John P. Rankin's Madison Memories Collection Madison Memories Collection Cemeteries of Redstone Arsenal Oral History Series Pioneer Family Folders Vintage Vignettes

Madison Memories Collection

John P. Rankin has been researching the history of Madison County for 20 years, with a particular emphasis on the people of Madison Station and the cemeteries of Redstone Arsenal. Some of these materials were originally published by John in 2005 as the Madison Memories Collection, a series of CD-ROMs published for the benefit the Madison Station Historical Preservation Society. More complete versions of the materials are available on computers in the Heritage Room and the Madison County Records Center at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library. Selected portions of the materials are available as part of the Huntsville History Collection at the following links:

• Cemeteries of Redstone Arsenal - A series of summary reports documenting the approximately 50 cemeteries located on Redstone Arsenal.
- A series of summary reports documenting the approximately 50 cemeteries located on Redstone Arsenal.
• Oral History Series - A series of oral histories of Madison residents that John collected, 2004-2006.
- A series of oral histories of Madison residents that John collected, 2004-2006.
• Pioneer Family Folders - An extensive collection of historical materials related to approximately 200 Madison families.
- An extensive collection of historical materials related to approximately 200 Madison families.
• Vintage Vignettes - A series of short stories by John about the people and history of Madison and Madison County, originally published in The Huntsville Times.

The following biographic information is reproduced from the book cover of Memories of Madison: A Connected Community, 1857-2007 by John P. Rankin, 2007.

"John Patrick Rankin attended school in the village of Washington, Mississippi. That village was the first territorial Capital of both Alabama and Mississippi. Mr. Rankin enjoyed a 31-year professional engineering and management career with Boeing in the aerospace industry. His career included work in design and development of every U. S. manned space project from Apollo through the International Space Station, as well as a wide variety of other projects and industries. He moved to Madison from California in 1986 and left the workforce on permanent medical disability ten years later. Even before that time, he began researching the history of Madison and its pioneer families plus participating in various projects with the Madison Station Historical Preservation Society. Additionally, he has volunteered for several years to assist the Army on Redstone Arsenal in documenting the history of its land pioneers. In these capacities, he has prepared extensive reports on the cemeteries in the Madison and Redstone Arsenal areas. Along the way he has been a member of the book committees for development of county history books about Madison, Morgan, Marshall, Lawrence,and Limestone counties of north Alabama. He likewise has written articles that were published in five other county history books. He resides in the heart of Madison, on Madison Avenue, in Madison County, with his wife of 43 years, Mildred Marie McCaa from Meadville, Mississippi."