This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Rankin, Darby, Steele Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/5YB.2ACE/2667 Message Board Post: John Thomas Rankin was born July 30, 1842 in Springfield, Mo., and died at the home of his niece, Mrs. Fred Hines in Rankin, Oklahoma, June 8, 1929, aged 86 years 10 months and 8 days. When a young man his father died and he was the support of hismother and two sisters doing for them all a father and brother could. The mother did not last long, but of the sisters, Mrs. Amanda Steele who had made her home here at Rankin with her brother, passed away in 1913 and Mrs. William Darby died in Salem, Oregon in 1928. Mr. Rankin came to Oklahoma in 1901 and homesteaded the farm on which Rankin was situated until 1926 when it was moved to the present site. He built the first store and established the postoffice. Perhaps no man did more for a community in such an unobtrusive way as "Uncle Tommie" as he has been effectionately called. Many an early settler found in him a real friend when he sorely needed one. Honored above the ususal, of those in the common walks of life, he deserved the respect of all. Mr. Rankin joined the Presbyterian church when a young man and when located in his new home here, helped to organize the Methodist church which he ten joined and has been a most devoted attendant and earest follower of his Lord. The funeral services were held in the Methodist church at 11 a.m. conducted by the pastor, Rev. French Lancaster and the body was laid to rest beside that of his sister in Rankin White Rose cemetery, Reydon, Roger Mills County, on Sunday June 9, 1929. Thus passes from our midst another of the makers of Western Oklahoma history. (Cheyenne Star July 13, 1929)