History of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky, ed.
by William Henry Perrin,  O. L. Baskin & Co., Chicago, 1882.  p. 810.
[Harrison County]   [Berry Precinct]

MISS MARY A. RANKIN, farmer, P. O. Berry's Station, was born at Cynthiana,
Harrison County, Ky., March 21, 1819, and is a daughter of Martin and
Sarah (Spears) Smith; he was born in Pennsylvania, Aug. 29, 1787, was a
farmer by occupation and died Sept. 21, 1871; his wife, Sarah Spears, was
born in Bourbon County, Ky., May 25, 1791 and died Aug. 3, 1854; she was
the mother of nine children of which the subject of this sketch is one;
she was married in 1837 to Jonas Lyter, who was born Nov. 26, 1814, in
Bourbon County, Ky., and son of Henry and Barbara Lyter.  Mr. Lyter, the
husband of our subject, died Aug. 14, 1846, leaving to her care three
children, viz: John M., A. D. and J. C. Lyter, the result of their union;
she was again married Feb. 11, 1851, to Thomas A. Rankin, son of Robert
and Jane Rankin, natives of Harrison County, Ky.  Mr. Rankin was a miller
by trade, and owner of a saw and grist mill, which was a few years later
destroyed by water; when he turned his attention to farming, purchasing
a farm containing 176 acres of land, on which is situated the "Old Elm
Spring," by tradition a favorite camping ground for the Indians at an
early day.  Death again entered her home circle, leaving her once more a
widow, with the addition of six children, viz: Sarah J., Thomas H.,
Mary E., Henry Clay, Robert McLellan and Ann M.  To add to her misfortune,
her house was consumed by the flames on Feb. 5, 1866; being a a woman of
energy and ambition, however, she did not give up to despair and on April
17, of the same year, moved into a new house erected by her own design,
where she still resides in her declining years, surrounded by a large
family of children; she is a lady of intelligence, highly esteemed by the
community where she lives, and is, with several of her children, connected
with the Christian Church at Colemansville.

Rankin Spears Smith Lyter
=
Bourbon-KY PA

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/harrison/rankin.ma.txt