Necrology. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
Your committee upon whom devolves 
the painful duty herewith furnished con¬ 
densed data in relation to esteemed mem¬ 
WM. H. 
Wm. H. Rankin was born in Spring- 
field, Ill., January 22, 1836. His early 
home was next door to that of the Lin¬ 
colns. He lived there until 1845 w h etl 
his family moved to Monmouth, Ill., 
where he gained his early education and 
later engaged in business, which he con¬ 
tinued until 1898, when he sold out and 
moved to Punta Gorda, Fla., where he 
bers who have passed away since last we 
met. There have been three deaths as 
follows: William H. Rankin, of Punta 
Gorda; Herman Lubrecht, of Island 
Grove, and W. T. Hildrup, of Welaka. 
RANKIN. 
made his home until a few months prior to 
his death. He died in Chicago, on Feb¬ 
ruary 20, 1909, and was laid to rest in 
the cemetery at Monmouth, Ill. His 
wife, Mary T. Rankin, and four children 
survive him and this society joins with 
them in the sense of loss of an honorable, 
upright man. 
HERMAN LUBRECHT. 
Herman Lubrecht was born in Ger¬ 
many, 1847, an d died at Island Grove, 
Fla., in April, 1909. He came to Amer¬ 
ica in 1882 and was engaged in business 
in New York City. About 1890 he came 
to Island Grove, and with some New 
York parties started in the nursery busi¬ 
ness. He was much interested in citrus 
and other tropical fruits and carried out 
many experiments. He had started a 
fine citrus grove which was killed back 
by the cold during the winter of 1894 and 
1895. A s a means of protecting citrus 
trees against cold, he was the first to erect 
a shed over his grove. This shed covered 
four and one-half acres. 
Mr. Lubrecht was a fine type of Ger¬ 
man-American citizen and was highly es¬ 
teemed by all who knew him. He had 
never married. 
