J. L. Hanks

[loetar44]

I just read the following article from 1905:

https://app.box.com/s/fxrady3y1c4n2pvx1h73ahajpwj82c8d

J.L. Hanks is James Lewis Hanks born Feb. 14, 1829 in Illinois, died in Douglas County, Oregon, Aug. 13, 1917, son of John “The Railsplitter” Hanks. The article says: “His father, John Hanks, assisted Lincoln in building the young lawyer’s first cabin in Illinois and they engaged in steamboating together. They made 12 trips down the Mississippi river to New Orleans and other points”. And: “My father assisted him in building a cabin on the place”. The article also says: “He (= J.L. Hanks) was about 12 years old when Abraham Lincoln came to his father’s (= John “The Railsplitter” Hanks) to live and remembers him well. He and Lincoln shared the same bed for a long time”. J. L. Hanks “about 12 years old” means ca. 1841. And the article says: “It was while he was at our house that he began reading law. He borrowed law books from a lawyer at the nearest town ….”

I’m puzzling. I always thought that Lincoln moved to Springfield In the spring of 1837, after having accepted Stuart’s offer to become his junior law partner. I always thought that Lincoln only made two flat boat trips to New Orleans, in 1828 and 1831, not 12. I always thought that John “The Raiulsplitter”Hanks only assisted in building a log cabin in March 1830 when the Lincolns arrived in Macon County, Illinois. J.L. Hanks was 1 year old then. How could he remember that?