Adin Baber on Nancy Hanks

[Rob Wick]

One of the issues Tarbell studied was the question surrounding Nancy Hank's alleged illegitimacy. Tarbell at first praised Carolyn Hanks Hitchcock's book Nancy Hanks: The Story of Abraham Lincoln's Mother but as the years passed, Tarbell slowly retreated from Hitchcock's story because her conclusions were ill-founded. Tarbell always urged those she worked with to write a genealogy of the Hanks family, but she demurred, saying she wasn't a genealogist.

In the 1950s, a central Illinois descendent of the Hanks family named Adin Baber wrote that genealogy. There are actually three volumes to Baber's work. First was The Hanks Family of Virginia and Westward which is a huge book that those who study genealogy would be familiar with. The second book, which is available at archive.org, is called Nancy Hanks, of Undistinguished Families. The third volume, which is a distillation of the previous two, is called Nancy Hanks: Destined Mother of a President. Given that all three were privately printed, they are extremely rare (with the exception of the second since it's online). Alibris has the third available for $99 or $175 or $689.

I took a research trip yesterday and photocopied the third book. According to the Abraham Lincoln Bookshop, it's on their list of essential Lincoln books and is the best book on Nancy Hanks, but I was curious as to whether anyone here is familiar with it, and if so, what do you think about it?

Baber's papers and his research material are in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

Best
Rob

[RJNorton]

I avoid Hanks' genealogy as I find it too confusing. Rob, I don't have any of the sources you mentioned, but I do have a copy of Abraham Lincoln's Hanks Family Genealogy. It was written by one of our forum members, Vicky Reany Paulson, and is available on Amazon. Vicky writes that "Caroline Hanks Hitchcock's book is a farce." Vicky writes that there is absolutely no doubt Nancy Hanks was the daughter of Lucy Hanks.

[irshgrl500]

(11-09-2013 09:31 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  I avoid Hanks' genealogy as I find it too confusing. Rob, I don't have any of the sources you mentioned, but I do have a copy of Abraham Lincoln's Hanks Family Genealogy. It was written by one of our forum members, Vicky Reany Paulson, and is available on Amazon. Vicky writes that "Caroline Hanks Hitchcock's book is a farce." Vicky writes that there is absolutely no doubt Nancy Hanks was the daughter of Lucy Hanks.

Also Roger, didn't AL's mom, Nancy, tell him, as a child that Lucy (her mother) told her that her "real" or birth father was a wealthy landowner? She did not seem to hide this from her son; or am I wrong?


Karin

[RJNorton]

Karin, I think the only quote I have ever seen on this came from William Herndon. Herndon wrote, "He (Lincoln) said, among other things, that she (Nancy Hanks) was the illegitimate daughter of Lucy Hanks and a well-bred Virginia farmer or planter."

[Rob Wick]

Baber believes it was Abraham and Sarah Hanks who were Nancy's parents, but that's the only thing I've read so far. I agree with you, Roger, that Hanks genealogy is confusing. If I remember correctly, there were nine Nancy Hanks alive in the area at the time that could have been Lincoln's mother. Given that most biographers point to Lucy Hanks, it will be interesting to see how Baber squares that circle.

Karin, Herndon said that Lincoln told him the Virginia planter story, but he didn't say where he got the information.

Best
Rob

[Gene C]

There is an interesting chapter about Lincoln's genealogy (and that's about all I could handle) in Ed Steer's - Lincoln Legends...
If I remember correctly, it seems Nancy Hanks had an aunt(?) named Nancy who had at least one child out of wedlock which contributed to the confusion.

[Gene C]

Here is a link to "Nancy Hanks, The Story of Abraham Lincoln's Mother" by Caroline Hanks Hitchcock.

It's a short book of a little over 100 pages with decent sized type, copyright 1900
I haven't read it, but I did find it interesting that the preface was written by Ida Tarbell.

https://archive.org/details/nancyhanksst...7/mode/2up

[Gene C]

Steve,

is this the DNA project that has been mentioned previously? https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Han...ction=news

The Amazon reviews for Hitchcock's book were not that great, two of the seven reviews gave it one star based upon the content.

Rob mentioned in the first post that Tarbell, over the years, tried to distance herself from Hitchock's book. Tarbell later wrote a book "In the Footsteps of the Lincoln's", copyright 1928. It was later retitled "Abraham Lincoln and His Ancestors"
I am currently reading it now, and it has an interesting chapter on Nancy Lincoln.

https://archive.org/details/infootstepso...8/mode/2up

[Rob Wick]

It was William Barton who first began to question Caroline Hanks Hitchcock. She poured out a bucket of vitriol in her letters to Tarbell against Barton, but Tarbell, trying to play both sides against the middle, didn't take the bait. To get a first-hand account, here are the relevant Tarbell papers where Hitchcock is concerned.

https://dspace.allegheny.edu/handle/1045...line+Hanks

For more detail on Tarbell's study of the Hanks family I would suggest going to the subject category on the website of her papers and type in "Hanks." I would also suggest doing the same for Barton, given that there are different ways his name is used in her papers.

Best
Rob

[Gene C]

Thanks Steve. It's a bit disappointing to find out Tarbell made some mistakes on this subject, but it is complicated.

[Rob Wick]

I think it is imperative to point out that Ida Tarbell wrote this book almost 100 years ago without the benefit of modern science and who admitted often in private that she found the whole Hanks history to be confusing and full of tradition and little in the way of concrete facts. Did Tarbell make mistakes? Of course she did. She would be the first to admit such a thing, and she was also the first to admit when new evidence proved a point she had defended to be wrong. It's patently unfair (at least in my mind) to castigate Tarbell for holding on to beliefs she thought to be true. I think the term character assassination is highly unfair to the serious work that she did.

Tarbell lived and studied Lincoln for almost another 20 years after the Footsteps book was written. Would she have written it the same way at that point than she did in the 1920s? Who knows, but I doubt it. It's a fair criticism to point out where someone is wrong, but to accuse her of character assassination is character assassination in itself, and totally unfair.

Best
Rob

[Steve]

(09-23-2020 12:41 PM)Gene C Wrote:  Steve,

is this the DNA project that has been mentioned previously? https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Han...ction=news

Yes it is, its current website is here, though:

https://geneticlincoln.com/

[Steve Whitlock]

(09-26-2020 08:47 PM)Steve Wrote:  

(09-23-2020 12:41 PM)Gene C Wrote:  Steve,

is this the DNA project that has been mentioned previously? https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Han...ction=news

Yes it is, its current website is here, though:

https://geneticlincoln.com/

Steve,

I am the Steve that Gene was questioning. Thank you for covering, but I had responded, and later deleted a few posts in this thread pertaining to Adin Baber, Ida Tarbell and Caroline Hitchcock. They were deleted because anger and frustration took my objectivity, and left curt, shallow responses that were unfair to anyone who might read them.

Adin Baber, it appears, had Hanks relatives in the Edgar Co., IL area, that he must have grown up believing were close relatives of President Lincoln. His Nancy Hanks was a daughter of Abraham Hanks Sr, and a wife he mistakenly thought was Sarah Harper.

Mr. Baber traversed the country in search of records, but along the way he missed The Dumfries Store Ledger in Prince William Co., VA. Listed in the Ledger are entries for Abraham and Alexander Hanks, sons of Robert Million. A look at the original records shows that there was only Abraham Hanks as a son-in-law of Robert and Keziah (Halliday) Million. Abraham was married to Jemima Million, who may be found on Pg62 of "Nancy Hanks of Undistinguished Families" by Adin Baber. The original record also supports that Jemima (Million) Hanks, widow of Abraham Hanks Sr, was the mother of Nancy Hanks, who married Peter Jones 16 Apr 1804 in Henry Co., KY. The bondsman was Abner Ford, the nephew of Jemima, and son of Sytha or Cynthia (Million) Ford.

As for Sarah Harper, she may have been the first wife of Abraham Hanks Jr, who also married Mary Combs as his 2nd wife. Fielding Hanks' death record names his parents as Abraham Hanks and Sarah Hanks. She is likely the reason for Sarah Harper being named as the wife of Abraham Hanks Sr, because Mr. Baber mistakenly shows Fielding, and his brother, George Hanks, as sons of Abraham Sr, rather than Abraham Jr. I have census records, etc to follow all that, or one can get Nancy Royce's document from Genetic Lincoln for Abraham Hanks.

Adin also confuses Sarah Hanks, as being a Mary and Sarah Hanks who changes her name, and is the daughter of Abraham Hanks Sr, whereas the Nancy Hanks Lincoln MTDNA Study shows her to be the daughter of Lucy Hanks; however, he has a nice listing for the children of Sarah Hanks, aka Sally Sparrow in a court record.

Mr. Baber also has some information that would have benefited Caroline Hitchcock and Ida Tarbell, preceded by the marriage of Nancy Hanks and Levi Hall.

Nancy Hanks
in the Kentucky, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1850
Name: Nancy Hanks
Marriage Date: 18 Oct 1802
Marriage Place: Green, Kentucky, USA
Spouse: Levi Harrel [Levi Hall]
*********************************
"Certainly, as Barton has said, in his discussion about Dennis
and his family, "is that he should have known his own mother", and
Dennis said that his own mother was Nancy Hanks, wife of Levi Hall,
and he recognized the Hall boys as half-brothers. He named Charles
Friend to be his father, and wrote, "This don't doubt. He did not
know his own grandfather on his mother's side. He asserted that Lucy
Sparrow was his aunt, and Abe Lincoln's grandmother, and insisted that
she was a sister of his mother, Nancy, and her two sisters, Polly
Friend and Elizabeth Sparrow."

The quote is from pg356 of Baber's book already referenced. On pg57 Baber identifies Nancy Hanks, mother of Dennis Friend Hanks, and wife of Levi Hall, as the daughter of Joseph Hanks Sr, who died 1793 in Nelson Co., KY.

Take note of "sister of his mother, Nancy, and her two sisters, Polly
Friend and Elizabeth Sparrow." Polly Friend and Elizabeth Sparrow are also mentioned by Judge Creal and Peggy Walters, as well as by Dennis Hanks, as being aunts of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and present when Abraham Lincoln was born. If they are aunts then we have corroboration that Nancy Hanks Lincoln was a niece of Nancy Hanks Hall, and that Lucy Hanks was a sister of Nancy Hall, Polly Friend and Elizabeth Sparrow.

In defense of Caroline Hitchcock and Ida Tarbell I should discuss a very pertinent misdirection given by some folks who certainly should have known better. I refer to the wife and son of Jacob Vertrees Hanks, the eldest child of Joseph Hanks Jr. Mrs Elizabeth (Adams) Hanks, widow of Jacob Vertrees Hanks, and her son, school superintendent, Jacob McKendree Hanks, both wrote letters naming Nancy Hanks Lincoln, (niece of Joseph Hanks) as his sister instead. It seems they were unaware of Nancy Hanks Hall, possibly due to her early death from milk sickness. To make it worse they also claimed that Elizabeth's father, Green Adams, was a cousin of John Quincy Adams. Both were from MA, but do not appear to be related.

Martha Ann (Hanks) Wilson, a sister of Jacob McKendree Hanks, became the superintendent of schools after her brother died in 1901, and she had a little better knowledge of Joseph's sisters, but got Lucy Hanks and Ann Lee confused.

"Mrs. M. A. Wilson notes in her statements. “The mother of Joseph Hanks was Lucy Lee of Virginia.” “Joseph Hanks also told my mother that his sisters married Levi Hall, Jesse Friend and Thomas Sparrow."

In 1925 Ida Tarbell wanted to get a sworn statement from Jacob McKendree Hanks, but seems to not have known he passed away in 1901.

There is much, much, much more, but my general summation is that Adin Baber has some useful information; HOWEVER, the reader must have a comfortable knowledge of the correct lineages for the Hanks, Sparrows, Lincolns, et al to discern the truth. Most readers will not, and have not, (as evidenced by a plethora of incorrect family trees), such knowledge.

Steve Whitlock

[Steve Whitlock]

(09-23-2020 12:41 PM)Gene C Wrote:  Steve,

is this the DNA project that has been mentioned previously? https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Han...ction=news

The Amazon reviews for Hitchcock's book were not that great, two of the seven reviews gave it one star based upon the content.

Rob mentioned in the first post that Tarbell, over the years, tried to distance herself from Hitchock's book. Tarbell later wrote a book "In the Footsteps of the Lincoln's", copyright 1928. It was later retitled "Abraham Lincoln and His Ancestors"
I am currently reading it now, and it has an interesting chapter on Nancy Lincoln.

https://archive.org/details/infootstepso...8/mode/2up

Gene,

I have a newspaper article for a portion of "In the Footsteps of Lincoln" by Ida M. Tarbell; however, it is too large for me to add. I'll ask Roger to include it for discussion, and then comment.

[Rob Wick]

There are numerous letters between Tarbell and Hitchcock as well as examples of Hitchcock's rage against William Barton in Tarbell's papers. Here are some links for those interested.

https://dspace.allegheny.edu/browse?type...line+Hanks

https://dspace.allegheny.edu/handle/1045...line+Hanks

Best
Rob