Ainsworth-Where did the name come from???

 We have wondered for ages where the name Ainsworth came from.  Well known is that William Ainsworth Rankin, Sr. and William Ainsworth Rankin, Jr. got their name from Major Ainsworth Rankin. But was their another Ainsworth before the Major??

                                                   

William Ainsworth Rankin,Jr. 

WHAT’S IN A NAME???

Bill often spoke of his dislike for his middle name, Ainsworth.  Bill was named after his father, William Ainsworth Rankin, Sr.                                     

William Ainsworth Rankin, Sr.

His father’s middle name, Ainsworth, must have come from his uncle, Ainsworth Hanna Rankin a major in the Army, who also did not like the name Ainsworth. Major Rankin always used the nickname “DOC.”  He even signed his drawings “Doc.”

                                                  

Ainsworth Hanna Rankin

But he wasn’t a doctor; his father James Banks Rankin was a medical doctor.  So, where the name Ainsworth came from was not known. It was a family mystery yet to be solved.  But at least we now have one clue.      

James Banks Rankin

While doing research on James Banks Rankin’s wife’s siblings, I found that her older sister, Agnes Jane Hanna, married Thomas Hugh McKinn in 1880 in Ireland. They had one daughter and four sons all born in the Dublin area of Ireland.  One of their sons was named Henry Ainsworth McKinn, born April 30, 1886.  He immigrated to the New York, Ellis Island on Dec. 11, 1906 at age 19.  His name on the roster was spelled Ainsworth MacKinn.   He left Londonderry on board the Caledonia Steamship on December 1, 1906 with only $20 in his pocket. He was met at the NY harbor by his brother Thomas MacKinn who was living in Harlem, NY at the time.   

                                                    

Incoming list from Caledonia Steamship #23 enlarged below

                                                             

(Outward Passenger List spelled his name differently: Ainsworth H Mackin)

In 1917 Ainsworth had a position as an advertiser for a San Francisco Newspaper but in June he traveled to Vancouver BC to apply for "Seaforth Highlanders of Canada-72 Regiment," a short term Canadian military expedition force.   On this document his name is listed as Ainsworth Henry McKinn.                                      

             

He signed his name as Ainsworth Henry McKinn on his US draft registration in 1918 while living in Portland Oregon.  On the registration form he wrote Dr. James Banks Rankin of Brooklyn as his nearest relative. By that time, his brother Thomas had immigrated to Australia. 

According to the 1920 Census he was single and employed as an advertiser for a local Portland, Oregon newspaper and he was listed as Ainsworth McKinn. No further  record of a marriage or family have been located and no record of residence after 1920.  No death record either.                                    

I have searched records in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand because his brothers immigrated from Ireland to those three places.  Only Thomas Baird McKinn had a family with children in Australia that I can identify at this time.  I didn’t find any live cousins that could share more information on this family.  

Research often starts with guessing, so I am going to suggest that Ainsworth and Thomas McKinn visited with the Rankin family in Brooklyn sometime after they arrived in the US.  I’m thinking Louise Children Hanna Rankin must have been very excited to have her sister Agnes’ sons choose to come to the US. They may have spent some time with her four children, especially with the youngest, Ainsworth Hanna Rankin, (born November of 1896), who was about 9 years old at that time. The cousins probably had good times together. 

Another Clue: 

Recently while searching through a box of stamp collection files, I found a small envelope cancelled with a Belfast, Ireland stamp.  Most of the envelopes in this box were saved over the years for the stamp collection, but with nothing inside. But this one did have a letter inside.  Intrigued by the date of 1908 I realized the value of family history that would be revealed in and documented in this prized letter.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        The envelope was addressed to Mrs. J. B. Rankin which is Louisa Chilton Hanna Rankin, wife of James Banks Rankin.  The letter was address                            "My dear ones in America.” It was dated October 1^st, 1908 and was signed,

 “Your affectionate Sister and Aunt Amy”.  

                            

Louise Chilton Hanna Rankin

Sarah Amelia Hanna (Amy)

                    

Reading it over and over to decipher the unique handwriting, the family news she shared proved a valuable addition to our understanding of the family interaction during the early years of the Rankin family in Brooklyn. 

The last sentence in this letter mentions the fact that ”Ainsworth is away to North West Canada”.  She is referring to Ainsworth McKinn, her nephew, and Louisa’s nephew, which fixes the date he is in Canada and shows she has been receiving written communication with him since he immigrated to USA in 1906. Earlier in the letter, she mentions that Ainsworth’s mother, Agnes, passed away after a long illness while staying at Amy’s home.  From the Family Pedigree Tree the year of Agnes’ death was 1906, so this was a fairly recent emotional event for the Hanna family. In addition, Amy mentions in her letter Ainsworth’s brother, John passed away recently.  The Family Tree also documents John’s death as March of 1908 in Cambridge, New Zealand.  We might assume that his father, Thomas Hugh McKinn had also passed away some time earlier. Thomas Hugh McKinn and family show up on the 1901 census of Dublin, Ireland. But no records beyond that date have been found for the Thomas Hugh McKinn family members in Ireland.   

It appears that Amy is aware  and very caring about Hanna/Rankin family matters. In addition to addressing Rankin family members in her letter, she shares information about Ainsworth’s brothers, Thomas Baird (who immigrated to New York in 1904 and later to Australia around 1911) and Hugh Hanna (who immigrated to Canada in 1906) and their mother who she calls "dear Aggie".                                           

Agnes Jane Hanna McKinn

                                                           

Now we still are not sure if Ainsworth McKinn was named after another relative. Maybe he was named after a village in England.  It is much harder to trace family history back farther than 1800....we will continue to search...Every person is important!  Wish we had his photo!

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Wikipedia tells us that Ainsworth is derived from a family name of Ain and the word “Worth” which stands for “enclosure” or area homestead.  There is a Coat of Arms for Ainsworth and a town in Northern England with that name.

  Ainsworth, Greater Manchester

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Ainsworth (archaically known as Cockend^[1]) is a small village—effectively a suburb—within Radcliffe, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England.^[2] It lies on the western fringe of Bury, 2.2 miles (3.5 km) northwest of Radcliffe, and 2.9 miles (4.7 km) east of Bolton. The city of Manchester is 8.7 miles (14.0 km) south-southeast of Ainsworth.