RANCK GENEALOGY
Direct Line of Descent
from
Rev. Jean Ranc(1641-1712)
to
Adam Michael Ranck (1850-1922)


The genealogy of the descendants of Jean Ranc has been thoroughly explored in the book:

Ranck, J. Allan. The Ranks of the Rancks: A Ranck/Rank Family History and Genealogy. Lebanon, Pa.: Sowers Printing Co., 1978.
This book is now out of print. However the genealogical information in it has been corrected and amplified by the Ranck Family Heritage Society, and was placed on a website which I have used, but which I can no longer find on line. I will not attempt to redo their excellent work. In the genealogy below I only summarize their information (with some other sources) for the line from Rev. Jean Ranck to Adam Michael Ranck (1850-1922). In the following pages I will trace the descendants of Adam M. Ranck, using the Ranck Family Heritage Society and other sources.
  1. JEAN A RANC was born at France in 1641. He died at Neckarau, Palatinate, on 27 December 1712.[1]

    Jean Ranc was a pastor of the Reformed Church of France, forced to flee at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. According to The Ranks of the Rancks they first fled to Strasburg,[2] then went on to Mannheim, in the Palatinate. Family events were celebrated and recorded at the Reformed Church of Neckarau, which is three miles from Mannheim.

    The Palatinate (called Pfalz in German) was one of the principalities of the Holy Roman Empire. It served as a place of safety for a wide variety of Protestants. However, it was also the scene of frequant wars. The Palatine War of Succession, 1688-97, led to the destruction of Neckarau and widespread destruction of the land. Somehow, Jean Ranc, his son and grandchildren, survived these troubles.

    Jean Ranc had the following child:

    1. HANS VALENTINEB RANCK RANCK b. at Switzerland on 1668. (See below)


  2. HANS VALENTINE B RANCK was born on 1668. He died at Neckarau, Palatinate, on 1710. He married at Neckarau on 17 February 1699 MARGARETHA PHILLIPES, who was born on 1688, a child of Henry Philippes and Marguerite Weihkraws.[3]

    The Ranck Family Heritage Society places the births of both Hans and Margaretha in Switzerland. I can't explain this. They had six children, named in the records of the Neckarau Reformed Church. Hans died at the age of forty-two. His father, and probably his widow, survived, left with several small children. Two children died within three years of their father's death, aged two and six. Three children survived, and came to America as young adults.

    Jean Valentine Ranck and his wife Margaretha Phillips had the following children:

    1. ANN BARBARA RANCK b. at Neckarau on 19 November 1699.
    2. JOHN MICHAEL1 RANCK b. at Neckarau on 28 October 1701; d. at Pennsylvania on 28 July 1778; m. at Pennsylvania on 1728 ANNA BARBARA SCHWAB, b. at Heidelberg, Palatinate, on 8 October 1708, d. at Earl, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on 1784.
    3. JOHN PHILIP1 RANCK b. at Neckarau on 31 January 1704. (See below)
    4. ROSINE KATHARINE RANCK b. at Neckarau on 4 February 1705/6; d. there on 14 January 1712/3.
    5. SUSANNA MARGARETHA RANCK b. at Neckarau on 29 October 1707; m(1). there on 26 February 1725 JOHANN VALENTIN WEINKRAUS; perhaps m(2). at Neckarau about 1727 JOHANN CHRISTIAN SCHNAEDER b. at Kirchdorf, Argau, Switzerland, about 1707, d. at New Holland, Earl, on 1793.
    6. JOHANN VALENTINE RANCK b. at Neckarau on 15 June 1710; d. there on 26 December 1712.

  1. JOHN PHILIP1 RANCK, child of Johann Valentine Ranck and his wife Margaretta Phillips, was born at Neckarau on 31 January 1704 and died at Pennsylvania on 1783. He married at Neckarau on 21 August 1725 ANNA BARBARA SCHUMACHER. She was born about 1706.[4]

    John Philip was the third of six known children. When he was six his father died; when he was eight his grandfather died. At least two, perhaps three, of his siblings died in childhood.

    John Philip's older brother, John Michael, immigrated to America, arriving at Philadelphia on 24 August 1728.[5] The following year, John Philip and his wife Anna made the passage. Ralph Strassburger, in Pennsylvania German Pioneers transcribed the passenger list as follows:

    Palatines imported in the ship Mortenhouse, Jas. Coultas, Mr, from Rotterdam but last from Deal p. clearance thence, dated 21st June 1729. Subscribed this declaration 19th Aug. 1729 . . . Johan Philip Ranck" [6]
    and elsewhere:
    a list of Palatine Passangers, Imported into Philadelphia in the ship Mortenhouse, James Coultas, Commander, from Rotterdam--Aug. 17, 1729 . . . John Philip Ranck; Anna Barbara Ranck [7]
    Philip's sister, Susanna (Ranck) Schnaeder, arrived in Pennsylvania the following month.[8]

    John Philip and Anna settled in Earl Townahip, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and affiliatd with Zeltenreich's Reformed Church. Elder Philip Ranck represented the church at the first coetus of the German Reformed Church, at Philadelphia, in 1747.[9]

    John Philip Ranck and his wife Anna Barbara Schumacher had the following children:

    1. JOHANNES PHILIP2 RANCK b. at Earl on 5 December 1729, d. about 15 November 1784; m. ANNA MAGDALENA WISHOR b. at Earl on 1733.
    2. MICHAEL2 RANCK b. at Earl about 1733; m. at Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, on 1755 MARIA MARGARET BREITENSTEIN.
    3. DOROTHEA2 RANCK b. at Earl on 1735; m. on 24 March 1754 GEORGE STALEY.
    4. VALENTINE2 RANCK b. at Earl on 13 October 1737. (See below)
    5. ANNA EVE2 RANCK b. at Earl on 2 May 1738, d. at Botentort County, Virginia, on 2 August 1812; m. at Lancaster County on 17 June 1758 JOSEPH AMENT b. at Munchenstein, Roggwell, Switzerland, on 8 January 1730, d. at Fincastle, Botentort County, on 17 June 1805.
    6. GEORGE2 RANCK b. at Earl on 1738, d. at Virginia on 1812; m. on 1763 ANNA BARBARA HARTUNG b. about 1742, d. at Botentort County on 1 May 1815.
    7. BARBARA2 RANCK b. at Earl on 1741; m. ADAM GEORGE GARMAN b. about 1732, d. on 1806.
    8. JOHN2 RANCK b. at Earl on 1742; d. on 1820; m. CATHARINE SPRINGER.
    9. PHILIP ADAM2 RANCK b. at Earl on 24 June 1743; d. on 12 October 1809; m. on 13 June 1770 CATHARINE ALTZ b. on 1752, d. on 16 March 1822.
    10. JACOB2 RANCK b. at Earl on 1 September 1745; d. there on 13 September 1827; m. at New Holland, Earl Township, on 14 April 1772 MARGARET WORST, b. on 4 February 1748, d. on 28 January 1825.
    11. LUDWIG2 RANCK b. at Earl on 1 September 1748; d. on 18 April 1842; m. about 1770 ELIZABETH STAUFFER b. on 1748 d. on 1842.


  2. VALENTINE2 RANCK (John Philip1) was born at Earl Township on 13 October 1737 a son of John Philip Ranck and his wife Anna Barbara Schumacher. He died on 19 February 1813. He married probably before 1760 ANNA MARIA BREIDENSTONE.[10]

    Valentine and Anna Maria Ranck had the following children:

    1. MICHAEL3 RANCK b. at Lancaster County on 1 April 1760; d. there on 15 October 1826; m. ELIZABETH WEAVER, b. on 1765, d. at Lancaster County on 21 July 1842.
    2. BARBARA3 RANCK bp. at Lancaster County on 22 November 1961.
    3. ANNA MARY3 RANCK b. at Lancaster County on 6 October 1767; m. ABRAHAM BOLLINGER.
    4. SUSANNA3 RANCK bp. at New Holland on 29 April 1770; m. CHRISTIAN GROFF.
    5. JACOB R.3 RANCK b. at Lancaster County on 1 November 1773. (See below)


  3. JACOB R.3 RANCK (Valentine2, John Philip1 ) was born at Lancaster County on 1 November 1773 a son of Valentine and Anna Maria Ranck. He died at Lancaster, Lancaster County on 23 November 1814. He married probably before 1802 ANN STOCK. She was born at Pennsylvania on 3 September 1780, and died at Lancaster County on 11 March 1865.[11]

    Jacob was bapized at New Holland on 1 April 1774.

    Jacob died at age 40, leaving his 34 year old widow with children ages 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3 and 1. It is not clear where they lived after his death. Widow Ann Ranck, in her older years, lived with her daughter Anne Eby (Mrs. Peter Eby) in East Earl Township, as reported in the 1850 and 1860 censuses.[12]

    Jacob Ranck and his wife Ann Stock had the following children:

    1. MARY4 RANCK b. at Lancaster County on 20 January 1802; d. on 13 March 1881; m. on 2 February 1826 BENJAMIN HERR, b. on 27 April 1802, d. on 16 February 1871.
    2. ELIZABETH4 RANCK b. at Strasburg Township, Lancaster County on 28 March 1804; d. on 15 December 1885; m. ABRAM METZLER, b. on 2 December 1798, d. on 14 March 1854. He had previously married ELIZABETH SCHAUB.
    3. JOHN4 RANCK b. at Paradise Township, Lancaster County on 26 March 1806; d. there on 24 March 1890; m. HANNAH EBY, b. at Upper Leacock Township on 29 November 1810, d. on 29 April 1882.
    4. ADAM4 RANCK b. at Strasburg on 9 June 1808. (See below)
    5. ANNA4 RANCK b. at Lancaster County on 5 May 1810; d. at Caernavron Township, Lancaster County, on 24 April 1903; m. at Lancaster County on 14 October 1830 PETER EBY, b. at Leacock Township, Lancaster County, on 10 September 1804, d. at Beartown, Caernavron Township, on 19 March 1881.
    6. JACOB4 RANCK b. at Lancaster County on 17 September 1811; d. on 6 October 1876; m. SUSANNA LEAMAN, b. on 26 February 1815, d. on 4 February 1883.
    7. SAMUEL4 RANCK b. at Lancaster County on 8 November 1813; d. on 23 January 1894; m. SUSAN EBY, b. on 12 October 1812, d. on 20 February 1898.


  4. ADAM4 RANCK (Jacob3, Valentine3, John Philip1) was born at Strasburg Township on 9 June 1808 a son of Jacob Ranck and his wife Ann Stock. He died at Lancaster County on 28 March 1882. He married probably by 1833 BARBARA RESH. She was born at Pennsylvania on 29 June 1812, a daughter of John Resh and his wife Barbara Eby. She died at Bird-in-Hand, East Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, on 26 April 1893.[13]

    The Ranck family remembered Adam Ranck as a Brethren minister,[14] and the Ranck Family Heritage website described him as minister of Stump Memorial Church, Upper Leacock Township; however census records, for 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 called him a farmer.[16] Probably he served the church while supporting himself with farming. He resided at Upper Leacock Township in the first three of those censuses, in East Lampeter Township in 1880. The datestone on the home at 2761 Church Road, Bird-in-Hand, Lancaster County, states:

    Built by Adam and Barbara Ranck A. D. 1857.[17]

    Adam Ranck and his wife Barbara Resh had the following children:

    1. JACOB5 RANCK b. at Lancaster County on 20 October 1833; d. at Lancaster on 19 April 1909; m. ELIZA R. BARD, b. at Pennsylvania on 26 August 1834, d. at Lancaster on 2 December 1910.
    2. MARY5 RANCK b. at Lancaster County on 30 November 1835; d. at East Drumore Township, Lancaster County, on 15 September 1912; m. BENJAMIN KREIDER b. on 23 January 1833, d. on 31 January 1895.
    3. ANNA R.5 RANCK b. at Lancaster County on 3 October 1837; d. at Manheim, Lancaster County, on 13 September 1921; m. ABRAHAM KREIDER b. on 5 July 1834 d. on 18 February 1882.
    4. BARBARA A.5RANCK b. at Lancaster County on 28 December 1843; d. at Lancaster on 3 June 1922; m. THOMAS EVANS SIGEL b. at Upper Leacock on 8 July 1848 d, on 8 February 1898.
    5. ADAM MICHAEL5 RANCK b. at Lancaster County on 20 February 1850.


    NOTES

    1The Ranks of the Rancks (on-line edition, accessed : 31 January 2019). Ranck Family Heritage Society, Inc., http://Ranck.org., person 13469.
    2John Allen Ranck, The Ranks of the Rancks: A Ranck/Rank Family History and Genealogy, 17. (Lebanon, Pennsylvania: Sowers Printing Co., 1978).
    3Ranks of the Rancks, person 13467.
    4Ranks of the Rancks, person I3471 .
    5Ralph Beaver Strassburger, Pennsylvania German Pioneers: A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia From 1727 to 1808 (Norristown, Pennsylvania: n.p., 1934), vol. 1, p. 19.
    6Strassburger, Pennsylvania German Pioneers, vol. 1, p. 25.
    7Strassburger, Pennsylvania German Pioneers, vol. 1, p. 23.
    8Ranks of the Rancks, person I23565.
    9Ranck, The Ranks of the Rancks, p. 26.
    10Ranks of the Rancks, person I3478.
    11Ranks of the Rancks, person I3511.
    12Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Blue Ball, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, roll 789, p. 177B, household 143, Peter Eby family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 28 January 2019); NARA Microfilm Publication M432; Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C. Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, East Earl, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, roll 1122, p. 200, household 327, Peter Eaby family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 28 January 2019); NARA microfilm publication M653; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
    13Ranks of the Rancks, person I3608.
    14Anna Ranck, phone interview by Charles A. Maxfield, 1 January 1998; privately held by Charles A Maxfield.
    151850 Census, Leacock, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, roll 789, p. 119A, household 296, Adam Ranck family. 1860 Census, Upper Leacock, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, roll 1125, p. 882, household 312, Adam Ranck family. Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population, Upper Leacosk, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, roll 1356, p. 134A, household 286, Adam Ranck family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 28 January 2019); NARA microfilm publication M593, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population, East Lampeter, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, enumeration district (ED) 143, roll 1142, p. 466A, household 487, Adam Ranck family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 28 January 2019); NARA microfilm publication T9; Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
    16Personal observation.


    BIBLIOGRAPHY

    Ranck, Anna. Phone interview by Charles A. Maxfield, 1 January 1998. Privately held by Charles A Maxfield.

    Ranck, John Allen. The Ranks of the Rancks: A Ranck/Rank Family History and Genealogy. Lebanon, Pennsylvania: Sowers Printing Co., 1978.

    The Ranks of the Rancks (on-line edition, accessed : 2019), Ranck Family Heritage Society, Inc., http://Ranck.org.

    Strassburger, Ralph Beaver. Pennsylvania German Pioneers: A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia From 1727 to 1808. Norristown, Pennsylvania: n.p., 1934.

    United States Department of the Census. Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2019.

    ________. Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2019.

    ________. Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2019.

    ________. Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2019.


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