RANCK GENEALOGY
Descendants of
Adam Michael Ranck (1850-1922)
and Caroline Wenger (1850-1941)

ADAM MILTON7 RANCK (Wenger6, Adam5-4, Jacob3, Valentine2, John Philip 1) was born at Strasburg Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on 1 September 1919 a son of Wenger Ranck and his wife Maud S. Harnish.[1] He died at Lancaster, Lancaster County, on 31 May 1966.[2] He married at Lancaster on 9 March 1946 MARY ELIZABETH BAUER.[3] She was born at Lancaster on 19 October 1923, a daughter of Elmer Franklin Bauer, Jr., and his first wife Helen A. Martin.[4] She died at Lancaster on 6 August 2017.[5] She married second at Willow Street, West Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, on 7 April 1973 CHARLES OLIVER KIBLER Jr..[6] He was born at Manor Township, Lancaster County, on 3 May 1916,[7] and died on 14 August 2006.[8] C. Oliver Kibler had married first on 30 September 1937 MARTHA MAE MELLINGER,[9] who was born on 24 August 1916, and died on August 1971.[10]


A. Milton Ranck

Milton Ranck grew up on a farm in West Lampeter Township, the fourth of five children. He graduated from West Lampeter High School in 1938, and received a B.A. in Industrial Arts from Millersville State College, Millersville, Lancaster County, in 1942. Then he went to war, serving as a First Lieutenant in the Army Air Force, he flew supplies from India to China.[11]

Betty Bauer grew up in the city of Lancaster, the eldest child in her family. When she was four years old her baby sister died. When she was eight, her mother died. At age nine Betty acquired a step-mother, and at age ten she received a new baby sister.

When Milt returned from the war, he and Betty married, at Bethany Evangelical Church (now United Methodist) in Lancaster.[12] They set up housekeeping on a farm owned by his father, near Refton, in Strasburg Township. On 4 January 1949, Wenger Ranck sold the farm to his son and daughter-in-law for one dollar.[13] Milt and family continued farming that land for the rest of his life. Beginning in 1957 he also taught Industrial Arts at Penn Manor High School. [14]

Milt died of a heart attack at the age of 46, leaving his 42 year old widow with children aged 19, 17, 13, 12, 10 and 6.

Milt's obituary carried the following information:[15]

A. M. RANCK, PENN MANOR TEACHER, DIES

A. Milton Ranck, forty-six, chairman of the Industrial Arts Department at Penn Manor High School, died at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the General Hospital.

He had been ill for several weeks and had not taught school since March 17. He was admitted to the hospital at 1:20 a.m. Tuesday.

Ranck, a native of the Lampeter area, resided on a farm at New Providence R1 with his wife, the former Betty Bauer, and their six children.

A graduate of Lampeter-Strasburg High School and Millersville State College, he was on the Penn Manor faculty for the past 10 years.

Ranck is survived by his mother, Mrs. Maude H. Ranck and the following children: Christyann, Mary Elizabeth, Milton W., Deborah H., Carol L., Kathryn R., two brothers, J. Harold and Samuel H. Ranck, two sisters, Carolyn, wife of Preston Harnish, Lancaster R6 and Anna, wife of Adam R. Ranck.

He was a member of the United Church of Christ, Willow St.

Ranck was a veteran of World War II and a member of Lodge 43, F & AM, the Pennsylvania Frontiers Association, the Blue Mountain Gun Club, and the Lancaster Gun Club.
clipping provided by Betty Bauer Ranck Kibler

Betty Ranck remained a widow for almost seven years, working as a Secretary at the Lampeter-Strasburg School District, and renting out the farmland. In 1973 she married Oliver Kibler, a widower with grown children, at the Willow Street United Church of Christ.[16]

When daughter Carol was in high school, about 1974, she interviewed her mother and step-father. This is what she reported:

Mrs. Mary E. Ranck Kibler[17]

My father and step-father were both farmers, but my mother was a city girl. She lived with her father and mother on East Chestnut Street in Lancaster. Her Grandfather, Henry Martin was a trolley conductor and went with the line up to Columbia. My mother used to ride with her friends out to Rocky Springs Park and Maple Grove, the two major amusement parks. She would go driving in an open sedan with a neighbor to a private home across from Musser's Park, where they could go in and order ice cream, take a plate and scoop in a couple of dips and cover it with wax paper.

In Reservoir Park they'd climb on the Lion Fountain, (I used to do that, too) and in the hill on the sides of the reservoir there was a cage with live bears, and also a building with snakes in cages. An organ-grinder with a monkey would come around too.

Downtown the Old Railroad Station was across from the Hilton on Chestnut Street. They went to the stores downtown and the movie theaters uptown. They used to go to the Fulton and the Strand--because movies there the second time around were about twenty-five cents, cheaper than before. At the Fulton also she saw shows with midgets and passion plays.

She went to a city school for two years, and when seven years old she moved with her step-mother and father to Safe Harbor and for three years went to a one-room schoolhouse there. Then a two-room school at Conestoga. Back then people died of pneumonia, including her mother, and a six month old baby sister.

A big difference, she says, in Lancaster is that in the twenties to forties you could walk the streets at night with no problems at all. She used to visit an Aunt in the seventh ward a lot. She also walked home from work at Consolidated Cigar (a secretary) at night.

Another big difference in life now and then is that today she says we always have to be going somewhere. She always had to make up her own games and fun. Sundays was visiting day. They would go to her grandmother's, Cora Martin, and play games on the big white marble steps, that you would have to move up and down the steps. After school they'd go to the Lancaster Free Public Library for story hour, and then play hopscotch. She says it was friendlier back then because mothers worked at home, stayed and played with their kids, and visited neighbors.

Oliver showed me an eighty year old diary of his mother's, written when she was about fifteen years old, but it is practically illegible. My mother said she could have shown me her diary, but her grandmother made her burn it along with all the love letters she got from boys overseas, when she got married.

Mr. C. Oliver Kibler[18]

Oliver Kibler is my stepfather and he has lived, until last year, in Washington Boro on a farm. He was born in 1916 into a family of Dunkards, or "Old River Brethren," or "Yorkers." "My parents were very strict on religion, you darsen't go to the theater, play cards, and certainly no dancing." Their church services were held in people's houses, usually there was a sliding door separating two rooms, with the preacher standing at that doorway. The men sat in one room and the women in the other. There was no music, except for the sing-songy pattern of the service. The preacher said one line, then the congregation repeated the line by singing it. The services were from 8:30 AM to 12:00 noon, with testimony meetings, where if a person had a certain experience, he could just stand up and talk. They always kneeled to pray--which alternated with the preacher's sermons. Often, the people had to stop overnight on the way to the service, so the men slept in Kibler's barn, before continuing up to York.

Mr Kibler went to a one-room schoolhouse attended by eighteen kids, with two in his class. He sometimes was called "Jackaxe." "The kids were scared to say it right!" During recess, after eating their lunches, the boys would go to the farmers for water. Each child would have his own tin cup that hung up back of the water bucket with his name underneath it. The school, Riverside, was three miles below Washington Boro, on River Road. At home, they carried water from a spring pumped by a ram, some contraption which includes a dome full of air, and a brass plunger. They carried milk from the barn to the spring house, where a separator separated the milk from the cream. He liked to drink the warm skim milk right out of the separator. His mother made butter and sold it at market for 25 cents a pound.

The three boys slept in one room, and the three girls slept in another, their feet kept warm by soapstone that their mother had in the oven. They used straw mattresses.

The eighty-six acre farm was farmed with five mules and one horse, and wagons. When Mr. Kibler was six years old and his father owned the farm, it took the three sons, the father, and two hired men to do the work. They hauled the wheat shocks to the barn where they thrashed it using a machine and steam engine. He says the biggest difference is that it took six people and six animals to farm it, but today, he did all the work himself with the aid of farm machinery.

Betty and Ollie had thirty-three years together before he died. Betty continued to live at the farm place near Refton for another eleven years before she died. Betty's obituary follows:[19]

Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Bauer Ranck Kibler

On August 6, 2017, Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Bauer Ranck Kibler, passed from this earth. Born in 1923 to Helen Martin Bauer and Elmer F. Bauer, Jr., she and her brother, Elmer Martin Bauer, lived in Lancaster, then Safe Harbor Village where her father worked at the dam.

After Betty's mother passed away in 1932, her father married Alice Kinsey Bauer, and they had a daughter Joan (Marshall), of Wilmington, DE. Betty graduated valedictorian of Penn Manor High in 1940. Working as a secretary at Millersville State College, she met a handsome student, A. Milton Ranck. They married in 1946 after the war and moved to his family farm in Refton. Milt taught Industrial Arts at Penn Manor, but also farmed and raised 6 children; Christyann Ranck of Minnesota, Mary Elizabeth Grady of Maine, Milton Ranck of Smithville, PA, Deborah (Terry Brown) of New Jersey, Carol Ranck of Washington, and Kathy Witter of Ohio.

After Milt passed away in 1966, Betty became a secretary at the Lampeter-Strasburg School District administrative offices. Later Betty met and married C. Oliver Kibler (Ollie). Oliver passed away in 2006.

Betty enjoyed hiking with the Lancaster Hiking Club, listening to big band music on her 78 rpm records, listening to Italian opera records, and attending shows at the Fulton Theater. She was an avid reader her entire life, and also was a tennis player and fan.

In her later years she enjoyed her Saturday night date with Lawrence Welk and her good friend Thelma Eberly. Betty is survived by half-sister Joan (Albert Marshall) of Delaware, Ollie's children Eugene M., Jay Emerson, Charlotte A., Donald R., Fannie L., her 6 children named above, grandchildren David, Andrew, Rebecca, Emma, Molly, Kara, Tracy, Jessica, Mary, and eight great-grandchildren.

The family wishes to thank Helen Steele for her years of excellent care of our Mother. . . .
Lancaster Online, 9 August 2017

Milt and Betty had five daughters and one son. Christyann graduated from Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Centre County, Pennsylvania in 1968 with a B.S. in Home Economics Education. She later received an M. Div. degree from Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado, in 1987. She was ordained into the Christian ministry at Arikara Congregational Church (United Church of Christ), White Shield, McLean County, North Dakota, on 8 November 1987.[20] Mary Elizabeth received a degree from Ursinus College in Collegeville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in 1970, another degree from Duke University, Durham, Durham County, North Carolina, in 1970, and has worked as a Physicians Assistant, receiving a Masters Degree in Public Health from Tulane University, New Orleans, Orleans parish, Louisiana, in 1984.[21] Milt graduated from the Patton Masonic School for Boys, Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, in 1971. He served in the Air Force from 1973 to 1976, and has held carpentry jobs.[22] Debbie received a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from Penn State, and taught school in Cape May, New Jersey.[23] Carol received a B.S. in biology from Penn State in 1979. She has worked for a resort in Washington state.[24] [1]

A. Milton Ranck and his wife Mary Elizabeth Bauer had the following children:

  1. Rev. CHRISTYANN8 RANCK b. at Lancaster on 3 December 1946.
  2. MARY ELIZABETH8 RANCK b. at Lancaster on 13 September 1948;[25] m. at Anchorage, Alaska, on 9 March 1979 PAUL DENNIS GRADY, div. 2006, b. at Wakefield, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, on 1 October 1945. Children of Mary Elizabeth and Paul:[26]
    1. Rebecca Elizabeth Grady b. at Palmer, Alaska, on 16 August 1982
    2. Emma Maria Grady b. at Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona, on 31 March 1986.
    3. Molly Suzanne Grady b. at Kennebunk, York County, Maine, on 4 May 1988.
  3. MILTON WENGER8 RANCK b. at Lancaster on 6 June 1952;[27] m(1). at Refton, Strasburg Township, on 19 October 1974 DOROTHY SUSAN RINEER, div. at Lancaster on June 1982, b. at Lancaster County on 29 May 1955; m(2). at Lancaster on 20 October 1989 KATHRYN A. (FULMER) ASHLEY b. at Lancaster County on 31 January 1957.[28] Kathryn had previously m(1). at Drumore Township, Lancaster County, on 8 May 1982 DONALD KEITH ASHLEY b. on 3 October 1954, d. at Holtwood, Martic Township. Lancaster County, on 7 September 1987.[29] Milt and his first wife Sue had the following child:
    1. Kara Sue Ranck b. at Marquette, Marquette County, Michigan, on 12 March 1975.[30]
    Kathy Fulmer and her first husband Donald Ashley had the following child:
    1. Timothy Weston Ashley b. at Lancaster County on 4 June 1983.[31]
  4. DEBORAH HELEN8 RANCK b. at Lancaster on 21 March 1954; m. at Cape May, Cape May County, New Jersey, on 13 August 1977 TERRANCE LEROY BROWN, b. at New Castle, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, on 20 February 1950. Debbie and Terry had the following child:[32]
    1. Tracy Jeanne Brown b. at Cape May Court House, Cape May County, on 14 November 1983; m. at Cape May on 15 May 2015 Darren Rutherford.[33]
  5. CAROL LYNN8 RANCK b. at Lancaster on 18 March 1956;[34] m. at Seattle, King County, Washington, on 11 May 1986 THOMAS GLYNN DRAKE, div. at Okanogan County, Washington, on 14 November 1994, b. at Brownsville, Haywood County, Tennessee, on 19 February 1951. Thomas had m(1). about 1975 Colleen O'Neill. Child of Thomas and Colleen:[35]
    1. Jessica Marie Drake b. at Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, 19 July 1976.
  6. KATHRYN ROBERTA8 RANCK b. at Lancaster on 11 January 1959; m. at Refton on 14 May 1989 TIMOTHY TROY WITTER, div. about 2005, b. at the Island of Hawaii, Hawaii on 10 September 1961. Kathy had the following child:[36]
    1. Mary Elizabeth Ranck b. at Dallas, Dallas County, Texas, on 20 July 1984. Mary had the following child:
      1. Ashley Olivia Ranck b. at Westerville, Franklin County, Ohio, on 15 April 2008.[37]

C. Oliver Kibler and his first wife Martha Mellinger had the following children:[38]

  1. EUGENE MELLINGER KIBLER b. at Lancaster County on 1 December 1938; m. on 3 October 1959 ALICE ANNA WALTER, b. at Willow Street on 13 April 1937.
  2. JAY EMERSON KIBLER b. at Lancaster County on 19 September 1941; m(1). on 3 December 1960 NANCY JOYCE FREY, div., b. at Washington Boro, Manor Township. m(2). on 14 November 1970 ELEANOR ROBERTA ATTICK, b. at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 23 May 1950.
  3. CHARLOTTE ANN KIBLER b. at Lancaster County on 7 October 1945; m(1). STANLEY METZLER, b. at Manheim, Lancaster County; div. m(2).RALPH ENGLE, b. at Ephrata, Lancaster County, d. about 1995-6.
  4. FANNIE LOUISE KIBLER b. at Columbia, Lancaster County, on 23 February 1949; m. at Manor Township on 25 November 1967 S. Thomas Sampson b. at Havre de Grace, Harford County, Maryland, on 2 June 1948.
  5. DONALD RAY KIBLER b. at Lancaster County on 4 March 1951; m. on 7 July 1973 LINDA RUSH.

NOTES

1Social Security Administration, "U.S. Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 14 April 2017), A. Ranck, 203-07-8204. Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler, Strasburg Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, interview by Charles A. Maxfield, about 1998; notes, privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Pennsylvania.
2"U.S. Social Security Death Index", A. Ranck, 203-07-8204. "A. M. Ranck, Penn Manor teacher, dies," undated clipping, June 1966, from unidentified newspaper; ; privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
3Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler, interview, about 1998.
4Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler, interview, about 1998.
5"Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Bauer Ranck Kibler," obituary, Lancaster Online, 9 August 2017; Lancaster Online (http://lancasteronline.com : accessed 9 August 2017), Obituaries.
6Personal Knowledge
7Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler, interview, about 1998.
8Personal Knowledge
9Letter from Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler, to Charles A. Maxfield, 15 November 1997; held in by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
10Edna M. Schock, Memoirs of the Schocks (N.p.: by the family, 1938, rev. abt 1997), Book of Descendants, p. 6.
11"A. M. Ranck, Penn Manor teacher, dies." Undated clipping.
12Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler, interview, about 1998. Wedding announcement for Mary Elizabeth Bauer and Adam Milton Ranck, 1946, privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
13Deed to Milton Ranck Farm, 4 January 1949, privately held. Notes taken by Christyann Ranck Maxfield.
14"A. M. Ranck, Penn Manor teacher, dies." Undated clipping.
15Ibid.
16Personal Knowledge
17Carol Ranck. "Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler" interview. Privately held by Carol Ranck, Winthrop, Okanigan County, Washington.
18Carol Ranck, "C. Oliver Kibler." Interview about 1974. . Privately held by Carol Ranck, Winthrop, Okanigan County, Washington.
19"Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Bauer Ranck Kibler."
20Personal Knowledge.
21Letter from Mary Elizabeth Ranck Grady, to Charles A. Maxfield, 27 February 1998; held in by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
22Milton W. Ranck and Kathy (Fulmer) (Ashley) Ranck, Strasburg Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, telephone interview by Charles A. Maxfield, 1 January 1998; notes, privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Pennsylvania, .
23Letter from Deborah Ranck Brown, to Charles A. Maxfield, 17 February 1998; held in by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Monrgomery County, Pennsylvania.
24Letter from Carol Ranck, to Charles A. Maxfield, June 1998; held in by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
25Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler, interview, about 1998.
26Letter, Mary Elizabeth Ranck Grady to Charles A. Maxfield, 27 February 1998.
27Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler, interview, about 1998.
28Milton W. Ranck and Kathy (Fulmer) (Ashley) Ranck, telephone interview, 1 January 1998.
29Milton W. Ranck and Kathy (Fulmer) (Ashley) Ranck, telephone interview, 1 January 1998. "U.S. Social Security Death Index", Donald Ashley, 189-44-3518.
30Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler, interview, about 1998.
31Milton W. Ranck and Kathy (Fulmer) (Ashley) Ranck, telephone interview, 1 January 1998.
32Letter, Deborah Ranck Brown to Charles A. Maxfield, 17 February 1998.
33Interview with Mary Elizabeth Grady and Deborah Brown by Charles A. Maxfield, 9 August 2017. notes held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Pennsylvania). Interviewed at 64 Refton Rd., Refton, Strasburg Township., Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
34Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler, interview, about 1998.
35Letter, Carol Ranck to Charles A. Maxfield, June 1998.
36Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler, interview, about 1998.
37Ibid.
38Memoirs of the Schocks, 20.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"A. M. Ranck, Penn Manor teacher, dies." Undated clipping, June 1966, from unidentified newspaper. Privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Brown, Deborah Ranck. Letter. 17 February 1998, to Charles A. Maxfield. Privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Monrgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Deed to Milton Ranck Farm. 4 January 1949. Privately held.

Grady, Mary Elizabeth Ranck. Letter. 27 February 1998, to Charles A. Maxfield. Privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Grady, Mary Elizabeth and Deborah Brown. Interview. 9 August 2017. notes held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Pennsylvania.

Kibler, Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck. Strasburg Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Interview by Charles A. Maxfield, about 1998. notes. Privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Pennsylvania.

________. Letter. 15 November 1997, to Charles A. Maxfield. Privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Lancaster Online. Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. 9 August 2017.

Ranck, Carol. "C. Oliver Kibler." Interview, about 1974. Privately held by Carol Ranck, Winthrop, Okanigan County, Washington.

________. "Mary Elizabeth Bauer Ranck Kibler." Interview, about 1974. Privately held by Carol Ranck, Winthrop, Okanigan County, Washington.

________. Letter. June 1998, to Charles A. Maxfield. Privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Ranck, Milton W. and Kathy (Fulmer) (Ashley) Ranck. Strasburg Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Telephone interview by Charles A. Maxfield, 1 January 1998. notes. Privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Pennsylvania.

Schock, Edna M. Memoirs of the Schocks. N.p.: by the family, 1938, rev. abt 1997.

United States Social Security Administration. "U.S. Social Security Death Index." Database. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2017.

Wedding announcement for Mary Elizabeth Bauer and Adam Milton Ranck, 1946. Privately held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

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