History and genealogy of the Rattan family, beginning in the 1720s. Author J. Michael McKeever shares the results of his thirty-seven years of research to discover the lost story of his family.
The patriarch of the family, Richard Rattan (ca. 1700), married Hepzibah Biddle in Charleston, South Carolina in 1721. This book follows the Rattans into backcounty South Carolina, through the Revolutionary War, and eventually through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky where they remained until 1804.
At that time the family split with some moving to Tennessee and some to Illinois. In Illinois they established new farms, built a tavern, a hotel, a courthouse, an important bridge, and a church.
Beginning in 1835 most of the family moved to Texas where they established new farms, and some became Texas Rangers. Some lost their lives in battle with Indians.
The book contains a family tree with over 1000 descendants of Richard Rattan. It also has a complete index, including all members in the family tree.