The Will of John Rankin Pioneer of Kensington Melbourne Australia and Details of His IN Laws

POSTCRIPT. The name of John Rankin's wife has never been properly recorded in Victorian birth records. I hate loose ends, and like her son James Forbes, I've struck gold. Pardon my pun, but if I didn't find this information, I would have had to show CAUSE.

This looked like a possibility because the death record of one of John and Jean's children had a mother's maiden name starting with C*. Death records and notices(e.g.McDougall) had shown that Jean and Jane were often used for the same person.
*EventDeath Event registration number5899 Registration year1916
Personal information
Family nameRANKIN Given namesJames Forbes SexUnknown Father's nameRankin Jno Mother's nameJane (Canse) Place of birth Place of death Age77

EventDeath Event registration number7108 Registration year1880
Personal information
Family nameRANKIN Given namesJane SexUnknown Father's nameCause John Mother's nameHelen (Dunnan) Place of birthU Place of death Age73 Spouse's family nameRANKIN Spouse's given namesJohn

RANKIN."”On the 4th inst., at Kensington, Jane, the beloved wife of John Rankin, in her 74th year.
(P.1, Argus, 5-7-1880.)

John Rankin, of Learmonth-street, Moonee Ponds,
gentleman, by his will dated August 25, 1891, and
presented for probate by Messrs. Pentland, Roberts
and Thompson, of Melbourne, solicitors, appointed
his daughter Margaret McDougall, of Holmes-road,
Moonee Ponds; widow, sole executrix. He bequeathed
his household furniture and other articles of house-
hold use or ornament to his daughter Joanna Brooks;
to his daughter Margaret McDougall his gold watch
and chain ; to his son James Forbes Rankin, the use
of piece of land with house, situate on the Racecourse-road,
Flemington, and at his death the same
to be sold, and divided amongst, his children, two
shares to his daughter Jessie and one share each to
his other children (at 21), excepting his eldest son
John Forbes Rankin. He bequeathed his residuary
estate equally to his four children Margaret
McDougall, Joanna Brooks, Jane Eadie and Andrew
Rankin. By a codicil dated January 27, 1892, he
bequeathed to the said Joanna Brooks part of Crown
allotment C, section C*, parish of Doutta Galla, with
house, and directed that in the division of his
residuary estate she shall take £1100 less than the
other legatees, that being the amount paid by testator
for said land, Testator, died July 19, 1892, and
the will is sworn at £1950 real and £12,200 personal;
total, £14,150. (P.11, Table Talk, 19-8-1892.)

*This had me puzzled but stupidly I didn't inspect the page, thinking that John was referring to Roseneath. It was only after Learmonth St. dragged my mind into gear, that I realised that John was referring to lot C of section 6, which is bisected by Puckle St-Holmes Rd., and includes Learmonth St. See the parish map whose link is given at the end of the journal, but select map 1 instead of map 3.

Peter Eadie, who lived in the heritage-listed Dunblane in Sunbury after selling his hotel and store, was a relative* of Robert Eadie of Ben Eadie at Sunbury, near Jacksons Creek,who would have gained his expertise regarding platypus habitats as a boy. Robert moved to South Africa and while there saved the life of Winston Churchill during the Boer War. Later returning to Australia he set up the platypus enclosure at Healesville Sanctuary and lived nearby till his death. See my Eadie family of Sunbury journal.

*EventDeath Event registration number14940 Registration year1900
Personal information
Family nameEADIE Given namesPeter SexUnknown Father's nameEadie Jno Mother's nameJean (Headrick) Place of birth Place of deathSbury Age66

EventDeath Event registration number18746 Registration year1949
Personal information
Family nameEADIE Given namesRobert SexMale Father's nameEADIE Robert Mother's nameUnknown (Unknown) Place of birthSUNBURY Place of deathHEALESVILLE Age85

Robert McDougall lived at Glenroy, Aitken's Estate between today's Aberfeldie and Avondale Heights, and Arundel between Tullamarine and Keilor, also owning Warlaby on the west corner at the north end of Oaklands Rd., Bulla, which he named after Major Booth's Shorthorn stud. Robert had died in 1887, before his father-in-law's death so Margaret was now a widow. See my Robert McDougall journal.

John Rankin's daughter, Joanna, had obviously met her husband at Kensington. She married John, obviously the son of John and Eliza, in 1866. Unsurprisingly, like Robert McDougall and Robert Eadie's weddings, the ceremony was conducted in John Rankin's Roseneath Cottage on the corner of Rankins Rd and Macaulay Rds, and opposite the temporarily closed (1864- circa 1872) Kensington station.
BROOKS."”On the 22nd inst, at Kensington-hill, Eliza, widow of the late* John Brooks, aged 69 years.
(P.24, The Australasian, 31-7-1875.)
(John had died, aged 76, at Kensington Hill on 19-7-1871 -P.4, Argus, 22-7-1871.)

EventMarriage Event registration number2837 Registration year1866
Personal information
Family nameRANKIN Given namesJoanna SexUnknown Spouse's family nameBROOKS Spouse's given namesJohn

MARRIAGE.
Brooks"” Rankin. "” On the 11th inst., by the Rev. A.D.Kininmont, at the residence of the bride's father, Roseneath, Kensington, Mr J. Brooks, of H.M. Customs, Williamstown, to Joanna, youngest daughter of John Rankin, Esq. (P.4, The Age, 12-7-1866.)

JAMES FORBES RANKIN.
EventBirth Event registration number526 Registration year1838
Personal information
Family nameRANKIN Given namesJames Forbes SexMale Father's nameRANKIN John Mother's nameJean (Unknown) Place of birthMELBOURNE

EventMarriage Event registration number3108 Registration year1862
Personal information
Family nameRANKIN Given namesJames Forbes SexMale Spouse's family nameROBERTSON Spouse's given namesJessie Stuart

James Forbes Rankin was probably Isaac Batey's "old mate, Jimmy Rankin." He apparently farmed near Redstone Hill for quite a while.
"Gold in loose quartz was first discovered on a Sunday in 1865. J. R.,S. F, and T. Batey, in company with
J. F. Rankin, began napping quartz,when to to their surprise it was seen to contain gold."
(P.2, Sunbury News, 17-9-1910.)

These would be his death record and Jessie's. Jessie may have been born in Flemington.(Typos are common.)
EventDeath Event registration number5899 Registration year1916
Personal information
Family nameRANKIN Given namesJames Forbes SexUnknown Father's nameRankin Jno Mother's nameJane (Canse) Place of birth Place of death Age77

EventDeath Event registration number12357 Registration year1917
Personal information
Family nameRANKIN Given namesJessie Stuart SexUnknown Father's nameRobertson Gilbert Mother's nameMary Semple (Stuart) Place of birth Place of deathFltin Age80

RANKIN."”On the 5th June, at his residence, Racecourse road, Newmarket, James Forbes Rankin,beloved husband of Jessie Stuart. (lnterred private family burying ground, Brighton Cemetery.)Born in Melbourne 1838.
(P.13, Argus, 17-6-1916.)

RANKIN. "”On the 31st October, at Racecourse road, Newmarket, Jessie Stewart, dearly beloved wife of the late James Forbes Rankin. (Interred privately at Brighton.) A devoted wife and mother.(P.1, Argus, 14-11-1917.)

ROSENEATH, KENSINGTON. (From my EARLY LAND OWNERS:PARISH OF DOUTTA GALLA.)
Section 2.
ALLOTMENT 16.
1849.
The land bounded by Racecourse, Boundary, Macaulay and Rankins Rds was sold by the Crown in 1849 in allotments of about 2 acres.
John Rankin bought two blocks fronting Macaulay Rd and was living there as a (market) gardener by 1851. He spent a short, successful time at the diggings and lived on Princes St (as Rankins Rd was originally known) for many years. His house, located at the Macaulay Rd corner, was demolished by the early 1890's and he was living in Moonee Ponds when he died on 20-7-1892.
This portion of Land Plan 520 (sheet 2) shows the location of Rankin's house, just near the station.
*See attachment.
Also see DOUTTA GALLA(Map 3.)