The Rankin House and its continued legacy

The John Rankin House has been recognized as a National Historic Landmark for more than 20 years. The Maysville Rotary Club was honored to learn more about John Rankin (abolitionist, Underground Railroad conductor), his family and their mission at the Tuesday, Feb. 6 meeting with Betty Campbell.

As an advocate of the Rankin House, Campbell has obtained a wealth of information about the details of the home and the Rankin’s lives.

Campbell explained briefly how in 1981, the Ohio Historical Society closed several of their smaller sites. Campbell and her fellow local historians set out to work through a management agreement to be able to independently run sites like the Rankin House and the Parker House.

Campbell went into detail about how the site was restored largely for the first time eight years ago since it’s opening in 1948. Campbell mentioned that a paint analyst was called in to evaluate the two front rooms of the home. It was determined through their analysis that the rooms had been stenciled originally. A stenciling reference book was used to discover what the entire pattern looked like and were later able to repaint the walls in their original hues.

According to Campbell, Rankin and a collection of other family members wrote down various accounts of their lives which led them to attain detailed descriptions of some furniture items in the original home. Antiques resembling the original pieces were then purchased and set among the house so that visitors to the landmark get the most authentic experience.

One of Rankin’s nine sons recalled in a memoir that he once came downstairs to a woman who was sitting by a box stove in the family parlor drying herself by the fire and wringing out her wet clothes. The woman was attempting to win her freedom and sought refuge with the Rankins. A box stove was added to the home to be authentic.

The woman Rankin’s son was referring to later became the inspiration for Eliza in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Also mentioned by family members was the presence of a riffle hanging over the front door and a grandfather clock.

Reverend John Rankin spoke up for human rights from his pulpit and made it known to all that he refused to believe a human being could own another.

At one point in his life, Rankin received a letter from his brother informing him that he had acquired a slave. Rankin was so filled with anguish that he continued to write a series of 13 letters detailing why his brother should free the man he claimed he had obtained.

Rankin’s neighbor at the time was David Ammon, the editor of The Castigator, a newspaper based in Ripley, Ohio. Rankin allowed Ammon the opportunity to read his letters which led him to publish them publicly.

A friend of Rankins, Edward Cox of Maysville, later bound 500 copies of this series together for distribution. Another 500 copies were created but were never bound.

At one point in time, bounty hunters from Kentucky made their way onto the Rankin’s property with the intent to set fire to their barn. A gunfight ensued leaving several of the bounty hunters injured. The Rankin men escaped mostly unscathed except a bullet graze to Rankin’s son, Calvin’s shoulder.

In response to the ambush, Rankin published another open letter to the editor informing the public that anyone caught on his property to do them harm would be retaliated upon. He continued to reiterate that his family was only being prosecuted because they were abolitionists, a fact he was very proud of indeed.

John Rankin’s work with the Underground Railroad spanned 40 years with he and his family lending a hand to 2000 slaves. He always proudly maintained that “I never lost a passenger.”

Campbell’s pride in working with the Rankin House is evident and her passion is bold. To find out more about the Rankin House, visit ohiohistory.org/rankin.