Breakfast With Grandpa - RANK Genealogy

I would have liked to have had a long chat with my Grandpa Rank at breakfast. I would have loved to sit and listened to all his adventures out in the mines and with his friends and family. Alas I did not know him that well and there was only one time i can remember spending a little bit of time with him.

What I remember is that my mom, Marylou (who was the youngest of four), my sister Gail and I visiting him one summer day. At this time he was a recluse living on the mountains of Garrett or Allegheny County Marylland.. We drove up the path and stopped on the tier below where he had a shack. I mean it is was a shack and I couldn't believe someone would be warm in that in the winter. We walked a few feet. I noticed the shack n white horse and a dog he had living with him. My mom and he chatted for a few and my sister and I just looked around. He asked us if we would like something to eat and we both agreed. He said that he didn't have much but he had some fresh picked blackberries. I love blackberries now and possibly my affinity for them began then. He gve both of us a bowl full of them with milk and sugar on them. They were yummy! Funny thing is that is the way that I love to eat them today. I don't remember much else of that day but through my mom and her perfect memory of things I got lots more information from her. I also did lots of research on genealogy when I did my paternal LEWIS line.

Louis Clarence Rank Jr, was of German descent. His mother was Elizabeth Jenkins and they were of Royal blood way back in Wales. One of my ancestors was the 9th heir to the throne. My Grandpa was a coal miner in the Consolidated Mines in Western Maryland. According to Pastor Willis E. Dewberry's story (located on the right) he was an interesting man. He married Anne (Entler) and they had four children, Henry, LaVerne, Lawrence and Marylou (my mom). The lived in Frostburg. Maryland. His father was also a coal miner in Germany before they came to the US.

The account tells how he was in a few coal mine disasters. One was in one of the mines that collapsed and they were left in there for 3 days without food or water. They stayed alive by hunkering down low and turning off the lanterns and light so they would have air to breath.. By the account it appears that my grandpa was a notable man and was a great asset to the community. I find it ironic that I have some of his traits he passed down. It would have been nice if he could see how his descendants turned out and how some of his characteristics were handed down. The one that I think I got was his enterprenuership skills. One of the coal mining operation's had shut down one of the mines because they thought they exhausted all the coal there was to get in there. There was enough left there but the company's big trucks and machinery couldn't get into it to finish it off. My grandfather and someone else, who I don't know, mined that coal mine on their own to bring in money for his family. They would go down the mine and dig the coal out and fill dump trucks up with it and sell it. Yeah it was hard work and a very long day. They made a modest income in the 1950's.

From my mom's account and Pastor Dewberry's account my grandfather was baptised in the same chuch that he had excavated and built the stone foundtion for. It was said that he and the pastor became good friends in spite of my grandpa's drunken bouts. Onece the pastor went to his home and poured out all my grandpa's liquer. It was said that my grandpa told him that it was OK because once he came out of his alcoholic stupor that he would just go and get some more. In the accounts of Pastor Dewberry, Grandpa Rank was a very humorous man and I kind of get that from him too. I think there was a shoemaker back in his ancestry and also a few seamstresses on his side and my paternal side and that is where I get that from. Grandma Rank was the owner of the Slumberland Motel in La Vale, Maryland for years and .... well.. it seems that I have not picked up on Grandma's managerial skills yet.

I was told (cannot find the information) that my Grandpa lived in a hotel in Cumberland, Maryland. There was a huge fire and supposedly there is a newspaper article about it somewhere. It alludes me right now. Anyway it was at night that the fire began from a room below my Grandpa's. After everything cleared they found out that someone had been smoking in bed and dropped their cigarette on the floor and the fire started. it was supposedly quite a blazing fire. Most of the people in that fire had died and my Grandpa was one of them. They had to Identify him by his dental records. He died on March 25, 1968.

Henry Leo Rank was born on March 13, 1925 in WoodVale, PA. He passed away with cancer on March 22, 2008

LaVerne Elizabeth was born in April 1,1931 and she passed away on July 2, 2011 from Lung Cancer.

Lawrence Louis was born on March 25, 1918 in Grahmtown. MD and passed away on October, 7, 1972. I think he died of TB or Cirrhosis of the Liver, but not positive.

Marylou was born on March 23, 1938 and she is still gracing this Earth.

Both my mom and My Aunt LaVerne were delivered by Mid-wives in Grahamtown, MD

More on The Ancestry on the Ranks will be on Hubs following this one at a later time.

Henry Leo Rank was born on March 13, 1925 in WoodVale, PA. He passed away with cancer on March 22, 2008

LaVerne Elizabeth was born in April 1,1931 and she passed away on July 2, 2011 from Lung Cancer.

Frostburg — FROSTBURG — LaVern E. (Rank) Nicol, 80, of Frisco, Texas, formerly of Frostburg, passed away peacefully at the Presbyterian Hospital in Plano, Texas, on Saturday, July 2, 2011.

Born April 1, 1931, in Frostburg, she was the daughter of the late Louis Rank and the late Anne (Entler) Rank. Her brothers, Henry and Lawrence Rank, also preceded her in death.

She retired from the A&P market in Frostburg.

Surviving is her husband of 61 years, Ronald J. “Doc” Nicol; two sons, Ronald L. Nicol, of Frisco, Texas and Wayne L “Nick” Nicol, of LaVale; two daughters-in-law, Liane (Spain) Nicol and Alana (Brodie) Nicol; a sister, Mary Lou (Rank) Lewis and husband Bill Lewis; three grandchildren, Adam Nicol and wife Kathy, Kimberly (Nicol) Hamerman and husband Eliot, and Katie Nicol; and two great-grandchildren, Codi Nicol and Atticus Nicol.

Lawrence Louis was born on March 25, 1918 in Grahmtown. MD and passed away on October, 7, 1972. I think he died of Cirrhosis of the Liver. He married and had 1 daughter Sandra who married a Shoemake. This is sketchy at best because I am only going by the old funeral notice that is on the right of this text box.

Marylou was born on March 23, 1938 and she is still gracing this Earth.

She married William J Lewis on June 30, 1956 at The Welsh Memorial Baptist Church in Frostburg, Maryland. Yep the same one her dad excavated and built the foundation for.. They had 2 daughters Debra Kay and Gail Lynn. Their information is on the link William J. Lewis family.