Probably died in childbirth - epitaph reads "Here lies Polly Rankin with
an infant on her right breast who departed this life January 30, 1803 in
her 33rd year. She was an agreeable wife, tender mother, and kind
neighbor. She left five motherless children and a discomfortable
husband. Hark from the tomb a doleful sound, my ears attend the cry; ye
living men come view the ground where you must shortly lie. Princes,
this clay must be your bed in spite of all the powers. The tall, the
wise, the Rev. head, must lie as low as ours." [A. Gregg Moore & Forney
A. Rankin, The Rankins of North Carolina, (Marietta, GA: 1997), 269.]