SAVE St. Mary Cemetery – Activists hope to prevent destruction of local cemetery
Those attending show their support for the SAVE St. Mary Cemetery cause as Birdie Sneed Montgomery, a 6th generation member of the Rankin Family, signs her name. The Rankin Family descends from Willoughby Rankin, who it is believed to have traveled from Alabama with the family of Fredrick Harrison Rankin in 1823. According to the handbook of the Texas Historical Association, on July 7, 1824, Fredrick Harrison Rankin was a one of *Stephen F. Austin’s Old Three Hundred Colonists. Grave markers and Texas death certificates verify that three of Willoughby Rankin’s children as well as a number of other descendants are buried at St. Mary Cemetery. Members of three younger generations of the Rankin Family currently reside in Milford. (Barry Byers)
