Call Number:

MC.1132

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

0.5 linear ft. (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Rankin Family papers (HC.MC.1132), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1804-1894 (inclusive)

Creator:

Rankin family

Form:

Correspondence, letters (correspondence), legal documents, and clippings (information artifacts)

Abstract:

The case of James Rankin, a loyalist during the American Revolution, whose estate was confiscated and sold. Rankin's heirs sued for restitution and won.

James Rankin (d. 1802), a resident of York, Pennsylvania, remained loyal to the British crown during the American Revolution. He moved to England in 1776, a year before the government of Pennsylvania was organized. Accused of treason for not having sided with the revolutionary government, Rankin's property was confiscated and sold. Rankin's heirs asked for restitution of the money received by the state in the sale of his estate under the congressional recommendation that restitution be made to real British subjects in cases of confiscation. The Pennsylvania Senate Journal for 1895 indicates that bill number 479 (revising the attainder of treason against Rankin and proposing restitution to the heirs) passed the Senate and was sent to the courts for processing.

The Rankin Family papers concern the case brought before the Pennsylvania Congress by the heirs of James Rankin. They consist of correspondence, legal documents, newspaper accounts of the case, photographs (presumably of James Rankin's descendants), and genealogical information on the Rankin and Wilson-Willson families. Among the correspondents were James Newlin of the Attorney General's office (August 18, 1868) and Ellis Lewis, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania (November 12, 1870).