THE HANKS FAMILY

The Hanks

Since we are directly related through Emily Annetta (Hanks) Stevens to Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, the following genealogy has been researched.

There are many records and references to Hank-—the earliest record of Hanks in Virginia is at Jamestown—John Hanks who patented 200 acres of land. Elizabeth Hanks is named as one of 16 persons imported by Bridges Freeman in 1635. In those days  a dearth of female consorts existed and it is probably she was snapped up in the marriage mart  for, unlike the French and Spanish who took Indian wives and concubines, the English men took only English wives into the ever expanding frontier.

The settlement of Colonial Virginia was from Jamestown first, then the settlers moved up the James River northerly along the coasts and into the navigable streams, the York, the Rappahannock and the Potomac Rivers. Then Piedmont was settled, followed by the great Shenandoah Valley. Succeeding generations of Hanks followed this same movement. They were not in the forefront as adventurers but in the army of artisans who came to build. They felled the trees, prepared the lumber for use. They were wood workers, carpenters, coopers and blacksmiths—they made iron tools, cow-bells, and shod horses—wainrights and millwrights, they applied their trades.

Abraham Lincoln said regarding his ancestry—"my parents were both born in Virginia of undistinguished families—second families perhaps I should say. My mother who died in my tenth year was of a family of the name of Hanks."

Hanks' names are not found in history books for as Lincoln himself said, they were "undistinguished", and rate as 'second families'. Their names are found in court house records, they paid their humble taxes, repaired the roads and served on juries. In wills, they bequeathed their souls to God and provided for their wives. Civil suits are rarely found - - - one case is found where an overly enthusiastic Hank's man tangled with the law for "he did race his horse, and on the highway, and on the Sabbath."

Bible records, especially for the Hanks' Bibles that have been found were literally worn out by God fearing Hanks' men who read, prayed and preached. In my research. I have learned of Hanks' ministers who "exhorted salvation and of others who preached damnation". Bible records are not many, but there are several to confirm that the

1. Patent Book. 1623. Page 450 3. Court House record. Deratur County. Indiana

2. Lincoln to Fell, Autobiography 4. Elijah Hanks, Minister. Maury County, Tennessee family traditions, secure in the memories of the elders, have been passed down in the hearts and understanding of the younger generations.

Later day graves are usually marked, but meagre epitaphs on crude, uncarved tombstones is not unusual for a Hanks' graveyard. "It would seem characteristic of Hanks people that, void of vanity in life, they make no show of death. They come together, sup sorrow, dig the grave, put away the departed, and return to their respective chores." 1

Our Hanks' Ancestry

First Generation. Thomas Hanks I:

A Virginia planter, first acquired land in the area between the Mattapony and the Rappahannock River, February 16, 1653. No further records have been located for Thomas Hanks. It is conjectured that his name and property disappeared (during the turmoil of the Bacon Rebellion. On the route of an ancient road from the Rappahannock River to the Falls of the James River, now route 360, near the boundary line of Essex and King and Queen Counties, stands this historical marker:

Bacon's Northern Force

At Piscataway, near here, the northern followers of Bacon, the rebels assembled in 1676. On July 10, 1676, an action was fought with Governor Berkeley's supporters, some of whom were killed and wounded. Several houses were burned. Passing here the rebels marched south to the Pamunkey River, where they joined their leader, Bacon.

Thomas was born probably before 1630, died about 1675. His wife's name was (Elizabeth Lee?)

Their children were:

William Hanks, our ancestor, see Second Generation.

George Hanks

Robert Hanks

Peter Hanks

Second Generation. William Hanks I. William, being an owner of land without record of purchase, is presumed to have been the eldest son of Thomas Hanks I and acquired the land by inheritance to the then law of primogeniture. When his estate was later probated in Richmond County, the inventory listed certain assets "from across the river" which meant south of the Rappahannock indicating he had property in that area confirming he had come from there.

William I was born about 1650; he died in 1704 in Richmond County, Virginia.

He was known as "'The Carpenter". His wife's name was Sarah and their children

William II born Feb. 14, 1679

Luke I, our ancestor, see Third Generation John, born about 1690.

Third Generation. Luke Hanks.

Luke was born about 1685 in Richmond County, Virginia.

He was a farmer and tobacco grower.

It is thought his wife Elizabeth's maiden name was Dawson or Glascock. Luke died before February 1757 in Lancaster County, Virginia. '

Luke Hanks (according to records still standing) was a member of the church and not a dissenter, but it seems he was not in good standing. His home was many miles away from the church in North Farnham and he was not a regular attendant. At the June term of court in 1717, it was "Ordered that the Sheriff summon to next court, Luke Hanks, John Hanks (and 13 others also named) to answer presentment of the Grandjury for not going to church......"

According to tradition, Luke's son George was killed at the battle of Yorktown. The children of Luke and Elizabeth Hanks were:

William (had a son, John)

Luke, Jr., born about 1715

Dawson, born about 1717

Alexander, born October 21, 1719

Lucretia, born June 1, 1722

Ann, born about 1725

George

Joseph

Sarah, born about 1735

Turner, born June 18, 1737

James, born about 1739

Abraham, our ancestor, see Fourth Generation.

Moses

Luke's second wife was Sarah and they had a child Martha, born May 26, 1752.

Fourth Generation. Abraham Hanks, Sr.

Abraham, Sr., was born about 1745 in Virginia. Tradition is he died in the early 1790's. He married Sarah Harper (daughter of George and Elizabeth (Shipley) Harper of Prince William County, Virginia.

Abraham was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He was in Wm. Calk's exploring party into Kentucky in 1775. He was in Boonesborough, Kentucky with Daniel Boone in the spring of 1775.

 He kept a journal of his experiences, wrote very well, and always had a characteristic way of signing his name "ABraham hanks)—a large A and B on ABraham and a small h on hanks).

His name is on the tax list of Prince William County, Virginia for the year 1782, is not on the 1783 list or thereafter; it is presumed he moved with his family to Campbell County, Virginia before 1784 when Nancy (mother of Abraham Lincoln) was born.

The children of Abraham, Sr., and Sarah were:

Abraham. Jr.. born about 1769—our ancestor, see Fifth Generation. Luke, born 1771.

(authority: Ada Hanks, a granddaughter.)

William, born about 1775. (authority: 1850 census, Breckendride County, Ky.)

George, born 1782. (his 1st known tax record, 1804)

Fielding, born 1783. (authority: Cuthbert Hanks, his son)

Nancy, born 1784—mother of Abraham Lincoln. (Bible record)

John, born 1786. (tax record, 1807)

Sarah, born 1788. (authority: Mrs. Steube, Danville, Illinois, a granddaughter)

Polly, born 1790. (authority: Dr. James LeGrand)

If it seems strange that the descendants of Abraham and Sarah Hanks are now willing to come forward and admit their kinship to Lincoln, it should be known that they have always admitted it but only to the others of the family. The Hankses are a casual people and not prone to assert themselves; for with chagrin at the indignities that have been intimated by the sensational writers, their attitude has been to stand mute; but when they are approached and questioned by a sympathetic examiner, they all tell the same family tradition. All agree that they are descendants from Abraham Hanks. All assert he had a daughter Nancy, and that she married Tom Lincoln.1

Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying "My name should have been Abraham Abraham"2 referring to both of his grandfathers being named Abrahm—Abraham Hanks and Tom Lincoln's father Abraham Lincoln.

Fifth Generation. Abraham Hanks, Jr.

Abraham Hanks, Jr., was born about 1769 and probably in Fauquier County, Virginia; at least his father and Luke (his brother) were there a few years later. After his father died in Campbell County, Abraham, Jr., drifted over to Caswell County, North Carolina. There he was taxed on one horse in 1790, the next year he had two horses and was assessed on 258 acres of land, but does not show ownership.

The next year he was taxed on 100 acres and the same year he married Mary Combs on January 12, 1792. He signed his bond with a clear bold hand. This is the last year he is listed on the records of this county.

By August 22, 1800, Abraham, Jr. was in Montgomery County, Kentucky where he was on the tax list and on the tax lists following. In 1805 he signed as witness to a deed when Peter Hanks, Jr. purchased 100 acres of land.

By 1806 he was in business and taxed on a tavern license. Mary (called Polly) moved to Illinois in 1830, a widow, with some of her children and grandchildren.

The known children and those presumed because of evidence, of Abraham, Jr., and Polly were:

Mary 'Polly' - married Richard Rogers

Abraham, married Mary Ann Wigglesworth

Henry H., born Dec. 1, 1799, died July 28, 1887 (buried at Cambridge Cemetery)

Thomas Jefferson, born 1805

Warren, born Oct. 26, 1806—our ancestor, see Sixth Generation.

Dulcena, married Lewis Ringo

Andrew Jackson, born in 1814

Elza, born 1815, died Feb. ,19, 1866

Abraham Lincoln knew of his cousins in Iowa. He said to Scripps, the newspaper man in an autobiography "Thomas ... he married Nancy Hanks, mother of the present subject in the year 1806. She also was born in Virginia and relatives of her by the name of Hanks now reside in Coles, Macon and Adams Counties, Illinois and also in Iowa."1

Sixth Generation. Warren Hanks.

Warren was born October 26, 1806.

On December 20, 1835 at Roscoe, just north of Rockford in Winnebago County, Illinois, he married Julie Hutchins, born July 2, 1817. Their children:

 1. Laura Ann Bridget, born June 5, 1837, died March 15, 1892, married Gamalial Netterfield.

 2. Jarvis Warren, born April 12, 1839. Our ancestor, see Seventh Generation.

 3. George Rodney, born Sept. 4, 1840. Married Sarah Nelson.

Enlisted in Company 'B' of the 13th Iowa Infantry in the Civil War.

  Their children:

  Rose Ella, married a Breezley

  Lydia, married a Batterson

  Jesse, still living, over 100 years old, born Feb. 16, 1872

  Oscar, has a son named Harold living in Greenfield, Iowa and a daughter Barbara Gearhart, Casey, Iowa.

  Julia, married a Shehan

  Delia, married a Hughes, their son Don lives in California

4. James Dwaine, born May 1, 1842. Children:

   George

   Fred

   Maud

   Artie

5. Miami ("Em") Phebe, born June 10, 1844, married Ben Netterfield.

   Their children:

    Emma (Backous)

    Lydia (Shaffer)

    Sam Netterfield

6. Dewitt Clinton born Sept. 18, 1846. A Civil War veteran (in Company B, 17th Iowa Volunteer Infantry) he escaped from the Andersonville prison in Georgia with six other men. They traveled by night and during the day were hidden and fed by Union sympathizers until they were safely back with their company.

Dewitt married Comfort Lemmont.

Their children:

Dessie, married Day Scott

Alice married James C. Huff. Alice was born 1887, deceased 1957.

Lou married a Harrison, (daughter is Edna Mallory).

Ed born July 3, 1873, died July 6, 1948. His wife, Allie, is 96 years old,

lives in Cambridge, Iowa.

Their son, Warren, was a pilot instructor in World War II, was killed in action.

Clara, married H. B. Brown

Dewitt passed away Feb. 18, 1924; he and his wife Comfort are buried in the Cambridge Cemetery. In a Des Moines newspaper in 1956, was printed an interview made with Allie Hanks (Dewitt's dauthter-in-law). She had worked for Dewitt and Comfort for 17 years before marrying their son Ed. Quoting from the newspaper article, she said: "Father Hanks (Dewitt) was born in Boone County, Illinois. His father's (Warren Hanks) first cousin was Nancy Hanks, later Nancy Hanks Lincoln, wife of Tom Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's father. He (Dewitt) never mentioned much about Nancy although he met Lincoln after the war was over. And the first ballot he ever cast was for Abraham Lincoln for President."

7. Henry Charles Hutchins, born Nov. 30, 1849.

8. William Erastus. born Feb. 9, 1851. Wife Mary Elizabeth was born Jan. 27, 1856, died March 20, 1931. William died Aug. 5, 1897. Their children:

Charles Edward, born Aug. 1, 1874, died Nov. 19, 1963

James Murray, born Nov. 7, 1879, died June 5, 1899

Haley B. Warren, born July 10, 1881, died M^y 23, 1907

Ida Louisa, born March 20, 1883, married a Harrison

Ollie May, born 1885

Willie E.. born in 1888

Vernal Madeline, born Jan. 27, 1892, died Dec. 18, 1953 married an Isemingo

Grace marie, born Dec. 23. 1893, married Jerry Flannery, they have a son, Raymond.

9. Mary Louise, born Aug. 1, 1853, married Name Maxwell

Three of these sons were in the Civil War, so Emily Annetta Stevens had two uncles: George Hanks and Dewitt Hanks, her father—Jarvis Hanks, and her husband, Squire Stevens, who went through the entire Civil War and came home safely.

Julie (Hutchins) Hanks, the mother of these nine children, died February 14, 1855, age 38 years, 7 months and 12 days. She is buried at Rockwell in Delaware County, Iowa. All of these children except the last one, Mary Louise, were born in Illinois (Boone County). They came overland with a team of oxen and by ferry across the Mississippi River and settled in Jones County, Iowa in 1852 where their father cleared a new farm. In 1855 they moved on to Jasper County, near Newton, Iowa, and then later settled in Cambridge, Story County.

Warren Hanks' second wife was Catherine Cassidy whom he married February 13, 1860 in Jones County, Iowa. For a time they lived in Colorado, but soon returned to the homestead in Story County.

Warren Hanks' third wife was Martha Carter whom he married in March of 1868. They had a son, Walter Scott Hanks, born March 7, 1869. Martha passed away August 3, 1877.

Warren lived to be 79 years, 10 months and 2 days, before passing away August 25, 1886. He is buried at the Cambridge Cemetery.

Seventh Generation. Jarvis Warren Hanks.

Jarvis was born in Illinois, April 12, 1839. He served in the Civil War in Company 'B' 17th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He married first, Jane Sanger, in 1864 at Cambridge, Iowa. They had one child, Emily Annetta, who was born February 23, 1865. Jane died when Emily Annetta was three weeks old. She is buried in the Cambridge Cemetery.

Jarvis then married Clementine Alien, who was born in 1847 in Indiana. Their children were:

Willard, born about 1869

Henry

Sarah, born 1874, died in 1938. She married Wm. Lambert; their children: Willard Roy Guy Lucy Katie Jewett

Jarvis and Clementine are buried at Parnell, Missouri, just below the Iowa state line.

Emily Annetta Hanks (Stevens)

Below picture is thought to be a representation           Abraham Lincoln Son of Nancy Hanks, wife of Tom Lincoln

of Nancy Hanks