castle, Kilmarnock, kindly provided by Colourwheel Media, a creative company located in the Dean Castle Country https://youtu.be/c9RZkQp0wqU

The Robert Burns Centre stands on a nearby  hill  commemorating the fact that the first Robert Burns book was published in Kilmarnock and is now rare and very valuable.

The next blog addresses the questions..where were Alexander's parents and grandparents from? What brought them to Kilmarnock? Where does the name Rankin come from?