Butte County
Biographies
OTTO PHILLIP RANKER
A native son, and a worthy representative of an honored pioneer, is O. P. Ranker, who was born on January 13, 1863, at Oroville, Cal. His father was Kasper Ranker, a native of Germany, who immigrated to California in that memorable year in the history of the Golden State, 1849. Kasper Ranker came to the Pacific Coast by the Isthmus of Panama and eventually settled at Orville. He engaged in mining at Bidwell’s Bar, and later he opened two shops in Oroville, where he followed his trade of a blacksmith, which he had thoroughly learned in Germany. Kasper Ranker was a very industrious and enterprising citizen, proof of which is found in the fact that he built the first brick building in Oroville. It was a two-story block situated on Myers Street. The second story was used as headquarters for the meeting of the I. O. O. F. and Masonic Lodges. The thoroughness and dependableness of buildings constructed in those early days are emphasized by the fact that the iron doors which he placed on the building (which is still standing) were still there up to four years ago. Kasper Ranker was united in marriage with Appolonia Schmidt and this union was blessed with four children: August, who was accidentally drowned in the Feather River when seven years of age; Carrie, now Mrs. Wiencke of Susanville; Edward, who resides at Glenn Ellen; and Otto Phillip, the subject of this sketch. Kasper Ranker was a member of the Odd Fellows and was also a Mason. He died in 1865. Mother Ranker passed away at Susanville in May, 1914, at the advanced age of ninety-two.
O. P. Ranker was reared at Oroville, where he attended the public school until sixteen years old, when he went to Susanville and learned the trade of a blacksmith. After four years, he engaged in farming, near wheat is now Standish, on Honey Lake, where he homesteaded one hundred sixty acres.
On January 13, 1885, O. P. Ranker’s marriage was solemnized at Susanville, when he was united with Miss Fannie Ware, a native of Peoria, Ill. Her father was Andrew Ware, a native of New Jersey, and her mother was in maidenhood, Sarah Brown. They were married in New Jersey and migrated to Illinois, where they were engaged in farming. Mrs. Ranker’s maternal ancestors were descendants of Puritans, who came over in the Mayflower. Andrew Ware removed to Chariton, Iowa, where he was a farmer until he migrated to California and settled at Susanville, where he died. His widow passed away in Chico. Mrs. O. P. Ranker was the youngest of five children, four of whom are still living.
O. P. Ranker followed farming on Honey Lake. He also engaged in the dairy business and had at one time thirty cows. In those early days the business of a dairyman was especially onerous; as there were no separators, the milk was skimmed and churned by hand. Afterwards he bought a separator, which was of great assistance in conducting the business. His butter was of excellent quality and became well known under the brand of Star. His health becoming impaired, the doctor advised Mr. Ranker to locate in a lower altitude. After selling his dairy, he located at Chico, where he purchased Al. Goldstein’s fuel-oil business, and has continued in it ever since, doing both a wholesale and retail business. He has installed a splendid system for handling the oil, having built elevated tanks above the oil building for storage. The tanks are connected with pipes running to the oil cars and the oil is pumped from the car to the tanks. O. P. Ranker’s oil business is quite extensive and reaches as far as thirty miles away. In 1910, he built a storehouse on the Southern Pacific spur track, on Cherry Street, between First and Second. This he uses for general storage purposes.
Mr. and Mrs. O. P. Ranker are the parents of three children: Jesse Elwood, a graduate of the Chico State Normal and the Santa Barbara Normal, and who is now a teacher of manual training and athletics at Alhambra; Elmer Lawrence, who is in the United States Army, having served three years in the regular service; and now with the United States Expeditionary forces in France; Edith Althea, a graduate of the Chico State Normal school and who is now teaching at Princeton, Colusa County. She married Temple Crane, June 19, 1917. He was teller in the Colusa County Bank but is now in the United States service.
Mr. and Mrs. Ranker are prominent in Baptist Church circles; he has served as trustee for years and is chairman of the board, and was a member of the building committee, and its treasurer, when the new twenty-five thousand dollar church was erected. He is a member of Chico Lodge, No. 113, I. O. O. F., and in politics Mr. Ranker supports the Republican ticket. Mrs. Ranker is a member of the Women’s Benefit Association of the Maccabees, and was a charter member of the lodge at Standish. Mr. and Mrs. O. P. Ranker are highly respected citizens of Chico.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1192-1194, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Joyce Rugeroni.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County
Biographies