EV. JOHN RANKS lived in Chatham county, North Carolina, and was a member of the North Carolina and Virginia Conference, or General Meeting. He belonged to that part of the Church, which held to the practices more directly derived through the Methodists. He was doubtless well acquainted with Mr. O'Kelly to whom he was not a distant neighbor. In 1830, he was at the General Meeting at New Providence, in Orange (now Alamance) county. He attended the General Meeting at O'Kelly's chapel in Chatham county, in 1836, and was on the presbytery with Revs. Jonathan Fuller and D. W. Kerr to ordain Rev. Solomon Apple to the office of Elder and a gospel minister. In 1837, he was again at the General Meeting or Conference at New Providence. In 1839, the Conference was held at Lebanon in Surry county, Virginia. To the question, "How many decrease this year?" The answer is, "Two died." The two were George A. Swift and John Hanks.

[LCM 61]