Our Missouri Roots
Paternal grandparents Alameda Klump and Lester Rankin met in St. Louis, Missouri and were married in 1928.Alameda was born in Perryville, Perry County.Her grandmother, Margaret Catherine Manning, was a descendant of the Maryland Catholics, a group that had left Maryland shortly after the Revolution to settle in Kentucky and later in Missouri.Her grandfather, Joel Thorpe, was a descendant of the one of the first English settlers in Connecticut's New Haven Colony.Lester Rankin was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, but he also had Perry County roots.His father was Sanford S. Rankin, son of Samuel E. Rankin and Ellen M. Kline.Through these two lines, we are related to most of the early families in Perry County.
Our Pennsylvania Roots
Maternal grandparents, Jean Williams and Daniel A. Dillon grew up in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.They were married in 1931 but had separated by 1935.Jean Williams was the granddaughter of Welsh immigrants who came to work in the coal mines.Daniel Dillon was the grandson of Irish/English immigrants who avoided working in the mines.Jean Williams' mother was Annie Jones, and though we've had no direct contact with them in over 60 years we've been able to trace this family to their Welsh origins in Glamorgan.William and Elizabeth Jones and 4 of their 6 children travelled from Ystradifodwg, Glamorgan to Liverpool, boarded the S. S. Campania and arrived in New York on May 25, 1895.Once in the US, they settled in Warrior Run, Pennsylvania, near Wilkes-Barre.One daughter, Jane, had arrived 3 years earlier.William and son Morgan worked in the coal mines.Interesting discovery:3 of the 5 Jones sisters married men whose surname was Williams.It's not yet known if any of them were related.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~January 16, 1998~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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