Our Hankins Family

The Hankins Family
Polli Jost Turner, Editor

First Generation--
Joseph Hankins, born ca. 1760; died 1836, in Jefferson Co., IN; about 76 years old. Married (ca. 1787) Nancy (Quinn?), born ca. 1772; died 1865; ca. 93 years old. One census gave her birthplace as VA, another as NC. The Holsten and New River settlements straddled the border of the two states--her daughters-in-laws’s family, the McCarty’s were also from that area.
Joseph is found in Garrard Co., KY, tax lists as early as 1799 (there were several other families who went to Jefferson Co., IN, from Garrard Co., KY), where he had property at the head of Drakes Creek. Joseph settled with his family in an eastern portion of Jefferson Co. known as Indian-Kentuck, by Oct. 1810, when his daughter Elizabeth married John Chambers.
Joseph became a minister sometime--perhaps during the time of the Second Great Awakening, which swept Kentucky beginning about 1800. Reminiscences of John Vawter, who was one of the earliest settlers in Jefferson Co., mention that "the first preacher other than Baptist was Hankins, a hell-fire redemptioner, who became Baptist later." Joseph pastored the Milton Baptist church (part of the Coffee Creek Association), from 1829 to 1836, when it disbanded, perhaps after Joseph’s death. When it reorganized in 1840, his widow and married children were among the 14 founding members, and his grandson Joseph pastored the church. There is evidence that the present Manville Baptist church grew out of the Milton Baptist church, although the Manville church shows no Hankins in their membership until after 1860.
About 1827, Joseph bought property on the East Fork of the Indian Kentuck Creek, and moved his family there. This property was part of that which was dealt with in his will. His will also required that son Moses would "take care of his mother, to wit, Nancy Hankins, the widow of Joseph Hankins." When Moses moved to Illinois in 1851, he deeded part of Joseph’s property to brother-in-law David Buchanan, and the deed also stipulated that David would assume care of Nancy. The church records mention the death of Nancy A. Hankins in 1865--this was probably Joseph’s widow.
Joseph and Nancy’s family is proved by two deeds in 1836, in which the heirs quit-claimed their interest to Moses Hankins in one and Aaron Hankins in the other.
1. William Hankins,
born Nov. 28, 1788, in VA; died Oct. 21, 1864, in Jefferson Co., IN; 75 years old. Buried in the Milton Baptist Cemetery. Married (Jan. 15, 1811, in Jefferson Co., IN) Elizabeth McCarty, "Lida," born ca. 1798; died ca. 1883. The 1850 and 1860 censuses give his birthplace as Virginia, but they may have been actually living in Kentucky at the time, which was a port of Virginia until 1792.
2. Absolem Hankins,
born ca. 1792, in KY; died after 1860. Married (April 5, 1814, in Jefferson Co., IN) Catherine McCarty, died between 1850 and 1860. Catherine may have been the sister of Elizabeth, wife of William, above. Absolem and Catherine were together in the 1850 census. In 1860, Absolem was living with his daughter, James and Nancy Hankins Smith--Catherine was not listed. An obituary of son Charles Lanham Hankins said that he was one of 14 children. Some of them were: Nichaolas, Erastus, Eliza, and possibly Nancy, Susan, Milton, and Aaron. The rest are unknown.
Absolem was listed on the muster roll of Capt. Dunn’s Company of Mounted Rangers, mustered on April 13, 1813, and discharged March 1, 1814. Absolem was not a member of Milton Baptist church--he and his children lived near Brooksburg, not near Manville, where the rest of the Hankins were. A newspaper account shows that in the late 1800’s a turtle was found in the Manville area with the inscription "Ab Hankins, 1812".
3. Elizabeth Hankins,
born Aug. 12, 1796, in KY; died April 24, 1862, in Harrison Co., MO; 66 years old. Married (Oct. 18, 1810, in Clark Co., IN, by Elder Jesse Vawter) John Chambers, Jr., born April 5, 1789, in Rutherford Co., NC; died Nov. 25, 1851, as a result of injury from a fall; 61 years old. Both were buried in the old Baptist cemetery in Cainesville, Harrison Co., MO.
4. Rebecca Hankins,
born ca. 1797, in KY; died April 1881, in Shelby Twsp, Jefferson Co., IN. She was buried in Canaan Cemetery. Married (March 5, 1822, in Jefferson Co., IN) Henry Hall, born Nov. 7, 1801; died Jan. 5, 1878. He was buried in Shelby Twsp.
5. Edna Hankins,
born ca. 1799; died after 1870. Married (March 25, 1825, in Jefferson Co., IN) William Buchanan, born 1801; died 1833. He was brother of Patsy, who married John, below, and half-brother to David, who married Edith, below.
6. John Hankins,
born ca. 1802; died Apr. 1881, at Bee Camp, in Shelby Twsp., Jefferson Co., IN; 79 years old. Married (Jan. 1, 1824, in Jefferson Co., IN) Patsy Buchanan. They had three children. Second marriage (1836), Elizabeth Pulliam.
7. Joseph Hankins,
born ca. 1805; died ca. 1849. Married (March 4, 1828, in Switzerland Co., IN) Catherine Rogers. The family moved about: in 1853 they were in Henry Co.; Coles Corner, Ohio Co., in 1861; 1880 in Rush Co.
8. Moses Hankins,
a twin?, born ca. 1808; died March 28, 1869; 61 years old. Married Rachel [Avery?], died March 28, 1869; 61 years old. Both were buried in the Hankins family cemetery in Jasper Co., IL. May be a twin of Aaron below--the names of the brothers, and the fact that their father was a minister, makes this assumption likely.
Father Joseph’s will required that son Moses would "take care of his mother, to wit, Nancy Hankins, the widow of Joseph Hankins." When Moses moved to Illinois in 1851, he deeded part of Joseph’s property to brother-in-law David Buchanan, and the deed also stipulated that David would assume care of Nancy. The 1860 census lists the family in Smallwood Twsp, Jasper Co., IL. Moses became a deacon in the Liberty Baptist church in Wakefield, IL, which was founded in 1861 with his nephew Joseph as its pastor.
9. Aaron Hankins,
a twin?, born ca. 1808, in KY; died after 1887. May be a twin of Moses above--the names of the brothers, and the fact that their father was a minister, makes this assumption likely. Married (1832) Lydia Pherigo. They had one daughter, Rebecca. Second marriage (Sept. 5, 1835) Sarah McKay Hutchinson. Clerk of the Milton Baptist church in 1883.
10. Edith Hankins,
"Edy," born Aug. 25, 1814; died Aug. 20, 1891; 74 years old. Married David Buchanan, born April 3, 1810; died Jan. 3, 1875; 65 years old. Both were buried in the Milton Baptist Cemetery in Jefferson Co., IN. His will left land to his wife, and mentioned no children.
?. James Hankins, born ca. 1816, died after 1880. Married (Oct. 22, 1836, in Jefferson Co., IN) Sarah Conner, born ca. 1810, died after Oct. 27, 1893.

First Generation--
Elizabeth Hankins, born Aug. 12, 1796, in KY; died April 24, 1862, in Harrison Co., MO; 66 years old. Married (Oct. 18, 1810, in Clark Co., IN, by Elder Jesse Vawter) John Chambers, Jr., born April 5, 1790, in NC; died Nov. 25, 1851, as a result of injury from a fall; 61 years old. Both were buried in the old Baptist cemetery in Cainesville, MO.
As a young man, John moved with his parents from North Carolina to Indiana, where he met and married Elizabeth. They were married in what was then Clark Co., part of which later (1811) became Jefferson Co., and in 1817 became Jennings Co. The 1820 census shows John and Elizabeth in Jennings Co., with three boys under 10 years old. The 1830 census showed them in Vernon Township, in Jennings Co., with seven children. 1822 records show that John Chambers owned 160 acres in section 36, which was split between Lovett and Vernon Twsps. In 1832, they moved to Decatur Co., IN, "where [they] reared a family of 13 children, all living but one" according to the History of Harrison and Mercer Counties, MO, 1888.
The Bear Creek Baptist Church is located in Geneva Township, in Jennings Co., at the intersection of Jennings, Bartholomew and Decatur Counties, in Indiana. The church was founded in 1828. Their records show that John and Elizabeth Chambers joined the church by letter in July 1833. John was among the first elected church trustees, and a few months later he was ordained as a deacon. The church met in their home until Feb. 1835, when John and Elizabeth and Mary (along with James and Mary Blankenship and others) requested that they be released from membership to form another church. In Feb. 1835, the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Jackson Twsp. (now known as the Sardinia Baptist Church) was organized in the homes of James Blankenship and John Chambers, with their cousin-by-marriage Chesley Woodward as pastor.
In 1845, John and Elizabeth, along with many of the extended family, migrated via covered wagon to Harrison County, MO, and the surrounding counties. In Harrison County, John entered 320 acres of land. He and Elizabeth were members of the Baptist Church in Cainesville, as were several of their children. The church was organized by their son William, and Chesley Woodward was again the first pastor.
The 1860 census of Trail Creek Township in Harrison County shows Elizabeth at 65 years of age, living with Sarah A. Chambers, age 38, born in Indiana. John and Elizabeth Chambers joined the Cainesville church in 1846, John Q. Chambers joined in 1847. Sarah Ann Chambers was baptized June 1847.
The children below were listed in John’s will. Apparently the thirteenth child died in infancy.
1. James T. Chambers,
born ca. 1811, in Jennings Co., IN. James Chambers was listed (along with William and John) in a local history as one of the early settlers in Decatur Co. In the 1820 census, John and Elizabeth had three boys under 10 years old--which would include William and Isaiah, below. James was in Jackson Twsp. of Decatur Co. in the 1850 IN census. May have married (May 27, 1832, in Jennings Co., IN, by Chesley Woodward) Barbara Clarkson. If so, they divorced sometime during the mid-1830’s (Barbary Chambers was chastised for un-christian conduct in 1835 by the Bear Creek Baptist Church, which was John and Elizabeth and Chesley Woodward’s church), and she remarried (April 15, 1840, in Jennings Co., IN) John S. Walker.
Apparently he remarried (March 24, 1840, in Decatur Co., IN) Susan Woodward.
According to the probate records, James was living in Mercer Co., MO, at the time of his mother’s death in 1862.
2. Jemima Amanda Chambers,
"Amanda," born in Jennings Co., IN. Married Calvin Moore.
3. William Chambers,
born Dec. 9, 1815, in IN; died Oct. 3, 1879; 63 years old. Married (Oct. 10, 1833, in Decatur Co., IN) Ellen Barrett.
4. Isaiah B. (Blankenship?) Chambers,
born July 4, 1818, in Jennings Co., IN; died March 17, 1879, in Mercer Co., MO; 61 years old. Married (Aug. 4, 1836, in Decatur Co., IN) Almira Kennedy, born March 2, 1819; died Oct. 26, 1878; 59 years old. In 1845, they moved with the rest of the family to Missouri, and settled in Mercer Co. There they farmed 160 acres of land successfully. They were members of the Missionary Baptist Church, in which Isaiah was the treasurer. Both were buried in Zoar Cemetery. Isaiah and Almira had 11 children.
5 Elizabeth Chambers,
born Feb. 21, 1834; died ?. Married (Jan. 16, 1842, in Decatur Co., IN) Benjamin Franklin Burns, born 1820, in Harrison Co., KY. They migrated in 1845 to Mercer Co., and five years later moved to Harrison Co., where she died. They had eight children.
After her death, Benjamin married Rebecca J. Barnes Howard, widow of John B. Howard.
6. Sarah Ann Chambers,
born ca. 1822. Married (April 20, 1837, in Decatur Co., IN) Samuel Parkison (????). In the 1860 census, she and her mother were living together, and her name was again Sarah Ann Chambers, in her mother’s probate in 1862 she went by Chambers. Don’t understand! In the 1850 census, she was 28 years old, and living with her parents.
7. Mary Chambers,
born Aug. 14, 1826; died Jan. 31, 1897; 70 years old. Married (Nov. 20, 1844, in Greensburg, Decatur Co., IN, by James Blankenship) Ralph Woodward, born Sept. 6, 1818, in Montgomery Co., KY; died Oct. 27, 1898; 80 years old. Both were buried in the Zoar Cemetery in Cainsville. Ralph was a farmer and brickmaker. He enlisted in the Civil War in 1862, and fought in Co. E of the "Old" 3rd Calvary volunteers of the Missouri State Militia under Captain McAfee. He was injured in the war and received a quarterly pension of $16 until his death. He was a younger brother of Chesley Woodward, who married Mary’s aunt Polly Chambers. At the time of the 1860 census, Nellie Woodward (born ca. 1818, in KY) was living with the family. She may have been a sister of Ralph.
8. Joseph Chambers,
born Sept. 27, 1828, Jennings Co., IN; died Nov. 27, 1909; 81 years old. Married (Sept. 10, 1848, in MO) Nercissa N. A. Bishop, born Aug. 29, 1828, in IN; died Sept. 22, 1864; 36 years old. They had six children, one of whom died in infancy.
Second marriage (April 16, 1865), Permelia Melton Sullivan, born 1843; died Feb. 17, 1895; 52 years old. They had five children, one of whom died in infancy.
Third marriage (Dec. 16, 1897), Lucy Anderson, born in Ohio. Her mother was born in England. They had no children.
Joseph was a strong Republican, and a Union man, like his brothers, and a Baptist. He joined the church his brother William helped organize. He also helped organize a temperance society in Mt. Moriah to end the drunkenness in the town.
Joseph and both his first two wives were buried in the old Cainesville Baptist cemetery.
9. John Quincy Chambers,
born April 10, 1831, in Jennings Co., IN; died May 19, 1910, 79 years old. Married Margaret Elizabeth Elenore Josephine Bishop, born July 11, 1833. She was the daughter of Absalom Bishop and Zenah Barrett--Zenah was the sister of Ellen Barrett, his sister-in law! So he married his sister-in-law’s sister’s daughter. They and many of their family were buried in Zoar Cemetery, associated with Zoar Baptist Church. John migrated with his parents to Missouri, and when of age, took land of his own to farm. He later sold the land and opened his own business as blacksmith in Cainesville, where his home was. They were also members of the Baptist church, and John was a Mason. During the Civil War, John enlisted in the Union army, Co. F., 35th Missouri Infantry, under Col. Kimball, but was discharged due to disablilty before seeing action. John and Margaret had 10 children, of whom only five were still living in 1880:
10. Martha Ann Chambers,
born ca. 1836, in IN, according to the 1850 census. Married (March 25, 1853, in Harrison Co., MO) M. T. Bishop. Her mother’s probate in 1862 used the name Chambers for her.
11. Susannah Chambers,
born ca. 1839, in IN, mentioned in the 1850 census.
12. Rebecca Jane Chambers,
born Aug. 26, 1841; died July 19, 1894; 52 years old. Married first (April 30, 1857, in MO) Isaac N. Bishop, and had two children. After his death in the Civil War (he died in Shilo prison in 1863), she married Joseph Pierce; died Nov. 20, 1878; they had five children. Third marriage (Jan. 22, 1885), S. R. Cleveland. They were members of the Cainesville Baptist Church. Rebecca was a member of the W.C.T.U. She and her third husband were buried together in the Zoar Cemetery in Cainesville.
?. Thomas?
?. Nancy Chambers,
married Stoner. William partnered with Stoner in a store in Harrison Co., and Nancy Stoner was one of the organizing members of the Mt. Moriah church in 1862.

Source:
Family Bible and other records
Local histories and censuses
Bob Scott, formerly of Jefferson Co., IN; now of Hiawatha Lake, NJ
Marc Griffin

Links:

Marc Griffin's surnames, including Hankins:
http://www.marcgriffin.com/genweb/base.htm

March 1, 2013
Polli Turner