Albert Jackson Lank

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

  General Notes:

20 June 1900 Census for Seaford Town, Seaford Hd, Sussex Cnty, DE: Albert J. Lank, 26, shipping agent, b. Aug. 1873 DE as were parents; Lizzie, 22, b. Mar. 1878 MD as were parents and married just 11 months; Raymond, 2/12, b. Apr. 1900 DE.
22 April 1910 Census for Seaford Town, Seaford Hd, Sussex Cnty, DE: Albert J. Lank, 36, mail carrier, married 10 yrs, b. DE as were parents; Lizzie E., 33, b. MD as were parents, bearing 3 children, 3 living; Raymond E., 9; Herbert H., 6; William A., 2.
13 Jan. 1920 Census for Seaford Town, Seaford Hd, Sussex Cnty, DE: Albert J. Lank, 45, rural mail carrier, b. DE as were parents; Elizabeth E., 41, b. MD as were parents; Herbert H., 15; William A., 12; Harry G., 7; Julia E., 3 4/12.
21 April 1930 Census for Seaford, Sussex Cnty, DE: Albert J. Lank, 55, rural mail carrier, married 30 yrs; Elizabeth E., 52; Harry G., 17; Julia E., 13.

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, a Coulborn, into the Lank family, because this was Merle's favorite playmate and she wanted to be related! Merle also asked Pop-pop where his middle name came from, and he replied it came from a friend of his father's.

AJ worked as rural mail carrier, farmer, and owned a 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. His routine as a rural mail-carrier was to sort the mail that had come in to the depot by train at 10 AM, return home to Lizzie at 1130 AM for lunch, and then set out in his mail carriage on his route through Woodland, DE, to Galestown, MD, switching horses halfway. Daughter Julia remembers riding along one day as a little girl. An earlier route took him to Concord. When he was sitting in his living room chair in his 80's, daughter Julia asked, "What are you thinking about, Dad?" He replied he was just thinking about all the names of his postal customers and their children on the Concord route. Until he died, he still possessed a magnificent memory.

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.

Seaford Leader obituary (1968) and its 'Seaford People You Should Know' article (1960) : "Albert Jackson Lank, 93, one of Seaford's oldest residents, 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. He attended the old Washington School about a mile from Seaford. Until he was twenty-one he worked at the family farm, then he left Seaford to take a job as streetcar conductor in Philadelphia. "Those days weren't like they are now. You couldn't get a fancy specialized job, especially a country boy", said Mr. Lank in 1960. After three years in Philadelphia he moved to New York to enter the oyster business. After a year he married Lizzie, set up housekeeping on Market St., and continued with the job in New York. In March 1902 he returned to Seaford and bought the old Fred Owens store on High Street. This was a small confectionary store under the old Seaford Opera House on the corner of Market and High Streets. That end of town in those days was the hub of Seaford's business world. Mr. Lank added a line of sporting goods to his business, selling guns, ammunition and baseball equipment for the then very active Eastern Shore Leagues. To this confectionary, tobacco and sporting goods store he added Seaford's first soda fountain -- A. J. Lank & Brother, Sporting Goods & Confectionary. [Frank was the brother in this business.] Mr. Lank remembered that "this seemed to be the place where people loved to congregate and talk. The modern coffee break for businessmen is similar to the type of thing I heard all day, except in those days the children and women gathered as often as the men around an ice cold soda. I was always kept up to date on local happenings, believe me!" Mr. Lank remained in this business for 25 years until 1926, when the entire Coulborn block was destroyed by fire.

In addition to his mercantile business Mr. Lank worked as 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 Jul 19, 1899 in Meth. Church, Parsonsburg, MD, by Rev. Geo. Emmanuel Wood. ("Lizzie" Elizabeth Estelle Hayman was born on Mar 23, 1878 in Parsonsburg, MD, died on Aug 23, 1959 and was buried in Seaford Odd Fellows Cmtry.). The cause of her death was Coronary atherosclerosis with occlusion and 5 years of paralysis from cerebral hemorrhage and hemiplegia.