North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868 list the following: Bride: Mary Doherty Groom: Samuel Rankin Bond Date: November 16, 1791 County: Mecklenburg Record #: 02 200 Bondsman: Richard Rankin Witness: Wm B. Alexander One could presume that Samuel Rankin married Mary Doherty on or about the date of November 16, 1791. Richard Rankin was the Bondsman, which would be a brother of Samuel Rankin. Bride: Mary Doherty Groom: Wm H. Edwards Bond Date: May 13,1847 County: Orange Record #: one 129 Bondsman: R.F. Morris Witness: J Allison The above record may also be the same Mary Doherty which married Samuel Rankin in 1791? The article is about the Rankin Family Home. It was originaly published in The Gastonia Gazette - Gastonia, NC, May 1955 by Mrs. Kay Dixon: (Mary E. Moore, wife of Oliver Wiley Holland, was a niece to Mary Moore, the wife of William Rankin, son of Samuel. Issac Holland Jr. married Mary C. Rankin, daughter of William.) "Samuel Rankin and wife, Ellen Alexander, were pioneers who settled in this area in 1765, and obtained a grant to a large tract of land, the majority of which is still in the possession of the Rankin family. Samuel built a house in 1765 on a hill overlooking the 300 acres that he was later to deed to his son William (born 1760 - died 1853, age 93 years). When a boy of 17 William joined the military company of his uncle, Captain Robert Alexander; he saw service in the Cherokee uprising, in the battles of Cowpens and Eutaw Springs. When he was 27 years old he married Mary Moore Campbell, sister of General John Moore. They settled on land Samuel Rankin gave them and built a small log house with a tremendous eight-foot fireplace. Here they lived until the finer, larger house in front of it was completed in 1800. "The first cabin then was used for a kitchen; unfortunately this interesting old building has been torn down, and many tools, looms, farm implements of by-gone days have been lost. The charming old house, of logs covered with siding, has small rooms, quaint old mantles, and an inclosed (sic) stairway. "The house is a veritable store house of valuable and interesting articles, among which are straight chair that William Rankin used, cupboards with some of the original china in them; spool beds, old trunks, and tables, the old Bisanar clock with weights that rest in a sand box, a fine old secretary with secret drawers. The furniture was said to have been made by Isaac Holland."