There has probably been more written and published about Nancy Hanks Lincoln than about any other American woman and many historians still say that her true identity is a mystery. Adin Baber, who spent half a century tracing the history of the Hanks family, said that there was no mystery about her identity as it was just a matter of tracing her footsteps from one court house to another. I too have been researching the Hanks family for half a century, and my final conclusions agree with those of Mr. Baber, even though we reached our conclusions by entirely different routes. Mr. Baber collected information on all the different women he could find record of who were named Nancy Hanks. He then eliminated all of those who could not possibly have been the mother of Abraham Lincoln, which narrowed his list down to eight possibilities who would have been in the correct age group to have been the mother of Lincoln. Next he eliminated those who were not in the right place at the right time or who could be otherwise identified and ended up with only one woman named Nancy Hanks, who he concluded had to have been Lincoln's mother. I began my research by listing all those I could find record of who claimed a kinship with Abraham Lincoln and soon concluded that most people who were named Hanks or who were Hanks descendants claimed the Lincoln kinship. First I eliminated those whose claim could not be supported by any public or private records of any kind. Next I eliminated those who did not fit within the parameters of time, place and circumstances, and then I arranged my list according to the degree of kinship claimed and eliminated those for which I could find no support of any kind in public records. Following this trail forced me to conclude that some had to be mistaken as to the degree of kinship but were related. My final conclusion agreed exactly with that of Mr. Baber.

Much of what has been published about Nancy Hanks Lincoln has been based upon garbled family traditions entirely unsupported by any kind of public records or upon pure speculation. Anyone who writes about her must also rely upon family traditions as a source of information and must do some speculation, but any conclusions made must still fit within the above parameters and must have some degree of support in public records. In the course of my own research I have found that seven different places have been identified as the birthplace of Nancy Hanks and that three entirely different women named Lucy Hanks have been identified as her mother. Historical markers have been erected at three locations said to have been her birthplace. The only possible conclusion one can draw from these records is that someone had to be wrong. Following is a brief outline of what I believe to be the true history of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and following this outline I have listed the public records and traditions which do support these conclusions and do not conflict in any way with known facts.

Abraham Hanks was born in Richmond Co. VA about 1744, a son of Richard Hanks Sr. and Mary Hinds. At the age of 18-19 he migrated to Fauquier Co, VA where he met and married Sarah Harper, a daughter of George and Elizabeth Harper. In Fauquier Co., eight children were born to Abraham and Sarah. In 1782 the family moved from Fauquier to Pr. William Co., and in 1783 they moved on to Amelia Co. VA where two of Abraham's brothers then lived; these were John and Joshua. Abraham then talked his brothers into migrating southward to Carroll Co. VA, an area which he had passed through on an exploratory trip to KY with William Calk in 1775. Joshua was granted land in Carrol Co. shortly after they arrived there, and Abraham helped him build a log cabin on this land while awaiting the birth of their last child who was Nancy and who was born in the following Feb. of 1784. Brother John did not remain in Carroll Co. but moved on to Stokes Co. NC, later moving to Wilkes Co. where he may have died after 1815.

When Abraham and Sarah Hanks came to Carroll Co. VA they brought two younger sons and two daughters with them; these were Luke , John, Sarah and Amy. Three of the four older sons, Fielding, Thomas and William, went on to KY, and Abraham Jr. settled in Caswell Co. NC. In the spring of 1784 Sarah, the oldest daughter of Abraham, met and married Lewis Sturgill who lived in present Grayson Co. VA about ten miles from the home of Joshua Hanks. Abraham and Sarah then moved on to Halifax Co, NC, where they remained past 1787. In 1788-89 Richard Hanks (Sr), father of Abraham, died in Rowan Co, NC, and there is a family tradition that Abraham and his wife cared for him in his last days. In 1789-90 Abraham and Sarah returned to Carrol Co., and, as his brother Joshua had built a newer and larger house, they moved into the one room cabin where Nancy had been born. Also in 1789-90 Abraham's brother James moved from Lincoln Co. NC to Wilkes Co. where he settled at Trap Hill about twenty miles from Joshua, and near the same time a brother and sister of Abraham's wife settled in Grayson Co. very near Joshua; these were George and Elizabeth Harper, who later married a Wright.

All Hanks historians have agreed that Nancy was born Feb. 5, 1784, as this date was entered in an old Lincoln family Bible. They also agree that her mother died when she was eight years of age, which would have been in 1792, and that her father died a year later (1793), after which Nancy went to live with relatives in NC. There is some disagreement as to who she lived with after the death of her parents, but a strong family tradition is that she lived with her uncle James Hanks in Wilkes Co. NC. There is also some disagreement as to when and how she got to Kentucky, but three different branches of the family have a tradition that a brother or brothers came back to NC from KY after her shortly before 1800 and took her back to western KY when she was 13-14 years of age, and then when the last of her brothers left that part of KY she was placed in the home of Richard Berry whom they had known in Virginia. She probably worked as a servant in the Berry home until she married Thomas Lincoln in 1806 when she was twenty two years of age. Richard Berry signed her marriage bond as her guardian, but there is no known record by which he was officially appointed to this position. The remaining history of Nancy Hanks Lincoln is well documented.

Abraham Lincoln was only nine years of age when his mother died and had little opportunity during his boyhood years to learn anything about his mother�s family. All he ever said about her in two autobiographies and numerous letters was that she came from an "undistinguished Virginia family" and that her family were Quakers. He also referred to her as a "saint" and gave her credit for his own character. The only one of his mother�s siblings he ever mentioned was an "aunt Sarah" whom he had visited; this "aunt Sarah" could only have been his mother�s sister, as his father, Thomas Lincoln, did not have a sister named Sarah. Other historians have identified this aunt Sarah as Sarah Varvell of Edgar Co., IL, but census records show that this Sarah was born eight years after the known death date of Nancy's mother.

Caroline Hitchcock of Chicago was the first to attempt to compile a comprehensive history of the Hanks family, but she did very little research in public records. Most of her work was confined to writing letters to various members of the Hanks family and collecting family traditions. Two of her letters were written to Creed Hanks of Carroll Co. VA (a grandson of Joshua Hanks) who knew little about the family. As a result of much erroneous information Ms. Hitchcock received from such sources, she made several mistakes; as an example, she identified Nancy Hanks Lincoln as a daughter of Joseph Hanks of Nelson Co., KY. This Joseph Hanks did have a daughter named Nancy who was named in his will, but before she married Levi Hall she had given birth to an illegitimate son who she named Dennis Hanks. The research of Adin Baber later corrected several of the errors made by Caroline Hitchcock, but unfortunately Mr. Baber did not personally contact any of the members of the Hanks family then living in Carroll Co., VA. Had he done so, there is little doubt that he would have reached some different conclusions about where Nancy was born and where her parents were buried.

Other historians have given the birthplace of Nancy Hanks as Richmond Co. VA, Campbell Co. VA, Fauquier Co. VA, Amelia Co. VA, Carroll Co. VA, Wilkes Co. NC and Rutherford Co. NC. Historical markers have been erected in Campbell Co. VA, Carroll Co. VA and in Rutherford Co. NC. For several years school children were taken to the Carroll Co. site to see where Lincoln's mother was born. Then in the late 1930's the Historical Society of VA protested that this was unproven, and the marker was removed. However, it should be noted that the Society never proved that the marker was wrong.

Several of the early Hanks family historians concluded that Nancy Hanks was an illegitimate daughter of a Lucy Hanks who was said to be a daughter of Joseph Hanks of Nelson Co. KY, and many present day historians still accept this as true. This assumption is based upon the fact that tax records of Hampshire Co. VA show that the Joseph Hanks who lived there had eleven children, and they believe him to be the same Joseph who migrated to Nelson Co. KY and whose will only named eight children. They also accept this conclusion because Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham, who reserved the right to edit the Nicolay-Hay history of Abraham Lincoln, did not strike this conclusion from their history, which they state as evidence that Robert also believed it to be true. These historians then justify their conclusions by stating that Joseph Hanks of KY disinherited his daughter Lucy because she had given birth to an illegitimate child, this being Nancy. However, none of them ever say what became of the other two children if this was true or who they were. Public records leave no doubt that the different VA records of a Joseph Hanks refer to two entirely different men. One Joseph Hanks was granted land in Nelson Co. KY in 1787, and the tax records of Hampshire Co. VA show that a Joseph Hanks was still there in 1790. The will of Joseph Hanks recorded in Nelson Co. KY left something to each of his children, whom he named and referred to them as ALL of his children. Dr. Louis A. Warren was a historian who carefully researched all that he published. After a thorough research of the Lucy Hanks story, he proved conclusively, as far as this writer is concerned, that Joseph Hanks of Nelson Co. KY never had a daughter named Lucy, and many other historians agree with him. This leaves the question of why Lincoln's son did not strike the Lucy Hanks story from the Nicolay-Hay history, and there is a logical reason for this. It is evident that Abraham Lincoln himself knew little about his mother�s people, so one must ask how could his son, who had very little contact with any of them, have known more about the family than his father knew? The logical conclusion is that, as the Lucy Hanks story had already appeared in print several times, Robert Todd Lincoln, who could not prove it untrue, decided to let it stand rather than refute it and revive the controversy about the identity of his grandmother. He did know that the news media of his time were just as quick to jump on any controversy concerning prominent people as they are today, and he did not want to reopen this can of worms.

The Shipley family of MD and VA were prominent people of their time. A family historian in a published history stated that Lucy Shipley, whose family had migrated from VA to Lincoln Co. NC, there met and married a James Hanks, who was killed in the war of 1812, after which she migrated to western KY where she married a second time to Henry Sparrow. This history identifies James Hanks as a son of Richard Hanks of Lincoln Co. NC and identifies Nancy as their legitimate child. The KY marriage record of Lucy Shipley Hanks identifies her as a widow, but does not identify her Hanks husband. However, one thing is certain; he was not James Hanks, son of Richard of Rowan Co. NC. Richard did have a son James who was the only James Hanks living in Lincoln Co. NC at that time who could have married Lucy Shipley, but many public records show that this James was a revolutionary war soldier who married Mary Starrett Aug. 26,1779 and who moved to Wilkes Co. NC in 1789-90 where he lived out his life and died in 1839. He was the ggg grandfather of the writer, and his burial place is known. If the Shipley historian believed the above story to be true, then why was it never explained why Lucy gave her child to someone else to raise after she married Henry Sparrow? Other historians have explained this by saying that Henry Sparrow refused to raise her child which he believed to be illegitimate, but this is not an acceptable explanation. In those pioneer days when so many children died in childhood there was never a problem of finding a home for any orphaned or illegitimate child, and even today there are thousands of childless couples in the USA eager to adopt a child who can not find one to adopt.

The third Lucy Hanks story was published by James H. Cathey of Rutherford Co. NC in 1899 in a booklet entitled "The Genesis of Lincoln." Since that time this booklet or parts of it have been republished many times. After many interviews and sworn statements to support his story, Mr. Cathey stated that a woman named Lucy Hanks who was destitute and made her living by taking in washing appeared in Rutherford Co. before 1785 with an illegitimate daughter named Nancy who she later placed in the home of Abraham Enloe, but he never said where this Lucy came from or what became of her. As the story continues, Cathey states that the daughter Nancy became pregnant by Abraham Enloe, and he hired an itinerant farm worker named Tom Lincoln to take her to KY, where they were married. This story can be refuted by several public records, the important one being that there is no record that Tom Lincoln was ever in NC, and there is record that he was in KY at least ten years before Cathey's story says he went there. However, this story is so old and so persistent that there may be some foundation in fact. Research in the records of Amelia and surrounding counties of VA resulted in the discovery of the will of a Joshua Hanks who died in Nottoway Co, VA in 1775; this will names his wife Angelica and, among other children, a daughter named Lucy. In 1785 Angelica Hanks, widow of Joshua, sold some goods in the settlement of the estate (Amelia Co. DB 17-302). This recorded document refers to an heir of daughter Lucy HANKS, then deceased. This Lucy must have died before 1785, and as she was named as a HANKS she must have been unmarried and have had an illegitimate child. She may have been the Lucy Hanks who appeared in Rutherford Co. NC about 1780 and died there before 1785. The above will also names a son Richard who is missing from the Amelia Co. VA tax records from 1782 through 1787 and who died in Amelia Co. in 1809. He may have taken his sister Lucy to Rutherford Co. NC to have her child, as illegitimacy was considered a disgrace to the entire family during those times. Richard would have known that he had close cousins living in that area of NC, as they had been neighbors in Amelia Co. VA before the revolutionary war.

During the 1960's and again in the 1980's, several of the older residents of the Pipers Gap area of Carroll Co. VA were interviewed by the writer and others looking for information about the early Hanks families who settled in that area. Some of those who were interviewed were Hanks descendants and some were not, but without exception all of these older people were firm in their belief that Nancy Hanks Lincoln was born there. The remains of two old chimneys still stand at the original homesite of Joshua Hanks, and a spring house once stood about half way between where the houses stood. It is local tradition that an un-named brother of Joshua Hanks once lived in the smaller house and that both families used the same spring house. County deed records show that Joshua Hanks donated land for the old Quaker church and cemetery where he was buried and has a marked stone. It is also local tradition that the unknown brother, who could not have been anyone other than Abraham Hanks, was also buried in the same cemetery. Some have asked why Abraham Hanks does not appear on any of the tax records of that area if he once lived there, and there is a logical answer to this question. If he was living on his brother�s land he would have paid no land tax, and if he had no personal property except household goods he would have paid no personal property tax. When Abraham returned to Carrol Co. from NC about 1790, he probably had no farm equipment and worked with his brother Joshua. He was only 49-50 years of age when he died in 1793 and may have been in poor health and unable to work. There are many graves in the old Quaker cemetery marked only by a rough field stone, and many local residents have long believed that the brother of Joshua Hanks was also buried in this cemetery in one of these unmarked graves.

James Sturgill migrated from Orange Co. VA to the upper New River valley 1770-71. He had five sons and three daughters, but soon after the end of the American revolution all of his sons except two had left the area, the youngest son, Lewis, being the last to depart. In 1783-84 Lewis met and married Sarah Hanks, who was the oldest daughter of Abraham Hanks and Sarah Harper. They made their home on land at the conjunction of John's creek and New River about seven miles east of the town of Independence VA and twelve miles west of Pipers Gap. Lewis and Sarah had nine children, four of them born before Sarah's father died in 1793. In 1807-9 the family moved to Washington Co. VA, and in 1823 Lewis and Sarah and some of the younger children who were still in the family moved on to Hawkins Co. TN. In 1833 they moved to Lawrence Co, IN and were still there in the census of 1840. No later record of them was found. It is believed by the writer and others that Sarah Hanks Sturgill was the "aunt Sarah" Abraham Lincoln mentioned, in a letter, that he had visited.

After several years of collecting the history of the Sturgill family, I met Joseph Sturgill in Raceland KY in 1952; he was the first descendant of Lewis I had encountered. One of the first things he told me was that his great grandmother, Sarah Sturgill, was a sister of Nancy Hanks Lincoln. In this first interview he also stated that when his grandfather, Alvin Sturgill, first settled in present Elliot Co, KY in the early 1830's, his first cousin Abraham Lincoln came for a visit and helped his grandfather build a log cabin, after which he chopped his initials AL over the door with his ax. He said that a photograph of this was taken before the cabin was torn down in 1922, but this photo could not be located. This story does not conflict in any way with recorded public documents and is supported by some. Alvin Sturgill, son of Lewis, received a land grant in present Elliot Co. KY in 1831 and another in 1833, after which he appears on the tax rolls. In 1832 Abraham Lincoln ran for the Legislature in Illinois and was defeated, but he ran again in 1834 and was elected. All that is known about his life in this two year interval is that he made a trip to New Orleans on a flat bottom river boat and that he worked as a store clerk in Springfield IL, so he could well have made the trip back to KY during that time and visited his aunt Sarah on this trip. In 1985 I made a trip to Martins Fy. OH to interview William Sturgill (a younger brother of the above Joseph), who was then 104 years of age. William confirmed what Joseph had told me many years before and said that none of the family had ever doubted the kinship to Abraham Lincoln. On the return trip from Ohio I stopped in Ashland KY to interview another brother, Clancy Sturgill, who was then 94 years of age, and he also confirmed what William and Joseph had told me. In 1985 I also met other heretofore unknown descendants of Lewis and Sarah who lived in southwestern VA, and they also knew of the Lincoln kinship.

In 1775 William CaIk of Pr. William Co. VA made an exploratory trip into Kentucky. A day by day diary of this trip was kept and among those listed who accompanied him was Abraham Hanks. This record shows that the expedition followed New River through present Carroll and Grayson counties before turning north west and following a large creek -- which may have been either Fox creek or Wilson creek. They did cross the Iron mountain to the Holston river and on westward across the north branch of the Holston to the Clinch river where they camped for a few days; this would have been in the corner of present Wise Co. VA. At that point Calk wrote that "Abraham turned back". On his return journey Abraham probably traveled alone and took some time to explore the central part of present Carroll Co. which was then very sparsely settled, as most of the early settlers chose land along the river and larger streams. Near the end of the American Revolution and while he was still living in Fauquier Co. VA, Abraham served a term in the Army and soon thereafter (in 1782) he moved to Pr. William Co. Then in 1783 he moved on to Amelia Co. where two of his brothers lived and led them on to present Carroll Co.

In 1927 Henry Friel Hanks, a grandson of Joshua Hanks Sr. who was then 88 years of age, wrote a letter which was published in the Galax Gazette and has since been republished. In this letter he stated that his grandfather and two brothers came to the area from Amelia Co. and that one of the brothers who was married was the father of Nancy Hanks. He did not name this brother and stated that he went on to KY and the other brother settled in NC. The un-named brother was most certainly Abraham but he went on to Halifax Co. NC instead of KY as Friel Hanks believed. The other brother, John, did settle first in Stokes Co. NC after he left Carroll Co. VA. In his letter, Friel Hanks expressed the hope that someone would eventually prove that Nancy Hanks was born in Carroll Co. VA, which is exactly what I believe I have accomplished in this short manuscript and in the brief history of the Hanks family which I have published (�The Hanks Family of North Carolina and Virginia�, D.A. Sturgill, Piney Creek, NC 28663, 1989).

As stated, family traditions and some public records indicate that Abraham Hanks and his wife Sarah returned to Carroll Co. VA from NC 1789-90 and that Sarah died about two years later (1792). By this time all of their sons had moved on to western KY, including their youngest son, John, who was only 14-15 years old. Census and tax records show that son Abraham Jr. moved from Caswell Co. NC to Hardin Co. KY before 1800, so he probably took his younger brother John with him, as John appears in the records of the same county in KY after 1800. This left only two daughters in Abraham's family when they returned to VA; these were Amy and Nancy. Shortly after the death of their mother, Amy married George Walters and they moved to Ashe Co. NC, leaving only Nancy still at home. When Abraham died a year after his wife, Nancy became an orphan. The question which now begs an answer is �where did she go?�.

Many historians have agreed that Nancy went to NC to live with relatives after the death of her parents. Adin Baber concluded that she was taken to Lincoln Co. NC to live with her uncle Richard (Dicky), but this appears unlikely for several reasons, the first of which is � why would she have been taken two hundred miles away when she had close relatives living very near by?� Mr. Baber probably heard the tradition that she lived with an uncle, and Richard was the only uncle in NC who he could identify; he apparently did not know that her uncle James had moved from Lincoln Co. NC to Wilkes Co. and was living there when Nancy's mother died. Other close relatives who lived near were Nancy's sister Sarah Hanks Sturgill, her uncle Joshua Hanks, her uncle George Harper and her aunt Elizabeth Harper Wright. At that time both her uncle Joshua and her sister Sarah had four small children and another on the way, and her sister Amy had moved away. Little is known of the families of her Harper relatives, but her uncle James Hanks who lived in nearby Wilkes Co. also had three small children near Nancy's age, so she probably preferred to live with them and it seems likely that they took her in. There is a strong family tradition that Nancy did live with her uncle James until a brother took her to Kentucky. In 1906 a newspaper printed in Wilkesboro NC told the story of Nancy Hanks and stated that she did live with her uncle James in Wilkes Co. This story also said that when her brother came after her young Tom Lincoln came with him, but no public records or other traditions support this. Even to the present time the tradition still persists among descendants of James Hanks and others that Nancy did live there for a time, and, after interviews with several of these people, the writer is also convinced that the traditions are correct, as they are also very logical.

Anyone who attempts to reconstruct the early history of Nancy Hanks Lincoln must of necessity weave together many family traditions and any supportive public records, and, above all, any conclusions reached must be completely logical. When this is applied to the question of how Nancy got to KY, only one answer stands out: that she was taken to KY by a brother or brothers who came after her before 1800. Four different accounts have been published concerning her trip to KY. Those who believe that she was a daughter of a Lucy Hanks who was a daughter of Joseph Hanks say that Nancy was taken to KY in the family of this Joseph Hanks. Other historians have said that she was taken to KY by the Sparrow family or by the Berry family. The Wilkes Co. NC tradition that brothers took her to KY has far more support than any other account. Fielding Hanks, the oldest son of Abraham, went to Montgomery Co. KY before 1800, but later moved eastward to Morgan Co. where he apparently lived out his life. Descendants of Fielding who still live in Morgan Co. also have the tradition that brothers took Nancy to KY. Anna Hanks, who lived to the age of 97, was a granddaughter of Fielding Hanks Sr. and married James Cox, who was a grandson of Capt. John Cox of Grayson Co. VA and Ashe Co. NC. Anna and James made their home in present Wolfe Co. KY, where many of their descendants still live. In interviews with these descendants, they verified the Lincoln kinship and also had the tradition that a brother or brothers of Nancy took her from NC to KY.

During the half a century I spent collecting the history of my direct family line, STURGILL, I also collected data on other family lines including HANKS and FOWLKES, but I did not make any serious attempt to put together the Hanks or Fowlkes histories until after the Sturgill history was completed in 1983. Then I began in-depth research on the other two family lines. When I was still a teenager, my grandmother Sturgill, who was Tabytha Amanda Fowlkes, told me that her father, Dr. Charles C. Fowlkes, was a second cousin to Abraham Lincoln, and in later years three of her sisters and one brother had told me the same. These siblings were Phoebe Fowlkes, who lived with grandmother; sister Geneva Fowlkes Evans, who lived in Harford Co, MD; Sarah Fowlkes Waddell, who lived in Twin Falls ID; and brother Charles Samuel Fowlkes, who lived in Redlands CA. Grandmother had also told me that her paternal grandparents were William Fowlkes and Rebecca Hanks of Carroll Co. VA, and this was also verified by her siblings. I did not begin serious research on the Hanks family with any plan to write a history of the family, but rather to either prove or disprove the claim of kinship to Abraham Lincoln.

Dr. Hugh Hanks and Dr. Charles G. Fowlkes were first cousins and two of the first medical doctors to practice in present Alleghany Co. NC. Dr. Hanks practiced in the eastern end of the county and Dr. Fowlkes in the western end. These two knew each other well and often visited each other. They died just a few months apart in 1913. Both were grandsons of James Hanks of Wilkes Co. NC. David Hanks, a brother of Rebecca Hanks Fowlkes, settled in Ashe Co. NC, where he lived to be 100 (1798-1898). Several of his descendants still live in Ashe Co., and an existing photograph of Oliver Hanks, son of David, bears such a strong resemblance to Abraham Lincoln that most who see this photo immediately identify it as that of Abraham Lincoln. Present descendants of this David Hanks also have a tradition that he was a first cousin to Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Known family relationships and census records leave no doubt that Rebecca Hanks Fowlkes was a daughter of James Hanks of Wilkes Co. NC and a sister of David Hanks. In personal interviews with two granddaughters of Dr. Hugh Hanks, who were both past 90 years of age, both confirmed the Lincoln kinship. They also stated that Dr. Hugh Hanks was a son of William Hanks and Celia Lyons of Wilkes Co. NC and that this William Hanks was another brother of Rebecca Hanks Fowlkes. All of these family relationships are also confirmed by census records. Adin Baber identified Abraham Hanks as a son of Luke Hanks of Richmond Co. VA, but no known public or private records support this. An old family Bible record in the possession of descendants of David Hanks of Ashe Co. NC names Joshua Hanks of Carroll Co. VA and James Hanks of Wilkes Co. NC as brothers. This record also names Nancy as a daughter of Joshua, which is an error; she was his niece. Family kinships known to both branches of the family also confirm that Joshua and James were brothers. If Abraham was also a brother, as claimed kinships indicate, then he was also a son of Richard Hanks Sr. and Mary Hinds and a nephew of Luke Hanks of Richmond Co, VA. This conclusion is reinforced by the fact that Abraham was bound to William Glasscock of Richmond Co. to learn a trade in 1757, which was the year that Richard Sr. moved on to Dinwiddie county.

Adin Baber and other historians concluded that Fielding Hanks (Sr) and Abraham Hanks (Jr) were brothers and sons of Abraham Sr. and Sarah Harper. I agree with this conclusion. Both settled first near each other in Montgomery Co. KY before 1800 but later went elsewhere. No record of Abraham Jr. was found after 1815, but Fielding moved eastward to Morgan Co. KY, where he probably lived out his life. As evidence that Sarah Hanks, who married Lewis Sturgill, was a daughter of Abraham, their third child was named Fielding Sturgill, and several public records show that he lived near his uncle Fielding Hanks in Morgan Co. KY during the 1830's. He later went on to Lawrence Co. OH and still later to Gallitan Co. IL, where he lived out his life. Also during the 1830's, Alvin Sturgill, brother of Fielding, lived near Fielding Hanks for a time. Alvin Sturgill was the grandfather of William Sturgill mentioned previously, who lived to be 106 years old.

Dennis Hanks and John Hanks the "railsplitter" have been quoted by many historians, genealogists and newspaper men as sources of information about the Hanks family, but some of these, including William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner and biographer, have expressed the opinion that information from either of then was unreliable. First consider Dennis Hanks; he was a son of Nancy Hanks, a daughter of Joseph Hanks of Nelson Co. KY, and he was born when his mother was fifteen years of age. His father was said to be Charles Friend, brother to Nancy's brother-in-law, Jesse Friend. Nancy later married Levi Hall and settled in Spencer Co. IN where she raised a respectable family and was buried in the same cemetery as Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Dennis was raised by several different families and did live for a time in the family of Thomas Lincoln. At one time he publicly insisted that Nancy, mother of Lincoln, was a Sparrow and not a Hanks. Next consider John Hanks, who also lived for a time in the family of Tom Lincoln. Concerning Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the only thing John was consistently sure about was that Nancy was his first cousin or, as he put it, his "own" cousin. Some writers have quoted him as saying that Joseph Hanks of Nelson Co. KY was his grandfather, but it is very doubtful that he ever made such a statement. When William Herndon asked him directly if Joseph Hanks was his grandfather, John replied that "he could have been". The fact is that John Hanks did not know who his grandfather was.

There has never been a question about the parents of John Hanks the railsplitter, as all researchers have agreed that they were William Hanks and Elizabeth Hall, who last lived in Macon Co, IL; but there is question about the identity of this William Hanks. William has always been a common name in the Hanks family, and around 1800 there were at least six men, all near the same age, who were named William, and three of these men had a wife named Elizabeth. Three of these Williams lived in KY, and there were others in NC and VA. Public records establish the fact that Joseph Hanks of Nelson Co. KY had a son named William and that his wife was named Elizabeth. It is also known that the wife of the William of Macon Co. was a sister of Levi Hall -- who had married Nancy Hanks, who was a daughter of Joseph Hanks and the mother of Dennis Hanks. These known facts would lead one to believe that if Joseph Hanks was the father of the Macon Co. William, then John Hanks should certainly have known this, but yet he was uncertain. The public records of Lincoln Co. NC show that a William Hanks did live there before 1800, and some researchers have identified him as a son of Richard Hanks (Sr) who married Keziah Wright, but public records do not support this claim and do indicate that the William who married Keziah Wright was a son of Luke Hanks of SC.

Richard Hanks (Sr) and his wife Mary Hinds died in Rowan Co. NC after 1788. Their family has been established by many public and private records and known kinships. It is also known from public records that two of Richard's sons went to KY before 1800; these were David and Felix. As William disappeared from NC records before 1800, it is logical to assume that he also went to KY. There is no evidence from either public or private records that the William of Macon Co. IL was a son of Joseph of Nelson Co. KY. If John Hanks was a first cousin of Nancy Hanks Lincoln as he claimed, then his father William must have been a brother of Nancy's father Abraham, and John must have known this, even if he did not know who his grandfather was. Considering the fact that William Hanks left NC as a young man (probably after the death of his father about 1788) and that John Hanks left his father�s home while still a teenager, it becomes logical that John may not have known who his grandfather was if he died more than a decade before John was born. John's claim of kinship to Nancy is reinforced by other claims. Many public records establish the fact that Charles Hanks of Brown Co. IL was a brother of John and that Mariah Hanks, daughter of Charles, married Isiah Varner, who lived to be 104 years of age and insisted all his life that his wife Mariah was a second cousin to Abraham Lincoln. This claim was published in several newspapers of the time. All of these facts and traditions lead to the same conclusion, which is that William Hanks of Macon Co. IL was a son of Richard Hanks of Rowan Co. NC.

Many public records show that the early Hanks families had a strong tradition of naming their children after their siblings and parents, and many researchers have used this fact in identifying different members of the Hanks family. As further evidence that Abraham Hanks was a son of Richard Hanks (Sr), he gave four of his nine children the same names as children of Richard; these were Thomas, William, John and Sarah. Fielding and Thomas, the two oldest sons of Abraham, both left Fauquier Co. VA before their father did. Fielding went first to Montgomery Co. KY, later moving to Morgan Co. Thomas went first to Christian Co. KY and later to Hopkins Co., where he died in 1831. He was married twice, but the name of his first wife is unknown. His second wife was Catherine Beck. Thomas had six children, one by his first wife and five by his second. Several of his descendants lived to be very old. One son, Stephen Beck Hanks, lived to be 96 and died in 1918. Shortly before he died, Stephen stated in a newspaper interview that his father Thomas was a brother of Nancy Hanks Lincoln. David Warren Hanks, who lived to be 102, was a son of Samuel Slocum Hanks and a grandson of Thomas Hanks. He died in Davenport, Iowa in 1952. In a newspaper interview on his 100th birthday, he stated that his father Samuel S. Hanks was a first cousin to Abraham Lincoln (Samuel S. was a brother of Stephen).

All of the preceding leads to one final question: �how did I conclude that Abraham Hanks and Sarah Harper were the parents of Nancy Hanks Lincoln?� To answer this question, it is necessary to go back to earlier generations of the Hanks family and to establish the identity of Abraham Hanks Sr. of Richmond Co. VA, Fauquier Co. VA, Halifax Co. NC and Carroll Co. VA, and also to establish the identity of William Hanks of Lincoln Co. NC, Hardin Co. KY and Macon Co. IL. There is little question about the identity of the other children of Richard Hanks Sr. and Mary Hinds, as this is established by many public records, family records and strong family traditions, and also fit within the parameters of time, place and circumstances. To first consider Abraham Sr., there is no supportive evidence that he was a son of Luke Hanks of Richmond Co. VA as others have concluded, but there is supportive evidence and family traditions to support the conclusion that he was a son of Luke's brother Richard Sr. Next, there is no public record to prove that William Hanks of Macon Co. IL was a son of Joseph of Nelson Co. KY, but there is supportive evidence that he was also a son of Richard Sr., and further support of the claims of kinship to Abraham Lincoln and other members of the Hanks family. When Joshua Hanks Sr. died in Carroll Co. VA in 1854, his son Joshua Jr., who was the father of Henry Friel Hanks, lived on the adjoining farm, and Henry Friel was fifteen years of age and knew his grandfather well. When Henry Friel died in 1927, the year he wrote his letter to the Galax Gazette, he was living in the home of his son, Joshua Hanks (III). In an interview with the widow of Joshua (III) in the early 1980's and in interviews with several other older people of the Pipers Gap area of Carroll Co., who knew Henry Friel Hanks personally, all of them were found to believe that Henry Friel never had any doubt that Nancy Hanks Lincoln was born in the home of his grandfather Joshua Hanks Sr., but they had no records to prove this. This letter and other public records leave no doubt that Joshua Hanks Sr. settled in Carroll Co in 1783 and that two brothers, one of whom was the father of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, came to the area together. As the identity and whereabouts of all the other children of Richard Hanks Sr. at that time can be accounted for by both public and private records, only Abraham Hanks and Sarah Harper could have been the parents of Nancy Hanks Lincoln.

After weeding out all those whose claim to a Lincoln kinship for which no supportive evidence could be found, and who did not fit the stated parameters, and then assuming that both Abraham Hanks Sr. and William Hanks were sons of Richard Hanks Sr., all the claims of either first or second degree of kinship to either Nancy Hanks or Abraham Lincoln all agree without exception. They also all fall within the proper parameters and are all supported by strong family traditions. Thus the writer has concluded that grandmother�s statement that her father, Dr. Charles G. Fowlkes, was, as he claimed, a second cousin to Abraham Lincoln, was true. As further evidence of the identity of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, there is the fact that Joshua Hanks and his brother (Abraham) of Carroll Co. VA were buried in the old Quaker cemetery at Pipers Gap, and two other brothers, Thomas and Richard (Jr) were buried in the old Goshen (Quaker) cemetery in Gastonia NC. As far as is known, none of the Hanks family of western KY or IL were Quakers. None of the direct descendants of James Hanks of Wilkes Co. NC knew whether or not he was a Quaker, but several of his descendants became Primitive Baptists.

IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS

2. The Joseph Hanks who was living in Hampshire Co. VA in 1790 was a son of Luke and Elizabeth Hanks of Richmond Co, VA. They had eleven children.

3. The Lucy Shipley Hanks who married Henry Sparrow in KY in 1791 has been claimed as the mother of Nancy Hanks Lincoln. She did not first marry James Hanks of Lincoln Co. NC as claimed. The only James Hanks in that area at that time married Mary Starrett in 1779, moved to Wilkes Co. NC in 1790 and died there in 1839.

4. A woman named Lucy Hanks appeared in Rutherford Co. NC about 1780 with an illegitimate daughter named Nancy. This Nancy, who was placed in the home of Abraham Enloe, was not the mother of Abraham Lincoln, but did later have a child by Abraham Enloe.

5. Joshua Hanks died in Amelia Co. VA where his will was filed for probate 9/28/1775. This will names his wife Angelica and, among others, children named Lucy and Richard.

6. In Amelia Co. DB17-302 dated 12/22/1785, Angelica Hanks as widow of Joshua Hanks sold some goods to settle the estate. This record refers to heir of daughter Lucy HANKS deceased. As her name was still HANKS she must have been unmarried and her child must have been illegitimate. She was probably the LUCY HANKS of Rutherford Co.

7. Richard Hanks died in Nottoway Co. VA in 1809. His will recorded in WB2-50 names twelve children, among them a son Joshua and a daughter Rebecca.

8. Joshua Hanks married Phoebe Wilson in Amelia Co. VA 8/10/1781.

9. Rebecca Hanks, daughter of Richard, also died in 1809 and left a will in which she gave all of her personal property to her niece Lucy Hanks, daughter of her brother Joshua. (This will indicates that Phoebe had died before 1809 and that Rebecca was raising her child).

10. Joshua received land from his father�s estate in 1809, but no further record of him was found in Nottoway or adjoining counties.

11. Joshua Hanks married Mary Renwick in Lincoln Co. NC on 2/13/1812, but they did not remain there and later appear in the records of Roane Co. TN (area became Morgan Co.).

12. There is a family tradition that this Joshua abandoned his family in TN and never returned. He was not the Joshua who married Amelia Rape in Nashville TN 9/17/1818.

13. Thomas Hanks was a known son of Richard (Sr) and was buried in the old Quaker cemetery in Gastonia NC. As supportive evidence that Abraham Hanks (Sr) was also a son of Richard (Sr), Thomas named a son Abraham, not a common name in the Hanks family.

14. Abraham Hanks, son of Thomas, married Judy Rodin (second wife) in Mecklenburg Co. NC 10/12/1825. In 1850 they were in Jackson Co. IL.

15. Several historians and genealogists have quoted Dennis Hanks and John Hanks as sources of information on the Hanks family, but William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner and biographer, stated that both were unreliable and knew little about the Hanks family.

16. When Abraham Lincoln was campaigning for the presidency, both John Hanks and his brother Charles wrote letters which were published in newspapers. Charles opposed Lincoln and John was for him, later claiming to be the only Hanks who voted for him.

17. The 1850 census of Macon Co. IL lists Charles as illiterate (could not read or write). This makes one wonder, �who wrote his letters?�

18. Charles Hanks claimed that he knew Lincoln during his boyhood, but in a letter Lincoln wrote to John Hanks he stated that Charles passed through Indiana about 1828 on his way back from a trip to KY and spent a day or two in the Lincoln home and that this was the first time he ever saw Charles Hanks in his life.

19. In a letter written by or for Dennis Hanks, he admitted that he did not know who his grandfather was.

20. In an interview by William Herndon, John Hanks said that Joseph Hanks "could have been" his grandfather. The simple fact is that John did not know who his grandfather was, and he certainly should have known his grandfather was Joseph Hanks of Nelson Co. KY.

21. There is no proof that the William Hanks who married Elizabeth Hall in Hardin Co. KY In 1793 was William, son of Joseph of Nelson Co., or that the William who was granted land in Grayson Co. in 1810 was Joseph's son William. There were two men near the same age with wives named Elizabeth who lived in both Grayson and Breckenridge counties of KY at the same time. One of them died in Breckenridge Co. and the other moved to Macon Co. IL.

22. Public records, private records and family traditions leave no doubt that the Felix Hanks who lived in Lincoln Co. NC was a son of Richard Sr. and a brother of James, Thomas and Richard Hanks, who lived in the same area. This Felix was living in KY when he sold his land in Lincoln Co. NC.

23. There has never been any doubt that John Hanks (the railsplitter) was a son of William Hanks of Macon Co. IL, who is believed to have been another son of Richard Sr. of NC. As supportive evidence, John named a son Felix (not a common name in the Hanks family) who was accidentally drowned as a teenager. Did John name a son after his uncle?

24. Abraham Hanks (Sr), also believed to have been a son of Richard (Sr) of Rowan Co, NC, had nine children. Four of them had the same names as children of Richard (Sr); these were Sarah, John, Thomas and William. Did Abraham name them after his siblings?

25. Parish records prove that Richard Hanks (Sr) and James Hanks were brothers and were born in Richmond Co. VA, sons of William Hanks II and Hester Mills.

26. Deed and tax records show that James and Richard both settled in Amelia Co. VA about 1760 and that Richard moved on to NC after 1773. Before 1780 James moved to Campbell Co. VA, where he died about 1800.

27. James named one of his sons Abraham, who later migrated to Knox Co. TN.

28. Another son of James was named Thomas, who married Nancy Brooks (3/30/1792), a daughter of a neighbor of James Hanks who was named James Brooks.

29. There is a family tradition that another son named James Hanks Jr. married Sarah Brooks, a sister of Nancy, but no record has been found.

30. James Hanks Jr. went off to the war of 1812 and never returned. There is a tradition that he was killed in the war and another that he went west and became a "mountain man".

31. James Jr. had two children who were named William and Permelia.

32. Before 1820, Sarah moved the family to adjoining Bedford Co. VA.

33. In 1823 William Hanks of Bedford Co. VA (DB18-65) sold the personal property of his mother Sarah, his sister Permelia and himself, and the family "went west".

34. In Edgar Co. IL, Sarah Brooks Hanks met and married Andrew Varvell. Many years later her grandchildren claimed that she was a sister of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, but the census record of 1850 shows that this Sarah was born 8 years after Nancy's mother died.

35. No marriage record for Sarah Hanks and Lewis Sturgill has been found, but as their first child was born in 1785 they probably married in 1784. They settled first about ten miles from Joshua Hanks of Carroll Co. VA, going later to Hawkins Co. TN and on to Lawrence Co. IN in 1833, where they lived in the census of 1840.

36. Many descendants of Sarah Hanks Sturgill say that she was an older sister of Nancy Hanks Lincoln and believe that she was the "aunt Sarah" who Lincoln visited, probably in Indiana. It is certain that Sarah Varvell of Edgar Co. IL was not Lincoln's aunt.

37. The grandchildren of Sarah Varvell were related to Lincoln, but not as closely as they claimed. This relationship was through their grandfather, James (Jr) of Campbell Co. VA, and not through their grandmother.

38. Both public and private records prove that Dr. Hugh Hanks and Dr. Charles G. Fowlkes, both of whom practiced medicine in present Alleghany Co. NC, were first cousins and grandsons of James Hanks of Lincoln and Wilkes Co. NC. Several grandchildren of both of these doctors have said that they were second cousins to Abraham Lincoln.

39. John and William Sturgill were sons of SARAH HANKS and Lewis Sturgill (see page 29 of �The Hanks Family of NC & VA�). John sold land he owned in Washington Co. VA in 1815 and left the area. He returned during the civil war and died in Washington Co. 1864/65. In an interview with 104 year old William Sturgill of Martins Fy. OH in 1985 (whose grandfather was a brother of the above John), he said that two of his grandfather's brothers became river boat captains, William going to Ohio where he worked on the Ohio and Big Sandy rivers and John going to Wisconsin (see family sheet on page 30 of �The Hanks Family of NC & VA�). In this interview, he also said that none of the family knew what had become of "uncle William" until he found him retired and living alone in Floyd Co. KY when he, William Sturgill, was working on the railroad there as a young man.

40. Stephen B. Hanks became well known as a river boat captain in Wisconsin before he retired to Whiteside Co. IL. He claimed that his father, Thomas Hanks, was a brother of Nancy Hanks Lincoln. If this was correct (and I see no reason to doubt it), then Stephen would have been a first cousin to the above John Sturgill, both river boat captains in Wisconsin, and Stephen may have learned his trade from his older cousin, John.