“Here lies a Christian wife, a Christian mother and a Christian neighbor.”

Mary Morgan Hamilton (sister to Garrard Morgan 1806 - ? ) is grandmother to  Mary and Walter Rankin.

OBITUARY 

[ February 8, 1884, Greensburg Standard]

Mrs. Mary [Morgan] Hamilton:

Mary Hamilton, wife of Robert Marshall Hamilton, died at 4:30 o’clock Saturday afternoon last, at the family residence four miles northeast of this city, after an illness of over three years of consumption, in the 72^nd year of her age. Funeral services were held at 10 a.m. Monday at the residence, conducted by Rev. A. T. Rankin, after which her remains were laid to rest in the Hamilton burying grounds in the Kingston cemetery.

“Aunt Polly” was a sister to the late Captain James and Gerrard Morgan, two well known and popular citizens of this county in former years. She was born in Nicholas county, Kentucky, and with her widowed mother, Mrs. Sarah Morgan, and three brothers and a sister, emigrated to this county in 1823. They settled on the east part of the farm now owned by R. R. Cobb, one mile east of this city, which remained the family home until after the marriage of all the children and the decease of the mother.

At this backwoods home, on the 25^th day of Sept., 1834, Robert M. Hamilton and Mary Morgan were united in marriage, and at once made their residence on the farm that until death thus separated them has been their pleasant and happy home. Here were born to them six children, one of whom died in childhood, another about a year ago in his young manhood, while the other four reside in the neighborhood—all of them respected members of society.

In her early youth  [while growing up in Kentucky] “Aunt Polly” made profession of her faith in Christ and connected with the Christian church. Sometime after her marriage [in Greensburg, Indiana] she transferred her membership to the Sandcreek (new Kingston) Presbyterian church, in which communion she continued until her decease, bearing witness through her long life to that Faith that sustained her to her long afflictions and was her comfort in her hour of dissolution.

Let her epitaph be written. "Here lies a Christian wife, a Christian mother and a Christian neighbor." O.T. (February 8, 1884 Greensburg Standard)

Hamilton - Morgan connection. Miss Mary Rankin, Walter's sister.

In my attempt to "figure out" our Hamilton - Morgan family connections I've read through a great many Decatur, Indiana county obituaries. 

Some of them call out to being shared. (Continued from here.)

Rites Set for Ex-Resident

Miss Mary Rankin [died 10-26-1973] To Be Buried Here

Graveside rites for Miss Mary Rankin, 89, who died at 12:15 p.m. Thursday in the Methodist Memorial Home at Warren after a brief illness, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Kingston Cemetery. The Rev. Herbert Townsend Jr., pastor of the Kingston United Presbyterian Church will conduct the services. The body has been cremated.

Since July, 1850 Miss Rankin had been a guest at the home at Warren.

A descendant of pioneer families of Decatur County, Miss Rankin made her last visit here at the time of the annual Donnell-Hamilton-McCoy reunion on Aug. 5.

For over a half century, Miss Rankin was preminently identified with church, health ahd club activities in this community.

Born on May 16, 1884 on the family farm at McCoy’s Station east of Greensburg, Miss Rankin was the daughter of John T. and Sarah Hamilton Rankin. In disposing of the bulk of her acreage in Dec. 1950, Miss Rankin terminated a farm relationship with the John Menkhaus family covering 45 years.

Her father died on Dec. 28 1914. At the time of death on Nov. 2 1942 her mother, Mrs. Sarah Hamilton Rankin, then 97, was the oldest resident of Decatur County.

Miss Rankin was a granddaughter of the Rev. John T. Rankin who was a prominent figure in the anti-slavery movement before the Civil War. The former residence of the Rev. Rankin a Ripley, Ohio, has been preserved as a historic home.

After attending the McCoy Grade School and Greensburg High School, Miss Rankin completed her high school education at Western College for Women, Oxford, Ohio.

Subsequently, she enrolled at Oberlin College t Oberlin, Ohio from which she was awarded an A.B. degree in 1906 and a M.A. degree later. She was listed as the oldest graduate of Oberlin College.

The oldest member of the Kingston United Presbyterian Church, Miss Rankin was active in church assignments throughout her life. She served as president of the Whitewater Presbyterial Society and engaged in women’s activities of the Kingston Church.

From 1928 to 1939, Miss Rankin was the executive secretary of the Decatur County Tuberculosis Association. During this period the county association gained citations from the state association: for several successive years. She was a former secretary of the T. B. Secretaries’ Association of Indiana and held membership on the board of directors of the Indiana Tuberculosis Association. Her experience in the health field was recognized as an assignment as

Rites Set (continued from page one)

A case worker in Boone County.

One of the organizers of the Greensburg Department Club, Miss Rankin was a former president. She also served as president of the Progress Club in the Kingston Community, the Greensburg Business and professional Women’s Club and the Greensburg Music Club. She was a mbmer of the Giv-Un-Take Garden Club for an extended period.

As a world traveler, she has visited Australia, new Zealand, Alaska, The Holy Land, Italy, Germany and Central America. In addition she had traveled in every state in the United States, relating her experiences in travel to numerous groups.

During and after World War II, she was director for Decatur County of women’s work in the civil defense program.

Surviving Miss Rankin are a number of cousins.

from - Greensburg Daily News, Decatur, Indiana Library, Obituaries. Thank you very much! http://www.greensburglibrary.org/library-services/local-history-and-genealogy/obituaries-2

Mary Rankin and her brother Walter.

Garrard Morgan's sister Mary "Polly" Morgan was married on September 26, 1834 to Robert Marshall Hamilton in Greensburg, Indiana. They were married in the home they would live their lives out together in. Their daughter Sarah Morgan Hamilton married John T. Rankin and they had one daughter Mary. 

Six years ago I asked the question, what happened to Mary Morgan Hamilton's granddaughter (Mary Rankin) who appeared to be named Mary for her grandmother?  

According to the Social Security Index Mary lived from May 16, 1884 until October 1973, and died at the age of 89.

Mary was her mother Sarah’s only living child in the 1900 census. Sarah claimed she had four children and sixteen-year-old Mary was then her only living child. Census numbers evidence such sadness.  

May 6, 1890

Walter, son of John T. and Sarah Rankin, died Tuesday, May 6, 1890, in the 9^th year of his age, of diphtheria, and was buried at Kingston Wednesday morning. He was a promising boy, and his parents feel deeply their loss. It seemed specially sad that, the disease being contagious, so few of their many friends could attend the funeral. Their beautiful home at McCoy seemed darkened by the angel of death. But the parents have the Christian hope of meeting the loved one in the beautiful world. He will be missed by his Sabbath school teacher and from his place in the church at Kingston, of which he was a baptized member. Services at the house and grave were conducted by his uncle, Rev. A. T. Rankin, and the body put to rest in his grandfather’s, R. M. Hamilton, beautiful lot in the cemetery. His sister, younger than he, has recovered from the same. It is hoped there may be no other cases.   From The Saturday Review.