Biography of David Ranken, Jr.

David Ranken, Jr., was born at Boystown, County Londonderry, Ireland, October 9, 1835. He was the son of David and Ann Ranken of old Scotch-Irish Presbyterian ancestry which had emigrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland several centuries ago and engaged in the linen industry, in which they were highly prosperous. He was educated in Belfast Academy, Belfast, Ireland. His mother’s last surviving brother, David Ranken, who had come to this country in 1816, died a bachelor in St. Louis in 1859, leaving a large estate which was inherited by the families of his two deceased brothers, Thomas and … Read more