The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
1st-11th Annual Reports DAR. Senate documents (United States Congress, Senate). Government Printing Office: Washington, DC
Spouse: Children: Members Who Share This Ancestor
None*
*This means that the NSSAR has no applications for this Patriot on file.
Instead the information provided is best effort, and from volunteers who have either researched grave sites, service records, or something similar. There is no documentation available at NSSAR HQ to order.
Author: Herman C. Brown
John Rano (Raino), later known as Joseph Rann, was the last of 5 children (2nd son) born of Elias Rano (d. 1787) and his wife Mary Severance. John's siblings were: Samuel (b. 1743), Elizabeth (b. 1745), Mary (b. 1747), and Hannah (b. 1749). John's father, Elias, became the second settler of New Breton (Andover, Merrimack County), New Hampshire soon after it's first settlement in the spring, 1761.
News of the breakout of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775 reached New Breton on April 21, 1775. John Rano and 5 other New Breton men started out promptly, armed and equipped with their own weapons and stores, to aid the American cause. Everything was in confusion. The militia, in organized companies from the towns of eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, were on the ground, but without regimental commanders. There were other men, including the six from New Breton, in great numbers wholly unorganized and without responsibility to any one. At Cambridge, upon his arrival, Captain William Scott of Peterborough, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire seized on this opportunity. He organized a company of 65 New Hampshire officers and men. John Rano was on the roll of this company as a Private. This company was on the books but 3 days, April 21-23, 1775. On March 14, 1777, The Town of New Breton voted to pay to those men who went to the Concord fight ten dollars each. In 1783 the Town of New Breton paid John Raino, for going to Cambridge and "for going in the service." 4 Pounds, 15 Shillings and 0 Pence.
From April 23, 1775, Captain William Scott's Company, which was composed of substantailly the same men as before, remained on the ground in the vicinity of Boston, but without a government commission to do so. During the Battle of Bunker (Breed's) Hill, June 17, 1775, Captain Scott's Company, while under the operational control of Colonel John Stark, Commander of the 1st New Hampshire Regiment, sustained three killed and at least three wounded. John Rano was one of the company's wounded. On July 7, 1775, General George Washington incorporated Captain Scott's Company into Colonel Paul Dudley Sargent's not commissioned Regiment. Colonel Sargent was from Amherst, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. On July 22, 1775, General Washington formed Colonel Sargent's Regiment under a Brigade commanded by Major General Isreal Putnam, "until the pleasure of the Continental Congress be known." Putnam's Brigade formed a Corps-de-Reserve, for the defense of some of the several posts, north of Roxbury. It was not until after September 11, 1775 that the Council of Massachusetts recommended to General Washington that Colonel Sargent and his officers be commissioned as a Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Line. The commissions issued for Captain Scott's Company were back dated to the time they entered the service, April 23, 1775. Captain Scott's Company was discharged from this service, December 31, 1775.
Joseph Rann moved, in 1778, to Poultney, Rutland County, Vermont where he married Olive Howe (1750-1826) (widow of Isaac Ashley (d. 1777) by whom he had 6 children: Anta (b. 1780), Silbey (b. 1782), Salvator (1784-1857), Alpha (b. 1786), Arithusa (b. 1788), and Lavina (1792-1856).
In October 1780, Private Joseph Rann (Ran) served 13 days and traveled 16 miles while in Captain Zebediah Dewey's (Poultney) Company, Colonel Ebenezer Allen's 5th Regiment of Vermont Militia. Captain Dewey's Company had been called up by the state to serve on it's frontiers in response to an alarm caused by the raid led by British Major Christopher Carleton into the Lake Champlain Valley and beyond.
During the year 1781, Private Joseph Rann (Rain) served twice during brief periods of alarm on the Vermont frontier. Beginning June 10, 1781, he served for 2 days in Captain Zebediah Dewey's (Poultney) Company, Colonel Ebenezer Allen's 5th Regiment of Vermont Militia. Later, beginning on October 21, 1781, he served 4 days under the immediate command of Lieutenant Icthaman Brookins, Captain Abishai Mosely's (Poultney) Company of the same Regiment. Both periods of service in 1781 were performed at Fort Warren, Castleton, Rutland County, Vermont in obedience to orders from Major and subsequently Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Clark of Colonel Samuel Fletcher's Regiment of Vermont Infantry Headquartered at Castleton.
Joseph died from injuries received from the run-away of his team of horses when on the road to Troy, Rensaelear County, New York. He was buried with Masonic honors in the old Cemetery at East Poultney. He attended the Congregational church, and was a chorister in the first church that was built opposite the burial ground.
References:
(1) "History of the Town of Andover New Hampshire 1751-1906" by John R. Eastman, 1910, pages 9, 29-30, 187-191, 284, & 403-405
(2) "Peterborough New Hampshire in the American Revolution" by Jonathan Smith, 1913, pages 85-100
(4) General Washington's General Orders of July 7 & 22, 1775 and letter to the Massachusetts' Council, September 4, 1775; The George Washington Papers Collection, Library of Congress
(5) "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War." Volume XII, Boston, 1904, pages 811 & 812
(6) "A History of the Town of Poultney, Vermont," by J. Joslin, B. Frisbie & F. Ruggles, 1875, pages 280, 330 & 331
(7) "The State of Vermont Rolls of the Soldiers in the Revolutionary War 1775 to 1783" by John E. Goodrich, 1904, pages 236, 376 & 513
For Additional Information see findagrave.com memorial 34144673
Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!
Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.
Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here:
Send your submission1, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space 1Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.