As Adin Baber dug deeper! His research into the Hanks family eventually located the family Bible of “A. Lincoln, Springfield IL.” There for all the world, and especially us, to see are the origins of Nancy Hanks:
Nancy Hanks, born 5 Feb 1784, Campbell County VA; died 5 Oct 1818. Father: Abraham Hanks. Mother: Sarah Harper. She was the 6th child and only girl. Her five older brothers were Abraham Hanks, Luke Hanks, William Hanks, George Hanks, and Fielding Hanks.
Nancy married Thomas Lincoln, 12 June 1806. She was the mother of three children: Sarah Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, and Thomas Lincoln.
Some years ago, a woman contacted me to connect her ancestor Sarah Hanks, to Nancy Hanks, the mother of President Lincoln. Her family tradition said they were sisters. That is when I discovered Adin Baber and his work.
I went carefully through the many papers he collected, with the possibility that her Sarah Hanks was a cousin to Nancy and I suggested several searches that might prove the connection to be true. Never heard the final results of the research–most of the time I don’t hear the results.
Just remember that when you dig deeper you have the greatest chance of finding the truth. Bernie Gracey says, “The TRUTH is out there. You just have to locate it.” Your favorite Kentucky genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://www.arleneeakle.com
PS Review Part I of I, Too, Am a Kentuckian, for a discussion of the Nancys and the research that Adin Baber did. Reference to the family Bible is buried in the fine print of Nancy Hanks: The Destined Mother of a President–The Factual Story of a Pioneer Family as Revealed in an Exhaustive Study of Ancestral History. Printed for the author, Kansas IL 1963.
