Louisa May Rankin

d/o James Rankin and Mary Johnson

Moved to Bowie County, TX in 1860

Aunt Louisa (pron lou-I-za was born in Lincoln County, North Carolina -- see the 1850 Census NC Lincoln County, ancestry.com, Image 36, enumerated 27 Aug 1850, where she is living with her siblings Samuel, William Rufus, Alexander, and three nieces and nephews.

She is named in her father James Rankin's estate papers at the NC Archives -- 1842-familysearch.org.

She was part of a group from her native area who moved to Bowie County, Texas in 1856. The area of Bowie where she initially lived became Cass County when that county was formed.

Audrey Cooke Rankin photographed the two photographs of Louisa May Rankin, who married Wesley Cooke in Cass County, TX, at the home of one of the relatives she interviewed for her book Ties That Bind. It likely was at the home of Norine Bowers, Hughes Springs, TX, in 1983. Audrey placed her copy in the care of Marie Elliott McClure, who has shared it here.