Albert Jackson Lank

   Cause of his death was heart failure due to arteriosclerotic heart disease due to virus, according to death certificate.

  General Notes:

Albert's middle name may have come from his grandmother's maiden name, Sally J. Graham.
Albert met Lizzie when he was best man at wedding of Charles Hearn, who married Lizzie's sister Annie. Courting Lizzie was a long-distance affair and meant having the carriage horse have its head while AJ slept on the way back home from Parsonsburg, MD. Merle Williams has the letters Albert sent to Lizzie in which he 'made his case' for courting--Lizzie may have been playing hard to get. She also relayed the story of how her Pop-Pop drew from memory and a little research a Coulborn family chart to link her best friend into the Lank family, because this was Merle's favorite playmate and she wanted to be related!

AJ worked as rural mail carrier, farmer, and owned feed store, sporting goods and confectionary store at varying times. Shucked oysters at a Fulton's Market Restnt in NYC 1900, making $1/week. Avid hunter and expert skeet shooter. He sold Winchesters in his sporting goods store, and was a well-known huntsman, taking many well-known personalities on hunting outings. Founding member of Seaford VFD. Elected to Town Council and was the town magistrate for several years. Strong Democrat and had a keen memory until his death. He was a regular Sunday attendee at Mt. Olivet Church and sat in the same pew.

Obituary (Seaford Leader): "Albert Jackson Lank, 93, one of Seaford's oldest resident, died Tuesday in the Maple Grove Convalescent Home, Millsboro, after a long illness.

Mr. Lank was born on a farm near Seaford along what is now 'River Road.' A son of the late Robert and Julia Lank, he was the third of eight children, seven boys and one girl. Until he was twenty-one he worked at the family farm, then he left Seaford to take a job in Philadelphia with the city's transportation system. After three years in Philadelphia he moved to New York to enter the oyster business and returned to Seaford early in the twentieth century to enter business as a merchant on High Street. For a number of years he conducted a confectionary, tobacco and sporting goods store in the old Coulbourn block and in 1906 added a soda fountain-the first in town -- A. J. Lank & Brother, Sporting Goods & Confectionary".

In addition to his mercantile business Mr. Lank was Seaford's first appointed rural mail carrier and retired in 1934 after 30 years. He was elected to the town council in 1934 and served until 1940. This was during the turbulent period when Seaford was fighting to create its own municipal power plant-he saw the plant become a reality during his six-year tenure of office. In 1939 Mr. Lank was appointed Seaford's magistrate, and he acted in this capacity for eight years, with a period in between when he was not reappointed in State politics. Finally in 1953 Mr. Lank stepped out of public life and retired to spend his remaining years at his home in West Seaford. In retirement he remained active mentally and, although suffering an impairment in his sight, he kept abreast of local and national affairs with an interest that never flagged..

A member of Mt. Olivet Methodist Church, he served on the church's board more than 40 years. Funeral services will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. in the Watson Funeral Home. Interment will be in Odd Fellows Cemetery.”

  Research Notes:

Merle Lank Williams remembers grandfather AJ Lank's stories of ships, "The Ark" and "The Dove," which made regular Gravesend, England-Caribbean-St. Marys City, Maryland trips. Were Lanks on these ships as crewmen or passengers, making their way to Delaware? Lewes is deemed the port of arrival of all Lanks in US. Maritime Canada Lanks arrived in Nova Scotia.

Albert married "Lizzie" Elizabeth Estelle Hayman, daughter of Benjamin Franklin Hayman and Elizabeth Mary Hester Parsons, on 19 Jul 1899 in Meth. Church, Parsonsburg, MD. ("Lizzie" Elizabeth Estelle Hayman was born on 23 Mar 1878 in Parsonsburg, MD, died on 23 Aug 1959 and was buried in Seaford Odd Fellows Cmtry.) The cause of her death was from complications of prolonged paralysis.