| ROLLIN VALENTINE ANKENY (20993) Rollin Valentine Ankeny, a financier of broad experience and marked ability, is one of the officers of the Seattle National Bank and for eighteen years has been an influential factor in its affairs. He is a native of Freeport, Illinois, and comes of French and Scotch-Irish ancestry. At an early period the family was established in Washington County, Maryland, and was represented in the Revolutionary War. Ewalt Ankeny, the great-great-grandfather of Rollin V. Ankeny, served in the Colonial army and became captain of the Fifth Company of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, militia. His son, Peter Ankeny, was born and reared in Maryland and journeyed westward when a young man, becoming one of the early settlers of Ohio. He was the father of General Joseph Ankeny, who was born in the Buckeye state and achieved success as a merchant. His son, Rollin V. Ankeny, Sr., was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, in 1830, acquired a college education, and afterward engaged in merchandising and farming. During the Civil war he enlisted in the Union army and rose to the rank of brigadier general. He filled a number of public offices, to which he was elected on the Republican ticket, and his religious views were in harmony with the doctrines of the Christian church. He was a Knight Templar Mason and was also identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In Millersburg, Ohio, he married Miss Sarah Irvine, a daughter of Dr. Samuel Irvine, and they became the parents of five children, two of whom survive: Rollin Valentine of this review; and Mrs. Mary B. Hunter, a resident of Des Moines, Iowa. During the boyhood of Rollin V. Ankeny, Jr., his parents removed from Illinois to Iowa and he attended the public schools of Des Moines, also becoming a student in the Bishop Scott Academy of Portland, Oregon, when his father was sent to that city by the federal government. At the age of sixteen the son entered the Exchange Bank at Stuart, Iowa, in the capacity of messenger, and also did the janitor work. His next position was that of collection clerk in the Citizens National Bank of Des Moines, of which he was later a bookkeeper. He remained with the institution for five years and then journeyed to the Pacific coast. For a time he was secretary of the Fresno (Cal.) Electric Light & Gas Company and in 1888 came to Seattle as bookkeeper for the Puget Sound National Bank. Later he was made its cashier and thus served until 1910, when the business was merged with that of the Seattle National Bank, of which he also became cashier. Mr. Ankeny is now first vice president and a director of the bank and has aided in making this the largest and strongest moneyed institution in Seattle. In banking circles of the city he is regarded as an authority on finance and also has other interests, being a director of the Gypsum Products Company and the Superior Portland Cement Company. Mr. Ankeny was married in 1890 to Miss Eleanor Randolph, a daughter of Jacob Randolph, of Des Moines, Iowa, and they have one son, Irvine R., who is identified with the wholesale tea and coffee business. He is married and has a daughter. Rollin V. Ankeny is a life member of the Arctic Club and has been treasurer of the Rainier Club for fourteen years. Along fraternal lines he is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Masons, while his political allegiance is given to the Republican Party. Throughout life he has been an earnest, conscientious worker, constantly advancing as he has proven his ability and worth, and his success is well deserved. Mr. Ankeny been faithful to every trust reposed in him, is a man of the highest integrity and a useful and influential citizen.
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