Fielding Hanks ⁸⁷

  General Notes:

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

Fielden Hanks was born in 1783 in Campbell Co., Va., to Abraham and Sarah (Harper) Hanks. As a child, it is likely that Fielden lived with relatives, as he was orphaned at an early age.

About 1804, Fielden Hanks came to Kentucky and married Lydia Harper, a full-blood Choctaw Indian whose parents, John and Mary Ann Harper ,had come to Kentucky from Mississippi. (Lydia Harper's sister Sibby married Fielden's brother, George Hanks)

Fielden and Lydia Hanks settled on Slate Creek in Montgomery Co., Ky., where Fielden was first listed as a taxpayer in 1806. At that time, he owned only a horse, but quickly acquired more property. Records from George Hanks' estate sale on Jan. 3, 1814, show that Fielden Hanks purchased a sorrel horse.

On Sept. 20, 1814, Fielden Hanks enlisted in the Kentucky Militia, and was assigned as a corporal in Capt. Micajuh McClenny's Company, of Major Peter Dudley's Mounted Battalion. Fielden served two months in this capacity, receiving his discharge on Nov. 14, 1814, at Detroit, Michigan.

In 1818, Fielden Hanks moved from Montgomery Co. to Camp Town (present-day Campton), where he built the first permanent dwelling in what had been a miners' camp for men seeking the legendary Swift Silver Mine in the nearby Red River Gorge. In 1824, he was elected one of the first magistrates of newly formed Morgan Co., Ky.

According to family tradition, Fielden was a great hand for hunting in the mountains, and Fielden, along with his cousin, James Hanks, were known as mighty hunters."

Perhaps the most civic-minded of Fielden Hanks' children was his son, Cuthbert MiIlion Hanks, or "Cud," as he was called. Cud Hanks became one of the largest land owners around Campton, and was so instrumental in organizing Wolfe County, that he became known as "The Father of Wolfe County." He donated the land for the jail and courthouse, and served as the first sheriff. He served in the Kentucky legislature during the last year of the Civil War, representing the district which comprised the counties of Wolfe. Morgan,and Breathitt, and for twenty years thereafter, served as the Wolfe Co. jailer.

Fielden Hanks died on August 13, 1861, and his wife Lydia (Harper) Hanks died on Oct. 12, 1861. Both are buried in the Old City Cemetery (formerly known as the Old Methodist Burying Ground) at Campton, Ky.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Occupation: farmer and hunter, 1850, Wolfe Co., KY. Fielding Hanks was one of 12 justices when Morgan Co was established in 1823.

Fielding married Lydia Harper, daughter of John Harper and Mary Ann (Unknown). (Lydia Harper was born in Fort Of Boonesborough, KY, died on 12 Oct 1861 in Campton, Wolfe Co., KY and was buried in Campton, Wolfe Co., KY.)