Lucien Hanks

[Steve Whitlock]

Lucien Hanks
I came across these two articles about Lincoln's trip to Janesville, Wisconsin in 1859, staying with the Tallman family and meeting a young man named Lucien Hanks; who's accounts I thought were humorous, interesting and worth sharing.
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In case anyone is wondering, Lucien Stanley Hanks b: 1838 in CT is not related to the Hanks family of Lucy Hanks, mother of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, as Lucien acknowledges in the Dearborn article.

Lucien S. Hanks is the son of Lucien Bonaparte Hanks and 1st wife, Mary Dexter 1810-1845, the sister of Emeline (Dexter) Tallman. Their parents are Norman Dexter and Ruth Stanley.

The Hanks Line for Lucien S. Hanks, as far as I looked, appears to be
Lucien Stanley Hanks >Lucien Bonaparte >Truman >Benjamin >Uriah Hanks 1736-1809.

We also have a relative's comments from 1966:

Madison Wisconsin State Journal Newspaper Archives
Thursday, December 08, 1966 - Page 10

More Facts on the Lucien Hanks Family Sirs—You recently published a letter of mine discussing the Lucien Hanks family, and the story of his visit to the Tallman House at the same time as Abraham Lincoln, in 1859. I have heard from Mrs. Marshall W. Hanks, of California, who has kindly supplied me with the missing link in the relationship between Lucien Hanks and Mrs. William Morrison Tallman. The mother of Lucien Hanks was Mary Dexter Hanks, and she was the sister of Emeline Dexter Tallman, the wife of William Morrison Tallman. In my previous letter I said that "we have no record that ... Mrs. Tallman was his aunt or related to him in any but a distant way”. Mrs. Hanks has supplied this record, and we now know that not only was Mrs. Tallman Lucien Hanks’ aunt, but that he was courting his first cousin, a common nineteenth century practice! Nonetheless, what I meant to say in my letter, namely that there were no Tallmans in the Hanks family, and no Hanks in the Tallman family, as implied in the Journal’s story, is still true. I ain, however, somewhat chagrined that it never occurred to me to look for Dexters in both families.—Richard P. Haring, Director-Curator, Lineoln-Tallman House, Janesville, Wis,
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In closing Lucien did not marry his first cousin and married Sybil Perkins ca 1863.