From History of Walworth County Wisconsin by Albert Clayton Beckwith, Vol. II, 
Publ. 1912 - Page 987-988
 
PERRY CALVIN RANNEY.  Among the families who left the New England states, 
seeking a new home in the free Northwest, were the RANNEYs.  The only living 
descendants in this county hearing that name is Perry RANNEY, farmer and stock 
raiser of Lafayette township, Walworth county, who was born on the old 
homestead on March 26, 1881.  He is the son of Milo Bingham RANNEY and 
Adelaide (WYLIE) RANNEY, the father born at Pittsfield, Vermont, on September 
9, 1850, and the other was born on the farm on which she now resides in 
Walworth county, Wisconsin on May 12, 1856.  She is the daughter of Calvin 
Hemstead WYLIE and Nancy (BADGER) BELL, who came to Walworth county in 1842 
and settled on one hundred and sixty acres of land in Lafayette township, this 
farm still being in possession of the family.  Here he developed a good farm 
and spent the balance of his life, dying on July 9, 1906, at the advanced age 
of eighty-seven years his wife having preceded him to the grave in 1877, at 
the age of fifty-two years.  They were the parents of three children, the 
mother of the subject being the only one now living.  Mr. WYLIE was a 
Republican and held a number of township offices, such as township clerk and 
assessor, and was chairman of the board of supervisors.  He was a member of 
the Congregational church.
 
The father of the subject came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, in 1858 with his 
parents, Reuben and Lucia (ROCKWELL) RANNEY, and they settled in Lafayette 
township on a farm on one hundred and forty acres, later trading for a farm of 
ninety-three acres, and here he spent the rest of his life, dying on January 
16, 1882, his widow surviving until February 22, 1889.
 
Milo B. RANNEY, the father, was educated in the public schools and the 
seminary of Lake Geneva and the Rochester Academy.  He then turned his 
attention to farming, buying the homestead, which he operated successfully, 
and to which he added as he prospered through close attention to his 
individual affairs, until he had one of the finest farms in this part of the 
county, on general farming and stock raising on a large scale, and for years 
made a specialty of dairying.  He was the promoter of the Grove Creamery 
Company, which he managed during his lifetime, making it a large success.  He 
was very successful in a business way and one of the substantial men of his 
township.  Politically he was a Republican and active in party affairs.  He 
very ably discharged the duties of township clerk for a period of fourteen 
years, and he was a member of the county, town and school boards, and made his 
influence felt for the good of the community in all.  Religiously, he belonged 
to the Methodist Episcopal church.
 
Milo B. RANNEY was married on April 4, 1877, to Adelaide WYLIE, and to this 
union one child was born, Perry Calvin, of this review.
 
The immediate subject of this sketch was reared on the home farm, and there he 
made himself useful when he became of proper age.  He received a good 
education in the common schools, and was educated from the Elkhorn high school 
in 1900.  A year later he entered the University of Wisconsin from which he 
was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1905.  After finishing 
school Mr. RANNEY returned to the home farm, where he has since devoted 
himself to general farming and stock raising, in connection with which he 
engaged extensively in the commission business, handling large quantities of 
butter, the output of the home factories.  He has never been active in public 
affairs, although loyal in his support of the Republican party.  In religious 
matters, he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.
 
Submitted by Carol