Rankin, Andrew

Published on: 05 Jan 2015, Updated: 24 May 2019
Researchers: Dr. Andrew Millard, Teresa Rust and B. Craig Stinson.
Editor: Teresa Rust

Andrew Rankin, #94 on George S. Stewart’s Captured at Dunbar list

IMPORTANT UPDATE! (July 2018)
According to, Christopher Gerrard, Pam Graves, Andrew Millard, Richard Annis, and Anwen Caffell, in, Lost Lives, New Voices: Unlocking the Stories of the Scottish Soldiers at the Battle of Dunbar 1650, (England: Oxbow Books, 2018), on page 254, Andrew is categorized as: Possible [that he is a Dunbar prisoner transported on the Unity] Rankin/Rainking/Raynking/Raynkine, Andrew. Residences: York ME. Appears: 1667. D.1677. Associated with other Scots at York, and has a Scottish name, but appears quite late. [Exiles; DR; BCS; SPOWS; Ch.7 & 8] For explanations of the category, abbreviations and references see List of Dunbar prisoners from Lost Lives, New Voices.

Scottish POW DNA Study: Group 1-B

First Generation in the New World

1. ANDREW¹ RANKIN, was born, probably in Scotland about 1625 and died, probably at Scotland, York County, Maine in 1677. He married, on 4 Dec 1667, MARTHA MERRY.

Biographical Notes:
They had 5 children between 1668-1677.
1669: bought deed to land in York County, Maine.¹

Children of Andrew and Martha (Merry) Rankin:
2. i. MARY² RANKIN, b. prob. in Scotland, ME in 1668; d. in Scotland, ME in 1753.
2. ii. CONSTANT² RANKIN, b. in Scotland, ME in 1669; d. in Scotland, ME in 1749.
2. iii. ANDREW² RANKIN, Jr., b. in Scotland, ME in 1671.
2. iv. (_____) RANKIN,
2. v. (_____) RANKIN,

Scots at Oyster River
Andrew Rankin (d. 1677)
by B. Craig Stinson
10 August 2016

Andrew Rankin, was probably indentured to Valentine Hill. He was in court for fathering a child out of wedlock with Martha Merry. They were allowed to marry shortly before the child was born. Ten years later, Andrew and six of his neighbors, including fellow Scot John Curmuckhell, were slain by Indians as they were clearing ground for the spring planting.

#94 on “The Dunbar Prisoners” list

A Junkins family history names Valentine Hill as Andrew Rankin’s original owner. That same history says Valentine Hill also owned Robert Junkins [#42 DPL] and Micum McIntire [#61 DPL]. http://junkinsfamilyassociation.wikidot.com/robert-junkins-story

GDMNH 577:
12 Nov 1667 – admitted he was the father of Martha Merry’s unborn child. James Grant and Robert Junkins were his bondsmen.
[Note: most Junkins family histories fail to mention this story.]
4 Dec 1667 – Andrew Rankin and Martha Merry married.
About January 1668 – son Constant Rankin was born
They lived at “Scotland” [“Junkins Garrison House, South Berwick Road (State Route 91), Scotland, York County, ME“]
They had 5 children between 1668-1677.
On 7 April 1677 he was one of the seven York men who were slain by Indians in the Brixham section while clearing ground for spring planting. The victims included Andrew Rankin, Lewis Bean, John Frost, John Palmer, William Roans, and Isaac Smith, who was visiting from Chelsea, in addition to Curmuckhell. [HYM 282]
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=thurtle-walker&id=I317
He left a 60-acre homestead.
Rankin’s widow Martha remarried Philip Frost.

Sources:
GDMNH Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, Noyes, Libby, and Davis, Portland, Maine
http://junkinsfamilyassociation.wikidot.com/robert-junkins-story
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=thurtle-walker&id=I317
History of York, Maine, vol. 1, Charles Edward Banks, Boston: Society for the Preservation of Historical Landmarks in York County, 1931-1935, p. 282
Not listed in History of Durham, New Hampshire
Not listed in Old Kittery and Her Families
Not listed in Old Eliot

B. Craig Stinson
August 10, 2016
______________________________________________________________
for Andrew Rankin:
The Rankin family were landholders in Ayre in 1306, when Robert Bruce (Robert I) became the first King of Scotland. The Ancestors of the Rankin family were Scots who came from Northern Ireland.

Andrew Rankin was a member of the Scottish army that was defeated at Dunbar by Oliver Cromwell in 1650. Andrew was taken prisoner and held in and English prison until November, 1650. At the time, Andrew was one of 150 prisoners who were shipped to the New England Colonies for compulsory servitude. They arrived in Boston, on the ship “Unity”, Augustine Walker, Commander, in December, 1650. Sixty of these prisoners were “sold” to the Iron Works at Saugus, Mass. The remainder were “sold” to various owners in New England.

Andrew Rankin and several of his fellow prisoners settled in York, Maine in 1667, after their period of compulsory servitude was ended.

Children of Andrew¹ Rankin and Martha Merry are:
2 i. Mary² Rankin, b. 1668 in York, Maine; d. 1753 in York, Maine.
+ 3 ii. Constant² Rankin, b. 1669 in York, Maine; d. 1749 in York, Maine.
4 iii. Andrew² Rankin Jr., b. 1671 in York, Maine.

Genealogical Dictionary of New England, – Vol. I-IV (4). Boston, 1860-1862. (3:507)
Rankin, Andrew, York, d. before 1678, leaving five children and widow Martha, who married Philip Frost.
~from Cape Cod Genes 1.6 – Person Sheet

1. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB84/i/7514/131/6303464 [↩]