Abraham Hanks Sr. ⁸⁶

  General Notes:

FROM "THE HANKS FAMILY"
Written by Scott E. Sallee

Abraham Hanks was born about 1745 in the northern neck of Virginia to Luke and Elizabeth Hanks. About 1768, Abraham Hanks married Sarah Harper, and settled in Prince William Co., Va.. where he engaged in blacksmithing.

In the spring of 1775, Abraham Hanks joined, as a farrier, the party of William Calk which was going to join Daniel Boone in Kentucky. The group, which consisted also of Enoch Smith, Phillip Drake, and Robert Whitledge, met on the Rapidan River on March 14,1775, where, according to Calk's journal, "abrams Dogs leg got broke by Drakes dog."

The following morning the party set off toward the Cumberland Gap. The incident the day before must have been a bad omen for Abraham Hanks, as Calk made the following entries in his journal: "Satrd 25 . Eanock Abram & I got lost..." Thurst 30th.. hors broke three of our powder goards & Abrams flask." "April mond 3rd...we had this creek to cross many times and very Bad Banks Abrams saddel turned and the load all feIl in..." "Tuesday 11th...abrams mair Ran into the River with her Load & Swam over he followed her & got on her & made her Swim Back again..."

At Martin's Station, in the PoweIl Valley of Virginia, Calks party joined that of Richard Henderson and the two headed along the Wilderness Way, through the Gap, and camped at Rockcastle River, There they were met by refugees fleeing the Indians, who, according to Calk, told "Such news Abram and Drake is afraid to go any further." The following day.Apri1 13, 1775, Abraham Hanks tended his farrier duties, then turned back with Enoch Drake. But Abraham did not retreat far. He joined one of Henderson's work crews in the Powell Valley clearing the trails, then traveled to Boonesborough, arriving in time to help Calk survey the town and plant the first corn crop.

Abraham Hanks also went with William Calk to the present site of Mt. Sterling to look at land that Calk entered, but the deal was not completed. Abraham returned to Virginia, where, according to family tradition, he was inthe Revolutionary War. Though no formal record of service exists, it is likely he did serve as a farrier from time to time for the patriot forces. About 1783, he moved his family to Campbell Co.,Va., where he, along with his wife, died in the early 1790s, and was buried in the Hanks plot of the Hatt Creek Cemetery.

Abraham married Sarah Harper, daughter of John George Harper and Elizabeth Sarah Shipley, in Boonesborough, KY ?. (Sarah Harper was born in 1750 and died in 1792.)