Rev. G. C. Rankin

        Rev. G. C. Rankin, D. D., pastor of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church South, is a native of Jefferson County, Tenn., born November 19, 1849, and the son of Creed W. and Martha J. (Clark) Rankin, both natives of East Tennessee. The Rankin family has produced twenty-three preachers - twenty-one Presbyterians, one Congregational and one Methodist Episcopal. Creed W. was a farmer by occupation and died in 1862. The mother is still living. Our subject is the only living child of a family of seven children. He was educated in the common schools and at Hiwassee College from which institution he graduated in 1874. Since that time he has been engaged in his ministerial duties at the following places, respectively: Abingdon, Va; Asheville, N. C.; Knoxville, Tenn., and Chattanooga, where he is at the present time. In 1875 he married Miss Fannie Denton, of Dalton, Ga., who bore him five children-one son and four daughters. Mrs. Rankin is also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Rankin is a mason, and has been preaching the gospel for twelve years. He came to Chattanooga in 1883, and is an able and faithful minister. He received the degree of D. D. from the University of Tennessee in the year 1879.
Goodspeed's "History of East Tennessee" 1887