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Steve Whitlock · (This post was last modified: 05-09-2020 01:43 AM by Steve Whitlock.)

(04-26-2020 08:49 AM)Steve Whitlock Wrote:
(04-25-2020 10:01 PM)Steve Whitlock Wrote:
(04-25-2020 08:48 PM)Anita Wrote: Thanks Steve. I'd like to see that article by Charles Hanks.
Here you are. Abe must have really ticked Charles Hanks off at some point. If I remember correctly Abe wrote a letter to John recalling the little sod busting he had done with Charles, but not much else, after the nasty letter by Charles was printed. Not positive when Abe wrote to John about Charles, and I'm not finding it readily in my files; however, here is a letter attributed as from John to Abe about the Charles Hanks letter. John didn't write that letter either. I think it was Richard Oglesby who wrote the John Hanks letters. Top of my head for that last bit.

Here is another article with testimonials for the veracity of the Charles Hanks letter.
It only took me three rereads, after I posted the Charles Hanks letter clipping, to notice the article just below it with the header "Land for the Landless" and the discussion of the Homestead Bill voting. This clipping would fit right in for another recent thread. Always glad to help folks out.

That aside, I notice the Charles Hanks letter left out Mr Lincoln's many accomplishments, including his law practice. I don't know if Charles was a jilted Whig, along with those in the testimonials, but there seems to be a foul whiff of political animus present.

Here is a transcription of the letter I had difficulty finding from A. Lincoln to John Hanks, re: Charles Hanks.

"To John Hanks [1]
John Hanks, Esq Springfield, Ills.
My dear Sir: Aug. 24. 1860

Yours of the 23rd. is received. My recollection is that I never lived in the same neighborhood with Charles Hanks till I came to Macon county, Illinois, after I was twenty-one years of age. As I understand, he and I were born in different counties of Kentucky, and never saw each other in that State; that while I was a very small boy my father removed to Indiana, and your father with his family remained in Kentucky for many years. At length you, a young man grown, came to our neighborhood, and were at our house, off and on, a great deal for three, four, or five years; and during the time, your father, with his whole family, except William, Charles, and William Miller, who had married one of your sisters, came to the same neighborhood in Indiana, and remained a year or two, and then went to Illinois. William, Charles, and William Miller, had removed directly from Kentucky to Illinois, not even passing through our neighborhood in Indiana.

Once, a year or two before I came to Illinois, Charles, with some others, had been back to Kentucky, and returning to Illinois, passed through our neighborhood in Indiana. He stopped, I think, but one day, (certainly not as much as three); and this was the first time I ever saw him in my life, and the only time, till I came to Illinois, as before stated. The year I passed in Macon county I was with him a good deal---mostly on his own place, where I helped him at breaking prarie, with a joint team of his and ours, which in turn, broke some on the new place we were improving.

This is, as I remember it. Dont let this letter be made public by any means. Yours very truly A. LINCOLN"
Annotation

[1] ALS-IHi. John Hanks wrote on August 23 that he had been thinking about answering his brother Charles Hanks' letter and wished to know when and where Lincoln first saw Charles. He also promised not to use Lincoln's letter (DLC-RTL). Charles Hanks had published a letter in the Decatur MagnetPage 101

(copied by the Fulton County Ledger, July 31, 1860), in which he disputed the authenticity of the rails brought into the Decatur convention on May 9 by John Hanks and posed as an intimate relation who was politically opposed to Lincoln's principles.

(05-08-2020 10:08 PM)mcclain77 Wrote:
(04-25-2020 06:50 PM)Anita Wrote:

Good evening, Steve. Late last year while compiling my family tree content, I, too, had researched a bit of the correspondence between Lincoln and the Hanks'. I say "researched", when all I really did was visit the Library of Congress' website and conduct a keyword search for "Hanks". One of the things that I took away from the letters was the humorous happenstance that once a family member becomes "famous", the family and friends come out of the woodwork asking for favors. One of the letters that I'd found at the LOC was sent from one of the Hanks to then-President Lincoln asking him to intervene on his behalf to be awarded a contract to become a local postal carrier in Illinois. Hanks had been denied the contract, but failed to mention to Lincoln that it was because his bid for the contract came in higher than that of someone else. A letter from Lincoln to the Postmaster General inquires of him as to why Hanks was not awarded the contract, to which the PG responds that the Postal Service always awards the contract to the lowest bidder, who was, in that case, not Hanks.

Of course, there were several other requests from the Hanks' to the President, asking for this person or that to be appointed to this or that, or for someone in or related to the family to be released from Military duty. All in all, though, I found it very funny that even back then, with the fame of the Presidency, family came knocking on Lincoln's door. I would assume that this was despite the fact that many of the Hanks had not seen or kept in contact with Lincoln for quite some time, since some of the LOC letters from Hanks to Lincoln begin something akin to, "Hello, this is so-and-so...do you remember that we are related?" Haha...

Anyway, just wanted to leave my two cents and see what your impressions were of the correspondence. Take care.

Gene

Gene,

I don't know how to respond to your request for my impressions of A. Lincoln's correspondence with the Hanks family. There's too much for a general statement. Dennis Friend Hanks is someone you need to get a clear picture of, and may be the one for the postmaster position you mentioned, if an aging, failing memory serves.

I presume you are talking about a William Miller (who married Nancy Hanks, dtr of William Hanks and Elizabeth Hall) letter where he feels he has to introduce himself as a relative to Abe, whose mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, was a 1st cousin to Nancy Hanks Miller.

By the way I was born in Indiana, but my mother was born in IL, and I spent much of my early youth in IL. You may benefit by contacting me directly at ctn59880@centurytel.net. That way I could share some records, photos, etc, etc possibly of interest to you. I'd also like to discern how much you know about your Lee heritage.