Robert Rankin in uniform

Hester Ann (Minerd) Rankin was born on April 20, 1842 in Wharton Township, Fayette County, PA, one of 11 children of James and Sarah (Walters) Minerd Sr. 

Her husband was a wounded veteran of the Civil War.

On July 17, 1859, at the age of 16, Hester was united in holy matrimony with 23-year-old Robert Rankin (1836-1918). The ceremony was performed at Summit House, site of today's Summit Hotel, in the mountains along the National Road high above Uniontown, PA. Robert did not his exact age or the date on which he was born.

Robert stood 5 feet 9 inches tall, with blue eyes and brown hair.

Hester and Robert together produced a family of 10 children -- John William Rankin, Sarah Jane Addis, James Henry Rankin, Marinda King, Elizabeth Ann Rankin, Minerva Rankin, Alfred Rankin, Margaret Ann Fike, George Washington Rankin and Robert Alexander Rankin.

In year two of the war, Robert enlisted in Battery K of the 2nd Pennsylvania Artillery on Aug. 25, 1862. While in action on June 18, 1864, during a charge on the enemy's entrenched line near Petersburg, VA, he was shot in the right leg below the knee.  So many soldiers ran past, tripping over him as he sat, that he dug a hole and temporarily buried his leg until he could be evacuated. 

He was sent to the Corps Hospital at Point of Rocks, VA and then to Hampton Hospital, VA, where the ball was removed from his leg.  In August 1864, he was transferred to David's Island, NY for treatment, and then was moved to Haddington Hospital, Philadelphia, where he reported after returning home on furlough.  

Robert's grave, Elliotsville

Later, Robert was sent to Satterlee General U.S. Hospital in West Philadelphia and stayed there for the remainder of the war. Several other cousins, among them Ephraim Miner, also was at Satterlee during that period of time. Robert was discharged on June 3, 1865.

Robert returned home to Elliottsville, Fayette County.  He is said to have loved to "ramble through the woods and over the hills ... [and] always loved to help survey land.  He knew the corners of nearly every man's land in Wharton Township ... [and] was a good judge of road making."  Berries and chestnuts were plentiful for the family to gather and sell. 

Hester is seen here standing in the doorway of their primitive mountain home.  A daughter in law once complained that the house "was just weather boarded up and did not have any fire places, only had a wood stove, and had no paper on the walls, and no carpet on the floor...."  She added that snow and rain came through the cracks in the walls.

Over the years, Robert's leg became infected and bone shards made their way to the skin's surface.  Initially he received a pension of $4 a month which later increased to $12 a month.

Over the Christmas/New Year's holiday of 1887-1888, three of his children died of diphtheria.

Hester in the doorway of their home

Later, he gave his surviving adult children land for their own homes.

Robert was among 350 Civil War soldiers who attended the 16th annual reunion of the Fayette County Veterans' Association in Uniontown on Oct. 5, 1916. Several were his wife's cousins, among them Reuben Leonard of Ohiopyle, Isaac F. Minerd of Dunbar, Ephraim Miner of Markleton, John Freeman Rockwell of Hopwood and George Washington Turner of Ohiopyle. In a front page story, the Herald said that the:

...veterans enjoyed the occasion immensely as it afforded them the opportunity of renewing acquaintanceships and of reviving memories of the stirring days when the unity of the nation was at stake...  Enrollment of veterans began at 8 o'clock at the Municipal building and continued until 10 o'clock when the program proper opened with the blowing of the assembly call by J.W. Frankenberry, who was the bugler of Company C, Tenth Regiment, in the Philippines and the official bugler of the Veterans' association. this was followed by the singing of 'America' by the comrades and prayer by Chaplain F.M. Cunningham, of Ohiopyle. Minutes of the preceding meeting were read by Secretary C.L. Smith. The mayor made the address of welcome, saying the city was turned over to the veterans for the day... Adjournment was taken at 12 o'clock, the veterans forming for a parade over the main streets to the Third Presbyterian church where dinner was served... The rations served the "vets" were much better than they had while fighting to crush the Confederacy, consisting of baked beans, assorted sandwiches, pickles, cheese, peaches, apples, bananas and coffee. About 400 partook of the good things to eat, ten long tables being used. The church dining room was decorated in a manner appropriate to the occasion with flags and bunting, beautiful dahlias gracing each table... The afternoon session was held at the church following which Will F. Stewart Post, G.A.R., held a meeting in its rooms in the Municipal building to receive and muster in new members. An exhibit of Civil war relics in the show window of the A.I. Ellis & Son music store in Morgantown street, proved a feature of great interest to veterans. Among the relics were a solid shot used at Fredericksburg in 1862, a miniature model of the type of field gun now used by the United States army made by boys under 16 in the Soldiers' Orphans Industrial home at Scotland, Pa... The conclusion of the day's program was marked by a camp fire in the evening... in the rooms of the Captain D.M. Bierer Rifle club and under the auspices of that organization.     

In the early weeks of January 1918, the 83-year-old Robert was stricken with bronchial pneumonia. He died on Jan. 16, 1918 at nearby Farmington, Fayette County.

Book naming the Rankins

A standard-issue government marker was placed at his grave and photographed by the founder of this website circa August 1995.

Hester survived him by five years. She contracted a serious case of pneumonia in the first week of January 1923. She endured the illness for nearly two months but could not rally. She succumbed at age 80 on Feb. 22, 1923. Her son George signed the official Pennsylvania certificate of death.

They rest for eternity together at Brown Cemetery near Elliottsville.

In 1993, a photograph of Hester standing on the porch of their home was published in the book, Yesteryear in Ohiopyle and Surrounding Communities, compiled by author Marci Lynn McGuinness.

Hester and Robert are mentioned, and Robert pictured, in a lavishly illustrated, 2011 book about one of her cousins who also served in the Civil War -- entitled Well At This Time: the Civil War Diaries and Army Convalescence Saga of Farmboy Ephraim Miner. [More] 

Copyright © 1996, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2011, 2019 Mark A. Miner