RANKINE, ANNETTE (nee Annette Kittridge Norton)
United States
Born ????
Died in April 0r May 1921
Married William Birch Rankine (1858-1905) on 23 February 1904 at Niagara Falls, New York.
Annette was originally from Detroit, Michigan. She later lived in Niagara Falls, the home of her mother.
Known as Mrs W. B. Rankine, she resided in New Canan, Connecticut when she entered the US National in 1909, losing in the opening round. Annette was widowed just months after her marriage to Rankine, a Vice President of a Niagara Falls power company.
Mrs Rankine was wealthy enough to own several painting by Whistler. She used the money from the sale of several Whistler's to fund Seven Arts magazine. "Annette Rankine, who agreed to finance the magazine. Rankine had no influence over editorial decisions, but when her family pressured her over the magazine’s increasingly hostile attitude toward the U.S.’s involvement in the First World War, which culminated in
The Seven Arts’s acerbic August 1917 issue, she withdrew her support and killed herself shortly thereafter
Mrs Rankine dissapeared in early April of 1921. Her body was found a month later.
BODY OF WEALTHY WIDOW FOUND IN N. Y. HARBOR
New York, May 4 - The body of Mrs. Annette K. RANKINE, wealthy widow who disappeared here on April 1, last night was found floating in New York harbor, near the South Brooklyn shore.
Identification of the body was made by Miss SPINK, who was Mrs. RANKINE'S nurse and companion, and Frank CLOUTING, her chauffeur.
Physicians at the morgue, who viewed the body, declared that a cursory examination had failed to disclose any sign of violence, indicating that the woman probably had committed suicide. However, three rings, two of them set with diamonds, which she is supposed to have had on the day of her disappearance, were missing.
Mrs. RANKINE was the widow of William Birch RANKINE, lawyer and founder of the Niagara Falls Power Company. Following the death of her husband, a few weeks after their marriage, Mrs. RANKINE suffered from fainting spells and had since been in ill health
During the greater part of her illness, Mrs. RANKINE usually was accompanied by Miss SPINK, whom the family employed as a nurse companion. On the afternoon of her disappearance Mrs. RANKINE went out in an automobile, unaccompanied by her nurse. She dismissed her chauffeur near the Manhattan end of the Queensboro bridge after having made inquiries of him concerning the location of pawn brokers shops and adding that she intended to walk home.
No further trace of her was found until the marine police tonight discovered her body, although a search was made for her by police and private detectives in several states
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4217591/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Arts
[Thanks to Rollo for this information]
