Rankin, Laura Maria Wolcott, 1811-1887

Person

Staff Only

Biography

Laura Maria Wolcott was born on August 14, 1811, the youngest child of Frederick and Betsey Huntington Wolcott. Laura attended the Litchfield Female Academy from 1822 to 1827.

On March 30, 1831, Laura married Robert Gozman Rankin of Fishkill, New York. They resided for some years in Newburgh, NY. Robert graduated from Yale in 1826 and attended the Litchfield Law School in 1827. He was a businessman, railroad engineer, and Regent of New York State University.

Laura was active in volunteer activities including her church's mission, raising funds to erect a fence around Washington's headquarters, collecting clothing and other items for soldiers during the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War.

By one account Laura and Robert had eleven children, by another thirteen, with ten surviving until adulthood. She died in 1887, at the age of seventy six.

Citation:

Author: Linda Hocking

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

Rankin, Laura Maria Wolcott

1993-21-0

Digital Record

Identifier: 1993-21-0

Dates: Digitized: 1825

Found in: Litchfield Historical Society

Wolcott family collection

1906-04-0

Collection

Identifier: 1906-04-0

Abstract Correspondence chiefly between Frederick Wolcott (1767-1837), his wife Elizabeth (Betsey) Huntington Wolcott (1774-1812), his brother Oliver Wolcott (1760-1833) who served as Secretary of the Treasury and Governor of Connecticut, and Jabez W. Huntington (1788-1847) who served as a U.S. Senator from Connecticut. Topics include domestic news, local, state, regional and national politics, business affairs, church activities, trade with China and the merchant vessel Trident, raising merino...

Dates: translation missing: en.enumerations.date_label.created: 1740-1844; Other: Majority of material found within 1790-1837; Other: Date acquired: 01/01/1906