John Hanks (abt. 1845)

Born about 1845 in Vermilion, Louisiana, United States

Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Stephanie Ward [send private message]

Biography

John Hanks is a descendant of an Acadian

John Hanks lived in Louisiana.

John Hanks, born about 1845, was the first child of Ralph Hanks and Marie Arthemise Abshire.^[1] Born and raised in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, John had seven younger siblings by the time he was 16 in 1860. ^[2]

It is uncertain what happened to John Hanks after 1860. He has not been found on the 1870 US Census, nor on the 1880 US Census. (There were two other John Hanks found on those documents, born around the same time and living in Louisiana. One was his first cousin, John Johnson Hanks,^[3] who lived next door to his father, Johnson Hanks. The other lived in Rapides Parish. His father was from Mississippi.)

The most likely cause of John's disappearance from the record was the Civil War. A military service record has been found for a "J. Hanks" from Louisiana:

"Hanks, J. Pvt. Co. A, 2nd La. Reserve Corps.

Appears on Roll of Prisoners of War, Paroled at Washington, La., June 17, 1865. Res. St. Landry Par., La." ^{[4] [5]}

"J. Hanks" may or may not have been John, the son of Ralph Hanks. Among the ten sons of John's grandfather, Charles Hanks, the Louisiana Hanks patriarch, John had no less than eight male cousins and one brother of draftable age whose names began with a J: Joseph, Jefferson, and John Julian Hanks^[6] were the sons of Ralph's brother Joseph; John Hanks, born in 1838, ^[7] was the son of Ralph's brother Benjamin; Joseph, born 1845, was the son of Ralph's brother Alfred; John Hanks and Joseph William Hanks were sons of Ralph's brother Johnson; John Jackson Hanks, born in St. Landry Parish, was a son of Ralph's brother Eli; Joseph Hanks was a son of Ralph and brother of this John. In addition, Ralph's brothers Charles and Thomas Hanks ^[8] probably had between them more eligible sons whose names, though not yet known here, likely included at least one or two that began with "J."

John would have about 16 at the start of the Civil War, and while the minimum age for enlistment was 18 at that time, recruitment officers "often turned a blind eye to the evident youth of willing recruits in order to fill their recruitment quotas.... If the boy could not get around a stubborn recruitment officer, the line of inquiry then turned to the boy’s parents" to give their permission. ^[9]

According to Schwartz, "The last resort for boys unable to gain a parent’s consent was to simply run away from home and enlist in another town. Some boys enlisted under a false name so their parents (and the authorities) could not track them down.... The young men who died in battle or in hospitals were only known by their assumed names, leaving families without a clue as to their fate." ^[9]

Ralph Hanks is unlikely to have given his permission for his son to make that choice. Ralph's first cousin, Nancy Hanks was the mother of abolitionist President Abraham Lincoln. Furthermore, neither Ralph, nor his father Charles before him, nor Charles' father Joseph Hanks before him, had ever owned slaves. Ralph's grandmother, Ann Lee, was a cousin of Richard Henry Lee, the "statesman from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. His famous resolution of June 1776 led to the United States Declaration of Independence, which Lee signed."^[10] One of Lee's first famous speeches was a scorching denunciation of the practice of human slavery.

Or John could have just waited and enlisted after his 18th birthday in 1863. While it is theoretically possible that the first-born son of Ralph Hanks and Marie Abshire decided to rebel against the moral principles of his forebears and join a fight on the side he had no stake in, it is more likely that his part in the Civil War, if any, would have been with a Union outfit, such as the First Independent Pontoniers, which his sister Melanie's brother-in-law, Vitale Cormier joined. There is even a chance he participated in the Underground Railroad, one interpretation of the motive behind the murder of several of his cousins, memorialized at Abshire Cemetery. Conflicting stories of their deaths abound, including these found via the USGenweb link to Abshire Cemetery:

... a legend lives on today about eleven men who are buried there... all killed in a raid during the Civil War. A stone commemorates the eleven men, and states they were killed on 30 April 1863, although no newspaper account could be found concerning their deaths. A stone donated by the families of these men was erected on 22 June 1945 with the names of the men on it. The names were as follows:

1. Easton Abshire
2. Elear Abshire
3. Jack Abshire
4. Joseph Abshire
5. Martin Abshire
6. Allan Hanks
7. Pierre Istre
8. Theodule Simon
9. William Abshire
10. Theodule Monceaux
11. Euclide Richard

According to one version of the story, these eleven men were deserters from the Confederate Army-- yet no record shows that they served the Confederacy. And that Confederate General Alfred Mouton ordered that deserters and conscript evaders be treated as "Jayhawkers" ["In Louisiana, the term was used to describe anti-Confederate guerrillas, as well as free-booting bands of draft dodgers and deserters." ^[11]] Acting on these orders, a comite de vigilance hunted down these Jayhawkers, said to have gone around looting, burning, and killing, and catching them by surprise, killed all eleven of them at the Stelly residence.

Another legend tells of these poor Acadian descendants who were being forced to serve in the Confederacy even though they were not in agreement with the cause and, such being the case, many hid out to avoid conscription. They were farmers and not "Jayhawkers" who killed and robbed. And because they refused to fight in the Confederacy, General Mouton had them killed. ^[12]

Any information on John Hanks would be much appreciated.

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCJ6-1CK : accessed 30 March 2016), John Hanks in household of Ralph Hanks, Vermilion parish, Vermilion, Louisiana, United States; citing family 13, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MFPF-SDH : accessed 30 March 2016), John Hanks in entry for Ralph Hanks, 1860.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M87G-549 : 17 October 2014), John Hanks, Louisiana, United States; citing p. 64, family 461, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,033.
4. ↑ Andrew B. Booth, "Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers," (New Orleans, 1920) p. 143. http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm Submitted for the Louisiana USGenWeb Archives by Jan Craven, 2001; http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/state/military/wbts/booths-index/ha.txt
5. ↑ United States Civil War Soldiers Index, 1861-1865," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F9FN-2J9 : 4 December 2014), J. Hanks, Private, Company A, Louisiana Reserve Corps, Confederate; citing NARA microfilm publication M378 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 12; FHL microfilm 881,468
6. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCJ6-S1S : 9 November 2014), Julien Hencks in household of Wm Joseph Hencks, St. Landry parish, St. Landry, Louisiana, United States; citing family 2463, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
7. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCJ6-1CC : 9 November 2014), John Hanks in household of [his grandfather] John Abshire, Vermilion parish, Vermilion, Louisiana, United States; citing family 11, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
8. ↑ [Thomas Hanks, wife and 2 boys age 5-10, 1 boy age 10-15. ] "United States Census, 1830," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XHG1-S1X : 18 August 2015), Thomas Hanks, Miscellaneous Townships, St Landry, Louisiana, United States; citing 13, NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 44; FHL microfilm 9,687.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Marcie Schwartz, "Children on the Battlefield: Heroism and Sacrifice," Children on the Battlefield
10. ↑ Richard Henry Lee - Wikiquote Richard Henry Lee
11. ↑ http://www.wtblock.com/WtblockJr/jayhawke.htm
12. ↑ [Included in the description of] Abshire Cemetery, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana [URL:] http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/vermilion/cemeteries/abshabc.txt Submitted by Anna Marie Silvia Hayes, June 1998, assisted by Margaret Rentrop Moore; Jan Batt Craven; Alvenia Trahan Thibodeaux; Brenda Dodd Reed, and Gertrude Sarvaunt Silvia, http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm