William Ranney (1813-1857)

Born in Middletown, Connecticut on May 9, 1813 to Captain William and Clarissa Gaylord Ranney, William Ranney moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, at age 13. There he live with an uncle and apprenticed to a tinsmith. Six years later he moved to New York where he studied painting and drawing and started his artistic career. In early 1836, Ranney departed to become a volunteer in the war for Texas independence. He returned to the New York area in 1837 and began to submit pieces to the National Academy of Design and then to the American Art-Union.

In 1848 Ranney married Margaret Agnes O’Sullivan (1819-1903), who had immigrated to the United States from Ireland. The couple settled in Weehawken, New Jersey, where their first son, William, was born in 1850. Ranney was elected an Associate Member of the National Academy of Design the same year. The couple’s second son, James Joseph, was born three years later, after they moved to West Hoboken, New Jersey, which would be the family’s permanent home. Ranney outfitted his painter’s studio with western gear, and there he created many of his most important works. William Ranney died November 18, 1857.