Melinda Rankin

Melinda Rankin (March 21, 1811 – December 6/7, 1888) was an American Presbyterian missionary, teacher, and writer. Born in New England, she found her life work in Mexico, opening the first Protestant mission in Mexico in 1866. Her parents were Brigadier Gen. David Rankin (1783–1852), of Littleton, and Persis (Daniel) Rankin (d. 1854). David was born in New Hampshire, of Scotch parents, James Rankin and Margaret Wetherspoon Rankin, who had emigrated to the United States in 1776, settling in Thornton, New Hampshire. David and Persis married in 1808. Melinda's sisters – Clarissa, Mabina, Harriet, and Persis – all became teachers. Additional siblings included Elona, Chastina, David, Emily, and Ellen.

Rankin received a good education, and was converted to Christianity at an early age. Almost from girlhood, she consecrated herself to a missionary's life.

Career Rankin began teaching at age fourteen.

Kentucky and Mississippi In 1840, a call was made for missionary teachers to go to the Mississippi Valley. European immigration brought great numbers of Roman Catholics into that portion of the country, and American Protestantism made appeals for counteracting influences. To this call, Rankin responded, and went as far as Kentucky, where she remained for two years, establishing schools, then pushed her way on to Mississippi. she opened a school, Rio Grande Female Institute, for Mexican girls, This prospered beyond her expectations.

To carry Bibles into Mexico was a direct violation of the laws of the country, yet she maintained that no one had a right to withhold it from the people, and so she devoted her energies to getting the Spanish-language Bible across the river. She found opportunities for sending hundreds of Bibles and 20,000 pages of tracts, As long as she was able to do so, she traveled extensively around the country, addressing woman's societies and other missionary gathering. After long and severe suffering, she died in Bloomington, on December 6 or 7, 1888. She was buried in Bloomington Cemetery.

Selected works Texas in 1850 (1851) Twenty Years Among the Mexicans, A Narrative of Missionary Labor (1875)