Title and statement of responsibility area
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Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1759-1880, predominant 1850-1880 (Creation)
- Creator
- Rankin, John, 1834-1881
Physical description area
Physical description
39 cm of textual records
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
John Rankin was born on January 30, 1834, near Glasgow, Scotland. In 1849 he became an apprentice with W. and G. Miller, Dry Goods in Glasgow. He sailed for New York in 1855 and settled first in London, then in Dundas in 1856. He eventually became the manager of the Dundas Woollen Mill for G.M. Barton. A job offer in Scotland saw him return there briefly in 1858, but he returned to Dundas via Montreal in 1859. He met his wife Janet Ann Ball in 1862 and they were married in 1864. He borrowed money in 1866 to open his own store, John Rankin Clothing and Dry Goods Store but was nearly bankrupted in 1876. In 1877 Rankin built a home on Sydenham Street and that enterprise proved costly. He sold his store in 1879, clerked in Sarnia in 1880, and became manager of a friend’s store in Wyoming, Ontario. John Rankin died there suddenly on March 20, 1881 after a fall on an icy sidewalk, leaving his wife and four surviving children.
Custodial history
Fonds remained in the family's custody until their donation to the Dundas Historical Society in 1947.
Scope and content
Fonds consists mainly of the diaries and letterbooks of John Rankin which describe his life and work in Scotland and Canada. Fonds includes detailed personal expense and account books, a Sabbath school roll book, ephemera,and books and booklets, most published before Rankin's birth.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Fonds was donated to the Dundas Historical Society by John Rankin's daughter, Catherine Rankin, in 1947.
Arrangement
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Open
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
An inventory is available at the Dundas Museum and Archives and here http://www.dundasmuseum.ca/pdf/Rankin%20inventory%20for%20website.pdf
Associated materials
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Dundas Woollen Mill (Subject)
- John Rankin Clothing and Dry Goods Store (Subject)
- Ball, Janet Ann (Subject)