8TH GENERATION HENRY MILLER RANSDELL AND ROSE RANDOLPH

8^th generation: sons of Joseph Jackson Ransdell

Henry Miller Ransdell

(1887-1946)

Rose Ellen Randolph

(1890-1987)

Photos—thanks to Carl Ransdell!

Miller Ransdell & Rose Randolph Ransdell 1940

Juanita, Rose & Miller Ransdell

Henry Miller Ransdell was the oldest of six sons of Joseph Jackson Ransdell and Laura Bell Terhune Ransdell, born in 1887 in Mercer County, KY.[1]

He married Rose Ellen Randolph, who was born January 29, 1890, the daughter of Joshua Washington Randolph and Annie Mooney Randolph. Miller and Rose had three children:

i. Carl Ransdell b. 30 Aug 1915 Tulsa, OK; m. (1) 1936 Carmelita Holderman (1918-1946) daughter of John and Saphona Holderman, 4 children; (2) 18 Nov 1947 Fay Duncan (12 Jan 1921-17 Jul 1997), daughter of Nute Duncan and Winnie McIntyre Duncan, 1 child.

Carl & Fay Ransdell

ii. Harold Ransdell (1917-1996) m. 1944 Erma Frost, 2 children.

Harold Ransdell

iii. Juanita Ransdell (1920-2000) m. 1946 Z.R. Harrison, 3 children.

It would appear that the pioneer blood of the Ransdells and Terhunes flowed
most richly in Miller Ransdell's veins. In 1904, at the age of 17, Miller left Kentucky and joined the Army. He was in the Boxer Rebellion in China, the Philippine War, and served in Nagasaki, Japan, on detached duty. He was in San Francisco in 1906 at the time of the earthquake. He was in the Army for five and a half years in the Military Police.

Following his military service, he went to Kansas City and worked for Pinkerton. The FBI did not exist at that time, and the government contracted with Pinkerton's for national police services. While investigating a "dope ring" in Kansas City, Miller was almost beaten to death by gangsters using brass knuckles and black jacks. He decided that kind of work wasn't conducive to a long life, so he resigned and headed west.

He went to work in the oil fields in the new state of Oklahoma as a driller, and remained in that work for the rest of his life. He met Rose Randolph who was living with her mother and two sisters in Tulsa, working in a laundry. Walking to work one morning, she said that she saw a "tall stringbean—appeared to be about half starved—hanging out on the same corner for several mornings in a row." So she took pity on him and took him home to feed him up. Since she couldn't get rid of him, she married him.

Miller died of a heart attack January 6, 1946, age 58, at his home in Geneseo, Kansas. He is buried in Lyons, Kansas.

Henry Miller Ransdell Tombstone

Rose died August 15, 1987, at the age of 97. She is buried at Dove Creek, Colorado.

Sources of information:

His son Carl A. Ransdell

His nephew E. Ransdell

His niece Anna Belle Ransdell Bush

His daughter Juanita Ransdell Harrison

**End Notes**
[1] Joseph's death certificate: Ky Death Cert. No. 20491. Photo of tombstone in my archives.

[1] Joseph's death certificate: Ky Death Cert. No. 20491. Photo of tombstone in my archives.