History of Michigan, / by Charles Moore. [Vol. 3]

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

1499

ders, of Flint; Francis H., Jr.; and George Rankin, a resident of Milwaukee.
Francis H. Rankin, Jr., received his education in the schools of Flint,
until fourteen years of age, when he was taken into the shop with his
father, and learned printing and newspaper business in all its details. He
continued an active associate and partner with his father for more than
twenty years. Mr. Rankin is a director in the Union Trust and Savings
Bank of Flint, and has various business interests in the city.
His career in public affairs has been on the same high plane of disinterested and intelligent service as characterized his late father. As a
loyal Republican, his first public office was as city treasurer of Flint, to
which he was elected in I88I and served one year. He was mayor of
Flint for one year, from I89I to I892, and deputy city clerk under his
father. For fifteen years he served as a member of the board of education, and during a part of his time was president of the board. Governor
Pingree appointed Mr. Rankin a member of the Board of Control for the
Michigan School for the Blind, and by reappointment from Governor
Bliss served ten years until he resigned. His resignation was due to his
acceptance of the position of resident trustee of the Michigan School for
the Deaf at Flint, to which place he was appointed by Governor Warner,
and on January I, 1913, was reappointed by Governor Ferris. His service to these important state institutions have covered a period of seventeen
years. Mr. Rankin was for nine years a private in the Michigan National
Guard.
He is a member of both the York and Scottish Rite branches of Masonry, has membership in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery, the
Consistory and the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
the Knights of Maccabees, and he was one of the organizers of the Loyal
Guards, being its first president, and since I896, has served as supreme
secretary of this order. He is a former treasurer of the Board of Commerce, a member of the Country Club, and belongs to the Episcopal
church.
At Flint, on October 26, I88I, occurred the marriage of Mr. Rankin
with Miss Caroline A. Pierce, who was born in Michigan, a daughter of
Silas and Caroline Pierce, old settlers of Genessee county. They have
one daughter, Caroline A. Rankin. Mrs. Rankin is a worker in social
and philanthropic affairs at Flint, is on the Flint Hospital Board, and a
member of the advisory board of the Young Women's Christian Association, and identified with other movements in the city. The Rankin home
is at 304 First avenue in Flint. Mr. Rankin's success may be ascribed
largely to his individual efforts, though he owes much to his honored
father, who was a continual inspiration not only to himself but to many
outside of the family, and from him he acquired those early lessons of
honor and industry and also good health of body and mind, which are
essential to the best success in any line.
EDWARD CHAUNCEY HINMAN. A Battle Creek banker, manufacturer,
and leading citizen, Edward Chauncey Hinman represents a family that
became pioneers of Michigan at Bellevue before the territory was admitted to the union and since I85I has been identified with-Battle Creek.
Edward Chauncey Hinman was born in Battle Creek, March i, I852,
a son of John F. and Harriet E. (Hayt) Hinman. The first American
ancestor of this branch of the family was Sergeant Edward Hinman, who
was born in England in I609, was a member of King Charles First's
bodv guard, and during the time of Oliver Cromwell escaped from England and became a resident of Stratford, Connecticut, in I65o. From