Friedrich Heinrich Ranke, the brother of Leopold von Ranke, studied theology and philology at the University of Jena and philosophy at the University of Halle and eventually became a private schoolteacher in Frankfurt an der Oder.
He was the brother of historian Leopold von Ranke (17951886) and the father of pediatrician Heinrich von Ranke (1830-1909) and anthropologist Johannes Ranke (1836-1916). He studied theology and philology at the University of Jena, where he was a pupil of Heinrich Luden and Johann Philipp Gabler. He then studied philosophy at the University of Halle (from 1817), afterwards working as a private schoolteacher in Frankfurt an der Oder. 
