Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/33

 RAMSEY

RANDALL

1865. He celebrated the eighty-seventh anniver- sary of his bii^tli Sept. 8, 1902, at his home in St. Paul, INIinn., wliere he died, April 22, 1903.

RAMSEY, James Qettys McQrady, author, was born in Knox county, Tenn., March 25, 1797 ; son of Francis Alexander (177—1820) and Peggy McKnitt (Alexander) (177—1805) Ramsey ; grand- aon of Reynolds (172—1816) and Naomi (Alex- ander) (173—1813) Ramsey, and of John Mc- Knitt Alexander of North Carolina, a signer of the Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence.

and great-grandson of Ramsey who came

to America from the North of Ireland in 1730, and settled wliere Adams county is now located. His wife was lost overboard from the ship on the voyage to America, and he lived with his son Reynolds, who married Naomi, daughter of Francis Alexander of Pennsylvania, and removed to Rockbridge county, Va. Francis Alexander Ramsey removed to Holston settlements, N.C., 1783, and became secretary of the proposed state of Franklin, subsequently Tennessee. He built a stone house in Knox county six miles northeast of Knoxville, which was still standing in 1903. His eldest son, J. G. McG. Ramsey, graduated at Wash- ington college, Tenn., A.B., 1815, receiving the degree A.M. later ; was clerk and register of Knox county, 1816-20 ; studied medicine in Knoxville, and at the University of Pennsylvania, and was married, March 1, 1821*, to Margaret Barton (1802- 1889), daughter of Capt. John and Hannah (Bar- ton) Crozier. He practised in Knoxville, residing in the fork of the Holston and French Broad rivers, four and a half miles northeast of the city. He .was president of the Bank of Ten- nessee ; founder of the first historical society of Tennessee ; president of the Charleston and Cin- cinnati railroad, projected in 1836 ; and finan- cial agent of the Confederate States, 1861-65. He was the author of : Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century (Vol. I. 1853, new ed., 1860), and when his house was burned by the Federal soldiers in 1863 his his- torical papers and MS. of Vol. II. of the Annals of Tennessee, and MS. of History of Lebanon Church, 1791-1S54, were lost. He died in Knoxville, Tenn., April 41, 1884.

RANCK, George W., author, was born in Louisville, Ky., Feb. 13, 1841 ; son of Solomon and Sarah (Marman) Ranck ; grandson of Samuel, 2d. and Mary (Aultz) Ranck, and descendant of Michael and Anna (Barbara) Ranck, Huguenots, and adherents of the Moravian church, who escaped from Holland in the English vessel Mor- ton Hmise, and landed in Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 24, 1728, helping to found the town of New Hol- land. George W. Ranck was a student at Ken- tucky university, 1864-68. at Harrodsburg, 1864- 65, and at Lexington, 1865-68 ; was tutor there

for some time and principal of its academy in 1868. He was editor of the Lexington Observer and Reporter, 1868-71, and in 1871 became owner of the paper. He was married in 1868, to Helen, daugliter of John and Mary E. Carty of Lexington. He was one of the organizers of the Kentucky Historical society at Frankfort, 1878 ; was a member of the Virginia Historical society; the Massachusetts Historical society, and of various other learned and patriotic organiza- tions ; and delivered the historical address, " Cen- tennial of Lexington," at Morrison college, April 2, 1879. His death resulted from being struck by a train, wliile examining the stone sills and under ties of the first railroad built in Lexington, Ky., in quest of historical information for an article he had in preparation. His publications are : History of Lexington, Kentucky (1872); G'Hara and His Elegies (1875); several chapters for His- tory of Lafayette Co., Ky. (1882) ; Guide to Lex- ington (1883); airty, the ^Miite Indian (1886): Tlte Traveling Church (1891); TJie Story of Bryan's Station (1896) ; Tlie Bivouac of the Dead and its Author (1898) ; Boonesborough (1901). He died in Lexington, Ky., Aug. 2, 1901.

RAND, Edward Sprague, floriculturist, was born in Boston, Mass., Oct. 20, 1834 ; son of Ed- ward Sprague and Elizabeth (Arnold) Rand ; grandson of Edward Sprague Rand (1782-1863), a shipping merchant of Amsterdam, Holland, and shipping merchant and banker of Newbury- port, Mass., and a de.scendant in the eighth generation from Robert and Alice Rand, who settled in Charlestown, Mass., in 1635. He was graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1855, LL.B., 1857, A.M., 1858 ; and engaged in business with his father, residing in Dedham, Mass., where he devoted his leisure to floriculture and literature. He was assistant editor of Harris on Insects In- jurious to Vegetation in 1862, edited the floral department of The Homestead, and assisted in the preparation of a new edition of Dr. Jacob Bige- low's " Florula Bostouiensis." He traveled exten- sively in the Southern states and in South Ameri- ca, and is the author of : Life Memoirs and other Poems (1859); Flowers for the Parlor and Garden (1863); Garden Flowers (1866) : Bulbs (1866); Seventy-five Popular Flowers and How to Culti- vate Them (1870); Tlie Rhododendron and Ameri- can Plants (1871); Window Gardener (1872); and Complete Maiiual of Orchid Culture (1876). He died in Para, Brazil. Sept. 28, 1897.

RANDALL, Alexander Williams, postmaster general, was born in Ames, Montgomery county N.Y., Oct. 31, 1819; son of Phineas Randall, a native of Massachusetts. He received a colle- giate education, studied law and established him- self in practice in Waukesha, AVisconsin Territory, in 1840. He was appointed postmaster of Wauke-