Noble Sensor Willis Archives - Digging Up Dead Relatives:

Field of Dreams – Dr. Henry Noble Willis – Part II

When we left Dr. Willis in 1899 in a Field of Dreams Part I, he had just remarried after the untimely death of his first wife Mary E. McMaster. Their two children were Mary Catherine, age eight, and Harry McMaster, age six, when Dr. Willis remarried. Jessie Sensor, his new wife, was only eighteen, a very young stepmother for these two! She was the daughter of The Reverend George Guyer Senser and Julia Frances Mendenhall.[1]

During the year between his wife’s death and his remarriage, surely family or friends helped Henry care for the children. The kids lived at Henry’s home on Second Street. Their maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Grace McMaster, lived close by in Pocomoke City on Market Street between First and Second. Henry also had a live-in cook in the household, Annie Marshall. Regardless, the trauma of losing Mary had to have been extremely painful for Henry and their children.

Jessie joined the family and settled into the Willis home on Second Street. They lived there for another nine years. The 1900 census lists the four Willis family members and Annie.[2] The Willises began attending church at the Salem Methodist Church at 500 Second Street Jessie’s father preached there on a rotating basis. Jessie was active in the church, as she had been throughout her life. She played the violin in the Salem Sunday School Orchestra.

A photo of the group published in the local paper shows her seated at the far right. According to the paper, the ensemble organized in 1904 and played for about ten years.[3] Henry and Jessie’s first child was also born in 1904, a daughter they named Grace after Jessie’s younger sister.

In 1908, the family moved to Wilmington, Delaware. Records do not indicate why the family relocated. Dr. Willis seemed to be doing well in Pocomoke City. He had served one term as a commissioner of the Orphan’s Court in Worcester.[4] He and Jessie owned their home and an office building. Initially, the children’s grandparents were close by. Elizabeth McMaster lived in town and the Sensors were only 20 miles distant. That support system disappeared when Elizabeth McMaster died, and several years later the Methodist Church reassigned George Sensor to churches in New Jersey.[5] Maybe the lure of the larger city enticed Jessie and Henry to move. Moving closer to Jessie’s parents may also have been a factor. Wilmington is about 35 miles from Camden and Wenonah, New Jersey, where Reverend Sensor was newly assigned. The extended family took another hit, however, when Rev. Sensor died in 1913. Whatever the reasoning at the time, Henry and Jessie sold their home in Pocomoke and moved.[6]

Financial Mystery

The family’s financial situation is a mystery. Henry inherited several hundreddollars from his father’s and grandfather’s estates.[7]He purchased property on Second Street in Pocomoke City for $350 in 1890. He and Jessie sold it for $2,100. That would have been a nice profit except that it was mortgaged for $1,500. The net cash to the family was only $600 less any fees. Henry and Jessie did not have enough money to buy a house in Wilmington, so they rented.

It appears that Dr. Willis had been increasingly in debt in Worcester County. Deed records show that only months after purchasing the home in Pocomoke, he borrowed money against it. Further, he refinanced the debt in larger amounts over the years.[8] When his first wife inherited an interest in property from her father, they mortgaged that as well, even before they owned part of it outright. They refinanced that property several times at increasing amounts.[9] There is no record of how Henry used the borrowed money. Did he try to start a drug store, as suggested by his purchase of soda fountain equipment? One mortgage of the office building that was part of the inherited McMaster property indicated it was occupied by, and presumably rented to, a fish and oyster dealer.[10]There should have been some income from that rental. Interestingly, deed records do not show Henry and Jessie ever selling the McMaster property. Was it repossessed for nonpayment of debt? Whatever the actual state of their finances, Henry and Jessie never bought a home in Wilmington. They lived in rented houses for the rest of their lives.

Wilmington

Dr. Willis worked as a general practitioner in Wilmington. He received specialist training in eye, ear, nose and throat diseases and was for several years the city vaccine physician for the southeastern district. Jessie worked as a secretary and pastor’s assistant at Harrison Street Methodist Church a short distance from their home(s). She became Superintendent of the Beginners Department of the Church School and staged many religious productions by the church youth. We can assume her income helped maintain the household. Family legend states that Dr. Willis sometimes took payment in kind from his patients, e.g., a chicken or two instead of currency.

Henry’s mother, Emily R. Willis moved to Wilmington from Preston by at least 1909 and lived with her son’s family until her death in 1921.[11] Emily apparently took good care of her money and probably helped with household expenses. Her personal property estate in 1921 amounted to almost $6,500, all in bank deposits or a secured loan. Henry and his sister Mary each inherited about $2,700 after expenses.[12]

Tragically, the couple’s daughter Grace died of meningitis at the age of five in 1909.[13] Henry and Jessie soon adopted a child about the same age, Katheryn, whom everyone called Kitty. In 1916, Jessie gave birth to a son, Noble Sensor Willis, who was a full generation younger than his half-sister Mary. Mary was still listed in the household in the 1920 Federal Census at age 28 and worked as a secretary.[14]

Mary Catherine Willis

Mary Willis never married. She worked most of her life for the YWCA. In 1916, she attended a reunion of The McMaster Clan in America, in Ashbury Park, New Jersey. Her uncle John S. McMaster organized this national group after extensive research on the family’s Scottish roots.[15] The McMaster Clan elected her Foreign Secretary in 1920.

Mary C. and Harry M. Willis at McMaster Clan Reunion

At the time, she was headed for Peking, China, as a secretary for The Language School, a missionary group sponsored by the YWCA. Her 1920 passport covered visits to Hong Kong, China and Japan.[16] A McMaster family history book lists both Mary and Harry with a permanent address in Wilmington, Delaware.[17] Mary returned from China to the United States before WWII broke out and continued working for the YWCA. She retired in St. Petersburg, Florida, where she died 29 Sep 1966. Mary is buried in the family plot at Silverbrook Cemetery, Wilmington, Delaware.[18]

Harry McMaster Willis

Harry Willis left Wilmington in 1917 to join the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps, the precursor organization of the Army Air Corps.[19] He was a sergeant stationed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1918 when he married Margaret Allmond, a native of Wilmington.[20] She was the daughter of Dr. Charles M. and Emma Allmond. We can easily speculate that the doctors Willis and Allmond knew each other.

Harry and Margaret were married in Wichita Falls rather than Wilmington. Dr. Allmond accompanied his daughter on probably a two-day train trip from Wilmington to Wichita Falls for the wedding.[21] After being discharged from the service, Harry and Margaret moved back to Wilmington where he became an insurance agent. His listing with the McMaster Clan in 1920 showed him serving with 198^th Aero Squadron, but with an address in Wilmington.[22]

Harry and Margaret raised two daughters, Margaret and Emma May, who married two Larson brothers. The young women were wed several years apart in the home of their grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. Allmond, by the pastor at Second Baptist Church. Harry’s wife Margaret died in 1967. Harry subsequently married Virginia Baker Borton, widow of Everett E. Borton. Harry died in Wilmington in 1974 and Virginia in 1981.

Part III

While his elder children were becoming independent, Dr. Willis’s health began to fail. He died of heart disease 11 April 1926.[23]Widow Jessie was left to raise eleven year old Noble Sensor Willis with only her income from working at the church. How she did that will have to wait for the third part of this family story.

One hint about what is to come — Harry’s stint with the Air Corps in World War I likely influenced the direction his young half-brother, Noble, took before World War II. Noble graduated from Duke University into the teeth of the depression in 1939. Unable to find a job that would use his new college degree, he enlisted in the Air Corps. Did Harry’s prior service have anything to do with that decision? We do not know, but it seems logical that it would. More to come.

______

A summary descendancy chart will help picture this family –

Henry Noble Willis (1865 – 1926)

Married 1^st Mary E. McMaster (1867 – 1898)

Children:

Mary Catherine Willis (1891 – 1966)

Harry McMaster Willis (1893 – 1974)

Married 1^st Margaret Lobdell Allmond (1896 – 1967)

Married 2^nd Virginia Baker Borton ( – 1981)

Married 2^nd Jessie Sensor (1881 – 1937)

Children:

Grace Willis (1904 – 1909)

Katheryn Willis (1905 – 1972)

Noble Sensor Willis (1916 – 1969)

[1] Several sources online give Jessie Sensor and her sister Grace the middle name Mendenhall, but I have found no evidence supporting either. In fact, some census records show their brothers with middle names or initials but not the two girls.

[2] 1900 Federal Census for Worcester Co., MD, Pocomoke City, page 23B, Second Street, dwelling # 80:

Dr. Henry N. Willis, 34, b Dec 1865, married 1 year, b MD; Jessie S. Willis, 19, b Jan 1881, married 1 year, b NEB; Mary C. Willis, 8, b Jul 1891, MD; Harry M. Willis, 6, b Jul 1893, MD; Annie Marshall, cook, 32, b 1868 VA

[3] The photo appeared in the 1955 Anniversary Edition of the local newspaper, the “Worcester Democrat,” copy of the clipping in possession of the author.

[4] Obituary newspaper clipping in possession of the author.

[5] Elizabeth Grace McMaster died in 1903 per tombstone on Find-A-Grave

[6] Worcester County Deed Book OCD 2:29 – 26 Jun 1908, Henry N. and Jessie S. Willis sell the Home Lot for $2,100

[7] Caroline County Deed Book ECF 61:369, 7 Dec 1894 – James S. Willis purchased lands of Zachariah Willis from his siblings or their heirs for $200 each. With sibling Henry F Willis deceased, his widow Emily R. Willis and children Mary W. Clark and Henry N. Willis shared the proceeds. Emily was apparently living with her daughter; both their signatures were notarized on the same document in Sussex County, Delaware.

[8] Worcester County Deed Book entries related to the Home Lot – FHP 1:116 – Henry N. Willis purchases for $350 in Sep 1890; FHP 1:275 – borrowed $500 in January 1891; FHP 1:310 – borrowed another $500 in February 1891; FHP 5:403 – borrowed $1,400 in October 1894 to refinance, netted $400; FHP 6:482 – borrowed $1,500 in July 1895 to refinance, netted $100.

[9] Worcester County Deed Book entries related to the Office Lot – FHP 1:202 – Elizabeth Grace McMaster gifts property to her four children in Dec 1890; FHP 3:535 – borrowed $600 secured by ¼ undivided interest in March 1893; FHP 4:524 – siblings gift the Office Lot to Mary E. Willis in December 1893; FHP 5:320 – borrowed $1,500 in July 1894 to refinance, netted $900; FHP 9:116 – borrowed $1,800 in Feb 1897 to refinance, netted $300.

[10] Worchester County Deed Book FHP 12:239 – 13 May 1899, Henry Willis borrowed $80 to be repaid at the rate of $20 every three months secured by the office building occupied by James W. Bonnefield [sic Bonneville] who appears in the 1900 census as a fish and oyster dealer.

[11] The 1909 City Directory for Wilmington lists the members of the household at 320 S. Heald Street as Henry N. Willis, Jessie S. Willis, Mary C. Willis, Harry W [sic M] Willis, and Emily R. Willis. It does not show a separate business address for Dr. Willis indicating he may have been seeing patients in his home. The 1910 Federal Census shows the same residents but lists the address as 315 S. Heald.

[12] Orphan’s Court of Caroline County, Maryland, Probate Records of the Estate of Emily P. Willis, died 13 Feb 1921, total personal property $6,452.41, net after expenses $5,407.52, distributed to each Henry N. Willis and Mary W. Clark $2,703.76.

[13] Return of a Death in the City of Wilmington, Grace Willis, 11 May 1909, Meningitis, born MD, Heald and New Castle Street.

[14] 1920 Federal Census for Wilmington shows the household at 703 West Tenth Street; Henry N. Willis, 54, physician; Jessie S, 38; Mary C., 28, secretary YWCA; Catherine [sic, Katheryn], 18; Noble, 3½; Emily P. 86.

[15] McMaster, Fitz Hugh, The History of the MacMaster-McMaster Family, The State Company, Columbia, South Carolina, 1926, 43.

[16] Passport application

[17] McMaster, 106. Miss Mary Clarke [sic Catherine] Willis, 919 Adams Street, Wilmington, Del. Born July 9, 1891, Pocomoke City, Md.; niece of John S. McMaster. The listing incorrectly states her middle name as Clarke rather than Catherine.

[18] Silverbrook Cemetery Records, Wilmington, Delaware, p 234 – Old Book; Lot #4 1/2, Section M, Deed # 418, Burial 16350, Grave 6, Mary C. Willis, 75 yrs., 10/4/66

[19] Delaware World War I Servicemen’s Records, 1917-1919, on Ancestry, Harry McMaster Willis, age 24, service date 8 Nov 1917.

[20] Wilmington Morning News 11 Oct 1918, page 12, at Newspapers.com. Sergeant Harry M. Willis married Margaret Lobdell Allmond on 30 Sep 1918 in Wichita Falls, Texas

[21] Undated newspaper clipping on Ancestry. Likely, Wilmington Morning News, Sunday, 29 Sep 1918. Also, the 1909 Wilmington City Directory lists Charles M. Allmond physician and druggist at 627 Market with a home at 914 West Street. Margaret L. Allmond is not listed in the directory. She is listed as 14 years old in the 1910 Federal Census.

[22] McMaster, 107. Harry McMaster Willis, 919 Adams Street, Wilmington, Del. Born July 27 1893 at Pocomoke City, Md.; nephew of John S. McMaster; member of 198^th Aero Squadron.

[23] State of Delaware Death Certificate No. 1274, HN Willis, MD, 11 April 1926 at 7 a.m., 1215 W. 9^th Street, Wilmington, Del. Cause of death myocarditis

A Willis Christmas Thank You Note

Some time ago, I found a ninety-eight year old letter from my grandfather, Doctor Henry Noble Willis of Wilmington, Delaware, to his older sister Mary Clark in Preston, Maryland. The 31 December 1924 letter thanked her for a check, presumably a Christmas gift or a birthday present.[1]

Items like this are a treasure. They reveal our ancestors as real people. The brief note shows Doctor Willis was in poor health but retained a sense of humor. The letter mentions his daughter Mary Willis, his cousin Cora Willis Noble, his wife Jessie (“Boss”), and his son Noble, who was eight years old at the time.

The transcribed letter below is followed by some explanatory comments. A couple of words were unclear. I indicated them with a question mark in brackets:

Envelope Addressed: Mrs. M. W. Clark Preston, Md

Postmarked: Dec 31, 1924, 7 PM Wilmington, Del.

Dear Sister,

Your check arrived ok and waited to find out if you were in Preston before thanking you for same.

Mary leaves us tomorrow for supper in Phila. then on to Yonkers next morning.

She certainly looks fine … weighs 148 almost as much as her Dad. I think she enjoyed her stay very much.

We have had quite a cold snap. The weather man has predicted sun but has not arrived yet.

Don’t kill yourself eating this Xmas with all the fine dinners.

Cora stopped over between trains[?], think she’s looking better.

Well, I am doing fine no change in my blood pressure for 6 weeks. Dr. T told me on Monday A M more[?] drainage and he thought I would be good for 5 or 6 years. Sounds good to me, I shall open the office with the New Year starting in slow – avoiding exceptional strain.

Wishing you a Happy New Year and many of them. Noble had more Xmas in his bones than the rest of us.

Boss says she will write later.

Your Brother

H.N.W.

Henry Noble Willis

Henry Noble Willis was 59 years old at the time he wrote this letter. He was born and raised in Preston, Maryland. He graduated from Williamsport College, Pennsylvania in about 1885. After graduating from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1888, he became a doctor like his father, Henry Fisher Willis. The younger Doctor Willis established his practice in Pocomoke City, Worcester County, Maryland. In 1890, he married Mary E. McMaster, daughter of a local physician. Mary died in 1898, leaving two children: Mary Catherine Willis, born in 1891 and Harry McMaster Willis, born in 1893.

In 1899, the widowed Doctor Willis married Jessie Sensor in Pocomoke City. She was a daughter of the Methodist minister who served several communities in the region. The couple had a daughter Grace in 1905. She died of meningitis at age five. Shortly thereafter, they adopted a daughter Kathryn, who had also been born in 1905. In 1908, Henry and Jessie moved to Wilmington, Delaware, where they resided until their deaths. In Wilmington, they had a son, Noble Sensor Willis who was born 1916.

Mary Willis Clark

The recipient of the letter was Doctor Willis’s 64-year old sister Mary.[2] She was born in Sussex County, Delaware, where their father then practiced medicine. About 1863, the elder Doctor Willis family moved Preston, Caroline County, Maryland. In Preston, he took over the practice of a doctor who had joined the Union Army. Mary grew up in Preston and married Joshua Bascom Clark there in 1878.[3] A report of the marriage indicated he was of Seaford, Delaware where he served as junior editor of “The Sussex County Index,” a local newspaper. The childless couple subsequently moved to Georgetown, Sussex County, Delaware where he became publisher and editor of the “Sussan Journal.”

Joshua Clark died in 1892, and Mary managed and edited the newspaper until 1894. She continued to live at her home in Georgetown until her death in 1941.[4] However, Doctor Willis mailed the 1924 thank you letter to Preston, Maryland rather than to her home in Georgetown. He must have known she was traveling, probably visiting relatives during the holidays, and somehow got word that she was in Preston. Mary or her relatives must have been well known in Preston, a town of about 300 people in the early 1900s, because Henry did not include a street address, just her name and the town.

Cora Fisher Willis Noble

Mary Willis Clark and Henry Noble Willis were the surviving children of Doctor Henry Fisher Willis and his wife Emily Rumbold Patton. Their other two children, Cora Fisher Willis and Emma Patton Willis died young … Cora died as a young school teacher in 1875 at age 18, and Emma died in 1863 before her first birthday.

The Cora referred to in the letter is a second Cora Fisher Willis, born in 1879. She was Mary’s and Henry’s first cousin, the daughter of Henry Fisher Willis’s brother James Spry Willis and his wife Mary E. Shufelt. About 1900, Cora married Charles Fulton Noble, son of Isaac Noble. The Nobles were close to the Willis family although this is the first record I have found of a marriage between the two families.

Isaac Noble was a successful carpenter and a neighbor of Henry Fisher Willis in Preston, Maryland. Doctor Jacob L. Noble joined Henry Fisher Willis’s medical practice in Preston. The elder Doctor Willis so admired the Noble family that he adopted their surname as the middle name for his son. It has been used now as a given name in the Willis family through five generations – the doctor’s son, Henry Noble Willis, grandson Noble Sensor Willis, great grandson Gary Noble Willis, great-great grandson Noble Sutherland Willis, and great-great-great grandson Christopher Noble Willis.

Doctor T

I cannot identify the “Doctor T” mentioned in the letter. However, he was overly optimistic about Henry Noble Willis’s expected life span. Henry died 11 April 1926, a little more than two years after this letter, rather than being “good for 5 or 6 years”. I haven’t found a death certificate, so don’t know the official cause of death. I suspect some sort of heart disease based on Henry’s mention of high blood pressure and “drainage.” Maybe some reader can speculate intelligently as to the cause.

Mary Catherine Willis

The Mary referred to in the second sentence of the letter is Mary Catherine Willis, daughter of Henry Noble Willis and his first wife, Mary McMaster. Mary Catherine was working at the time as a secretary at the YWCA in Philadelphia and had obviously come to Wilmington for the Christmas holiday and her father’s birthday. In 1925, Mary applied for a passport to visit Hong Kong, China and Japan. She later served in China as a secretary for a missionary group sponsored by the YWCA, returning to the United States before war broke out. After her years of employment, she retired in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Our family had the pleasure of Mary’s company when she visited Shreveport, Louisiana in the late 1940s. I remember her as an imposing woman. Doctor Willis’s estimate of her weight was far too low by that time. My mother frequently told a story about Mary, who never married or had children, instructing Mom on how to diaper my younger sister, Mom’s third child. Mary complained, “Charlotte, that diaper is too tight. That child is not going to be comfortable.” Mom backed off and said, “Here. You do it.” Mary did so and with a self-satisfied smile placed Barbara in the playpen. Five minutes later, the naked baby was standing in the playpen swinging the not-too-tight diaper over her head!

Noble and “Boss”

Henry’s and Jessie’s son Noble Sensor Willis referred to near the end of the letter was at the age when children are really excited about the magic of Christmas. With his half-siblings half a generation older than he, I can imagine Noble was an exuberant center of attention. Reading Henry’s letter reminded me that later in life Noble adopted some of his father’s habits. As an adult, Noble opened letters with “Dear Sister” and closed with “Your Brother” as did his father. Also, Doctor Willis called his wife Jessie “Boss” in the last line of the letter. Noble referred throughout his married life to his wife Charlotte as “Boss,” when he wasn’t calling her “Imp.” Noble also usually signed notes and messages with three initials rather than a full name. Interesting to note that those patterns all arose with his father.

The letter does not mention adopted daughter Kathryn who was nineteen by 1924 and possibly no longer in the household. She married William New in 1926. In the 1930 census, however, the two resided with the widow Jessie S. Willis and young Noble at Jessie’s home in Wilmington. The couple continued living in New Castle County, Delaware, but had no children.

That is about all I can glean from this letter right now. I have enjoyed re-discovering more about these people and sharing it. Here’s hoping you can find such treasures among your family memorabilia.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

—–

[1] Henry Noble Willis was born 23 December 1865.

[2] Mary Willis was born 21 January 1860.

[3] Mary Willis and Joshua Bascom Clark married 23 January 1868.

[4] From Newspapers.com – The News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, 31 Jan 1941, page 20.

A Willis-Rankin connection … with a foray into history

REVISED TO CORRECT ERROR IN DESCENDANT CHART

No, I am not talking about the Willis-Rankin connection in our immediate household. Instead, this is about a man named James Lee Rankin. However, the story begins with my husband Gary’s father, Noble Sensor Willis.

Noble was a native of Wilmington, Delaware, but wound up in the deep south during World War II. On June 13, 1942, he graduated from the Navigation School, Gulf Coast Air Corps Training Center, at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas. His “Certificate of Proficiency” was signed by “D. H. Rankin, Captain, A.A.F., Secretary.”[1] “A.A.F.” stands for Army Air Force.

I saw that record for the first time this week. I wondered which (if any) lineage in the Rankin DNA Project could lay claim to Captain Rankin. I started searching for him the easy way – at Ancestry. How to begin with only the information on Noble’s certificate? Well, to have been a Captain in 1942, he was probably about 25 to 30 years old.[2] He was certainly born by 1920, probably in the 1910s. My search criteria were:

D. H. Rankin, born 1915, plus or minus 5 years, and lived in San Antonio at one time

A “David H. Rankin” was #42 on the list of hits resulting from that search. Hit #42 showed that David was enumerated in the 1950 census in Ft. Worth, Texas. That made him an attractive choice, so I clicked on his name. The sidebar links suggested for him included a marriage record in May 1945 in Ft. Worth for Major David Henry Rankin, Adjutant, Army Air Force Training Command.

Bingo.

Records for him also included census entries for his family of origin,[3] a World War II draft registration card, the information that he graduated from the University of Nebraska, and a Find-a-Grave memorial.[4] The census entries reveal a brother James Lee Rankin (1907-1996), an attorney who also graduated from the University of Nebraska. He went by Lee.

Bells started ringing in my memory. I ran across Lee several years ago and had intended to write an article about his remarkable career. Something intervened. Here we are, better late than never.[5]

Lee Rankin’s career started with a private law firm in Lincoln, Nebraska. He quickly became involved in politics. A moderate Republican, he helped organize the 1948 campaign for Thomas E. Dewey in Nebraska. In 1952, he managed Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidential campaign in Nebraska. He became assistant attorney general the following year.

In 1956, he became solicitor general, the third-ranking job at the Justice Department. In that capacity, he was instrumental in resolving claims among Western states to Colorado River water, as well as establishing a balance of Federal and state jurisdictions in offshore oil drilling. He developed the Justice Department’s position in lawsuits concerning legislative reapportionment fights that ultimately led to the principle of “one person, one vote.” If you have never had the pleasure of listening to former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, don’t miss this video in which she and former Justice Stephen G. Breyer discuss Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims, two cases dealing with the issue.

After his career in the Justice Department, Lee was chief counsel for the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He represented the ACLU as amicus curiae in the 1962 landmark case Gideon v. Wainwright, which established the right of an indigent person accused of a non-capital crime to legal counsel at public expense.[6] He was former New York City Mayor John Lindsay’s Corporation Counsel from 1966 to 1972, heading a staff of 378 attorneys. Their duties included defending New York City in a wide range of litigation and developing opinions on various municipal issues. Later, Lee taught constitutional law at New York University Law School.

Perhaps the most outstanding part of his career is that he argued dozens of cases before the U. S. Supreme Court in his capacity as solicitor general. The pièce de résistance in that job was his participation in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, a consolidation of five separate cases challenging the constitutionality of school segregation. The Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in 1954.[7] Brown reversed the 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which had held that the constitution permitted separate facilities for Blacks and Whites so long as the facilities were equal.[8] For more than a half-century, Plessy had provided the legal underpinning for de jure segregation — i.e., segregation according to law. Brown eliminated that underpinning. The case is probably best known for the principle that “separate facilities are inherently unequal.” Thurgood Marshall, then the head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, was the lead attorney for the Plaintiffs.[9]

But Lee Rankin also participated in the argument, which took place over several days. As Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department’s office of legal counsel in 1953, he supported the argument that Plessy’s “separate but equal” doctrine violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.[10]

His New York Times obituary says this about Lee’s further role:

“In an effort to avoid violence that might arise from the decision, Mr. Rankin argued in a presentation requested by the High Court that the effort to desegregate schools — overturning decades of entrenched practices — should take place gradually. Accordingly, he suggested the plan by which local school districts submitted desegregation plans to Federal judges in their states.”

This was a radical departure from normal practice. Usually, the Court’s decision that a law was unconstitutional required an immediate end to enforcing that law, period. After the decision in Loving v. Virginia, for example, all laws forbidding interracial marriage became unenforceable immediately. In Brown, on the other hand, the Court ordered integration “with all deliberate speed.”[11]

Lee lived until 1996, so he was around to see how “all deliberate speed” played out. I would give my right arm to ask him whether he thought the principle gave rise to unconscionable delay, and whether it successfully avoided violence. What, I wonder, did he think of the need to send the U. S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock to allow the “Little Rock Nine” Black students to enter Central High School? Or the fact that all of Little Rock’s public schools were not fully integrated until 1972?[12]

On to the genealogy question: does James Lee and David Henry Rankin’s ancestry place them into one of the identified lineages of the Rankin DNA Project? The answer is YES. Their line belongs to Lineage 2, so I can happily claim the brothers as my genetic cousins. Their Rankin line is that part of Lineage 2C which descends from David and Jennett McCormick Rankin of Frederick County, Virginia. David, who died in Frederick in 1768, was most likely the immigrant Rankin ancestor in that line.

Here is a brief outline chart for Lee’s and David’s Rankin ancestors. When (!!!) I finally do a full-fledged descendant chart for the family of David and Jennett McCormick Rankin, I will include citations to evidence. Meanwhile, here are the bare names and places.

HOWEVER, a friend and fellow Rankin researcher has pointed out that this cannot possibly be correct. James Sr., generation 4, was a minor when his father John wrote his 1788 will. James Sr. was thus born AFTER 1767. James Jr. was born 1776-1777 according to the 1860 census and his Menard Co., IL tombstone. James Sr. thus cannot be the father of James Jr.

I have yet to see a convincing alternative chart, nor have I proved one to my own satisfaction. Every possible chart, though, puts James Lee Rankin in the line of David and Jennett McCormick Rankin of Frederick Co., VA. That is also consistent with Y-DNA results. More will follow if and when available …

1 David and Jennett McCormick Rankin of (probably) Ulster, Ireland and Frederick Co., VA.

2 William and Abigail Rankin of Frederick, VA and Washington Co., PA, see an article about them here. William was one of four proved children of David and Jennett. He and Abigail had ten known children.[13]

3 John and Rebecca Rankin of Washington Co., PA. John predeceased his father William, who devised some Washington County land to John’s two children, James and Mary Rankin.[14] James moved to Harrison Co., KY.

4 James Rankin Sr., b. Washington Co., PA, d. Harrison Co., KY. His wife was a Miss Montgomery. Two different men in this extended Rankin family married Montgomery women; Gen. Richard Montgomery was a near neighbor of the Rankins in Washington County. James Sr. and his wife had a son named Richard Montgomery Rankin.

5 James Rankin Jr. m. Anna Dills of Harrison Co., KY and Menard County, IL.[15]

6 William L. Rankin of Harrison Co., KY – Springfield, IL and his second wife Susan Jane Primm. [16]

7 Herman Primm Rankin of Menard Co., IL – Lincoln, Lancaster, NE and his wife Lois Cornelia Gable.[17]

8 James Lee Rankin and David Henry Rankin. [18]

And that is all the news that is fit to print about James Lee Rankin. If I could choose my relatives, Lee would be high on my preferred list. I am tickled pink that he actually IS a distant cousin, and that his brother David certified the passing grades in navigation school for Gary’s father Noble Willis.

In a strange coincidence, today is the anniversary of the date the so-called “Little Rock Nine” Black students first attempted to attend classes at Central High School.[19] Gov. Faubus had the Arkansas National Guard surround the school to prevent their entry.

See you on down the road.

Robin

[1] Noble’s certificate was signed on Captain Rankin’s behalf by E. W. Earnest.

[2] When Gary was in the Air Force, it normally took three years from an officer’s initial commission as a Second Lieutenant until a promotion to Captain. In the Army, it took two years. Gary doesn’t know what the standard was during WW II. He says there were some Lieutenant Colonels in their twenties, although he suspects they were typically fighter or bomber pilots. David Rankin was not a combat soldier, so his promotion progress would have been considerably less spectacular.

[3] 1920 federal census, Lincoln, Lancaster Co., NE, household of Herman P. Rankin, 42, printer, b. IL, father b. KY, mother b. VA, with wife Lois C., 39, daughters Marta M., 15, Lois C., 14, and Mary J., 10, and sons James Lee, 12 and David H., 5. All children were born in NE. See also the 1930 federal census, Lincoln, Lancaster Co., NE, Herman P. Rankin, 52, wife Lois C. Rankin, 50, sons Lee, 23 and David, 16, daughter Mary Jo, 20, and mother-in-law Josephine Gable, 70. James Lee’s S.A.R. application identifies his father as Herman Primm Rankin, b. 31 Jul 1877, and his mother as Lois Cornelia Gable, b. 20 Mar 1880. It also identifies his paternal grandparents, William L. Rankin, b. 15 Sep 1816, d. 1902, and Susan Jane Primm, b. 20 Mar 1809, d. 1885.

[4] David Henry Rankin’s find-a-grave memorial is at this link.

[5] For information about Lee Rankin’s career, see obituaries by Robert D. McFadden, “J. Lee Rankin, Solicitor General Who Was a Voice for Desegregation, Dies at 88” (New York Times, June 30, 1996, Section 1, p. 33) and Santa Cruz Sentinel, 29 June 1996, at 1, 12. Lee died in Santa Cruz, CA.

[6] Before Gideon v. Wainwright, a criminal defendant was only entitled to legal counsel at public expense if he were accused of a capital offense. For a description of the case, see this link.

[7] There is a good discussion of Brown at at this link; see also the second link in Note 11 concerning “all deliberate speed.”

[8] For an example of a case dealing with allegedly equal facilities, see Sweatt v. Painter.

[9] A number of important SCOTUS cases concerning segregation and involving Thurgood Marshall are described in Gilbert King, Devil in the Grove (New York: HarperCollins, 2012). The central story in the book is a criminal case in Florida in which some Black men were wrongly accused of rape. The book is a clear-eyed and graphic account of Jim Crow-era treatment of Blacks. It won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

[10] The fourteenth amendment has two clauses, known as the “equal protection” and “due process” clauses. Section 1 of the amendment reads in part, “[No State … shall] deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (Emphasis added).

[11] See a brief discussion of the “deliberate speed” notion at this link. A more detailed explanation can be found here.

[12] Here are a few facts from post-Brown history. One of our acquaintances would refuse to read any of this, saying he will not participate in what he deems “white shaming.” He does not grasp the fundamental difference between recounting the history of an admittedly shameful event and seeking to make someone feel personally shamed about the event. I certainly don’t want anyone to feel ashamed. If you feel as our acquaintance does, please skip this footnote.

Lee Rankin would probably agree that, as a practical matter, “all deliberate speed” facilitated obstruction and delay. In Shreveport, my high school was still all-white when I graduated in 1964, ten years after Brown. It finally integrated several years later. Many churches in the city promptly opened all-white schools. De jure segregation — segregation as a matter of law under Plessy — became de facto segregation, i.e., separation of Blacks and Whites as a result of segregated neighborhoods, economic status, and alternatives to public schools. Shreveport’s experience was undoubtedly typical of many cities.

Further, gradual desegregation did not prevent violence, as the experience of the “Little Rock Nine” illustrates. This History Channel article has their story. When nine Black students attempted to enter Little Rock’s Central High School on Sept. 4, 1957, they were met by a mob of 400 people shouting racial epithets and threatening violence. One Black female student was surrounded by the mob, which threatened to lynch her. Her stoic visage and the women screaming at her became an iconic image of desegregation. Although the mob had grown to 1,000 by Sept. 24, the Black students were ultimately admitted after the 101st Airborne was called in. Throughout the school year, they continued to suffer verbal and physical assaults. One student had acid thrown in her eyes; one was pushed down a flight of stairs.

The ultimate iconic image of desegregation is probably the famous Norman Rockwell painting of four U. S. Marshalls escorting a six-year-old pigtailed and beribboned little girl into a classroom. The painting pictures stains left by tomatoes thrown at her, as well as a racial epithet scrawled on the wall. Ruby Bridges was probably Rockwell’s inspiration for the painting. As an adult, she recalled people throwing things and screaming by the hostile New Orleans crowd. Her father lost his job; her grandparents were forced off their land in Mississippi. Information on Ruby’s story can be found at this link. And see Rockwell’s painting here.

[13] Washington Co., PA Will Book 1: 206, will of William Rankin of Raccoon Creek identifying ten children, two of whom predeceased him.

[14] Will of John Rankin written and proved in 1788 naming his wife Rebecca and children James and Mary. Washington Co., PA Will Book 1 : 81.

[15] Here is a link to James Rankin Jr.’s Find-a-Grave memorial.

[16] See Note 3 and William’s Find-a-Grave memorial at this link.

[17] See Note 3. Here is Herman’s Find-a-Grave memorial.

[18] The Find-a-Grave memorial for James Lee Rankin has a picture of him from an obituary. See a link to David’s memorial in Note 4.

[19] See Note 12.

The Case of the Unhelpful Mutant Marker

by Gary N. Willis

Rapidly mutating DNA markers can be extremely helpful for genetic genealogists. These mutations can identify sublineages that differentiate relatives within only a few generations and can sometimes solve mysteries where there are gaps in the written record. I recently thought I had discovered such a useful mutation. My Y-DNA test results differ from other members of the Maryland Group of the Willis DNA Project at position 439. That location is noted for being rapidly mutating. The genealogical paper trail indicates that seven of the nine members in the Maryland Group descend from Andrew Willis, son of John Willis the immigrant. The other two of us descend from John, Jr., another son of Immigrant John.

If the anomalous marker at 439 originated with John, Jr., it would clearly separate descendants of Andrew from descendants of John. However, the other group member who descends from John, Jr. does not share the anomaly. The mutation must therefore have originated in one of John, Jr.’s descendants rather than John himself. The paper trail shows that the line of the other John, Jr. descendant and my line diverge at Zachariah Willis, a great-great-grandson of Immigrant John. I am descended from Zachariah’s son Henry Fisher Willis, while the other Maryland Group member descends from Zachariah’s son Francis Asbury Willis. The mutation at 439 obviously occurred with Henry Fisher or his descendants, since Francis Asbury’s line lack the mutation.

Mutant Marker Chart

One of my brother’s test results are identical to mine, including the anomaly. The mutated marker at 439 therefore did not begin with my generation. It must have first occurred with one of three men: our father Noble Sensor Willis, his father Henry Noble Willis, or Henry Noble’s father Henry Fisher Willis. This conclusion is illustrated in the Mutant Marker Chart linked above. Unfortunately, this knowledge has limited value because there are so few male descendants of Henry Fisher. Henry Noble Willis was the only son of Henry Fisher, and Noble Sensor was one of only two sons of Henry Noble. The other son of Henry Noble was Harry McMaster Willis who had no sons. Absent actually digging up a dead relative, it is not possible to determine exactly where the mutation occurred. Thankfully, it is not necessary to be more precise. The remaining males in the entire line of Henry Fisher Willis are the three sons of Noble Sensor (my two brothers and I), plus our five sons and four grandsons. We should all share the mutant marker. No mysteries to be solved there.

Had the mutation occurred with Zachariah rather than further down the line, it would have been extremely useful in identifying kin. Zachariah had a number of sons including some who left the Eastern Shore of Maryland to establish families elsewhere in the country.

(For more information on this family, see “The John Willis Family of Dorchester and Caroline Counties, Maryland” and “The John Willis Family … The Second Generation” recently posted on this site.)