RANey Family  

Raney: also spelt 'Rany' and 'Renne' in documents, of unknown origin and etymology [1]

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Part 1: Frederick Raney (? - ?)

The 'first Raney' was Frederick Raney. His family were probably French protestant Huguenots who fled  Alsace/Lorraine after France took control in the 1680s. It is not known when he was born but it was likely somewhere in what is now Germany. He and his brother John came to America in a Hanoverian Regiment with the Hessian Army, hired by George III to fight the Americans. As a reward for being 'United Empire Loyalists', they travelled to Upper Canada (as it was then) c1780/85 and received land grants in reward, though John eventually returned to Germany, Frederick stayed and settled in Aultsville, Osnabruck Township (Ontario) on the shores of the St Lawrence River (about halfway between Kingston and Montreal). He married Madelon Sene in 1782, a teacher of French from Montreal.

John Raney, their only known child, was born 25 January 1792 in Osnabruck Township.

Next: John Raney

Footnotes

[1] www.surnamedb.com/Surname