Historical Collections Relating to Gwynedd

By Howard M. Jenkins

Second Edition

1897

Chapter 22. The Boones, Lincolns and Hanks

The Boones, Lincolns and Hanks all appear on the Gwynedd meeting records, though none of either name probably resided in the township in early times. George Boone, the elder, the first of his family known to us, was from Bradwinch, near Exeter, in Devonshire, and seems to have come over in 1717. At any rate, the Gwynedd meeting records show this minute, dated 31^st of 10^th month (December), in that year: "George Boone, senior, produced a certificate of his Good Life and Conversation from the Monthly [Meeting] att Callumpton, in Great Britain, wh was read & well rec'd."

This George, the elder, died in Berks county (the Oley or Exeter Friends' settlement), February 2, 1740, aged 78 years. He left, it is said, "eight children, fifty-two grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, --in all seventy, the number that Jacob took down to Egypt ." His wife was Mary, who was born in the same place as her husband, and died aged 72. They were both buried in the Friends' ground at Oley.

In 1721, John Rumford, who had been a member with Friends, at Haverford, and George Boone, who had been a member at Abington, being now settled at Oley, applied at the same time to Gwynedd meeting, for membership. This George was the son of the other; he had been several years at Abington (and I think, therefore, came over before his father), where he was clerk of the monthly meeting, and a prominent and useful man. He had married, in 1713, Deborah Howell (b. 8^th mo. 28, 1691, d. 1^st mo. 26, 1759, at Oley), daughter of William and Mary. Deborah was a preacher, and Exeter (Oley) monthly meeting left a memorial of her. She and George had ten children: George, Mary, Hannah, Deborah, Dinah, William, Josiah, Jeremiah, Abigail, and Hezekiah, their births ranging from 1714 to 1734. (the first five are recorded at Gwynedd, before the establishment of the Oley monthly meeting.) William married Sarah Lincoln, 1748.

Besides this son George, the elder George Boone had, as stated above, seven children: including Squire, who m. Sarah Morgan, Mary, who m. John Webb, James who m. Mary Foulke, Joseph, Benjamin, and two others. Squire and Sarah Boone had nine children (perhaps more), recorded at Oley from 1724 to 1740. Of these Daniel, the Kentucky pioneer, was the fourth son and sixth child, and the meeting records give his birth, 8^th mo. (October) 22, 1734. I have no doubt that Squire Boone was in Berks county with the other members of his family, in 1720, or thereabout; and as he bought 250 acres of land in what is now Exeter township, in 1730, it is beyond reasonable question that his son Daniel was born there in 1734. The various speculations as to the place of his birth, by which it is assigned to Bristol , Bucks county, and other places, seem to have no good foundation.

Squire Boone was one of the trustees of the property of Oley meeting, in 1736, showing both his substantial character and Quaker affiliations, at that date. But he is said to have been disowned in 1748 for countenancing the "disorderly" marriage of his son Israel, the previous year. A little later it was that he removed his family to North Carolina, settling at Holomant ford, on the river Yadkin. From there, after he grew to manhood, Daniel Boone went over into Kentucky , and entered upon his famous career as the explorer and pioneer settler of that state.

[Note 1: James Boone's Bible says: "They left Exeter on the 1^st day of May, 1750."]

[Note 2: Among the papers of my grandfather, Chas. F. Jenkins, I find this letter from Absolom Thomas, Washington Town, Mason Co., Kentucky: "Respected Friend: --I expect thee art ready to conclude that I have forgot thee being so far off, but thee may rest ashured that I have not. I often think of the many agreeable hours we spent in conversation and sociability, which distance now deprives us of. But no more Introduction --I proceed to give thee a little sketch of the times. After my being disappointed in getting my land from Col. Boon, as probably thee may have heard before now, which lay'd me under the necessity of following my trade. Since I came to this place and after three months paying for my board and washing, I made an acquaintance with a young woman which after a while I married, and now I live in as much harmony with her I flatter myself as ever man and wife did and find the matrimonial life far more agreeable than I ever expected to. I have told thee what I have done, I will inform you of what I am doing. I have taken a five acre lot to put corn in to the shares, my share will be two-thirds of the crop, which if the season proves favorable I expect an Hundred and Seventy Bushels of Corn. Here is great encouragement for farmers, much more than for mechancks. I must stop wrighting for I have no more room and paper is scarce in this town. May 10^th, 1790 , signed Absolom Thomas.

A memorandum on the letter say A.T. was the first cousin of Margaret Foulke (dau. of Theophilus, afterward wife of Cadwallader, the surveyor), to whom the letter was addressed. "He was one of the pioneers of Kentucky, and left Richland to seek his future under the celebrated Col. Daniel Boone."]

The Lincolns were an Oley family, some of them Friends. They intermarried repeatedly with the Boones, and were connected also with the Foulkes. But they had only a slight, if any, connection with Gwynedd, as the monthly meeting at Oley was established soon after Mordecai Lincoln, the first of the name in that neighborhood, arrived there. He, it is said, was born in Massachusetts, removed to New Jersey, bought lands there in 1720, and again removed, before 1735, to the Oley establishment. (His home was in Amity township.) He was probably twice married. He died between February 23, 1735, and June 7, 1736 (these being the dates of making and proving his will), leaving lands in New Jersey to his son John, and to his daughters Hannah, Mary, Ann, and Sarah; and the homestead lands in Amity to his sons Mordecai and Thomas. He also made provision for an expected child, and this, without doubt, was Abraham Lincoln (who d. 1806, aged 70), who married Ann Boone (daughter of Mary Foulke). John, the eldest son, --a half brother only of Abraham, who was by the second wife, --was the direct ancestor of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States. He, John, sold his Jersey land in 1748, and about 1750 removed southward, going ultimately to Rockingham county, Virginia, where he settled. His son Abraham went over into Kentucky in 1782, but was killed there two years later, by the Indians. He and Daniel Boone were no doubt well acquainted. Daniel at least twice (October, 1781, and February 1788) returned to visit his relatives in Berks county, and he would naturally enough have passed through Virginia , and tarried with his neighbors and kinsfolk, the Lincolns of Rockingham county.

Abraham Lincoln, who was killed in 1784, in an Indian fight (in which his son Mordecai, a boy of 14, killed one of the Indians), had three sons: Mordecai, Josiah, and Thomas. The President was the son of the last named.

It will be observed that the removal of Squire Boone and his family to North Carolina, and of the Lincolns to Virginia was at about the same period --1750. There was, at that time, an extensive migration to the Southern States from the settlements in Eastern Pennsylvania . It was a very interesting movement, and the history of it would be well worth following in detail. With it, besides the Boones and Lincolns, went another family, the Hanks, and these were more closely connected with Gwynedd than either of the others. The precise name of the head of the Hank family who thus removed, is uncertain, but Mr. David J. Lincoln, of Birdsboro, Berks county, in a letter to me, September 1883, thinks it was John, and says: "He lived on the Perkomen turnpike, six miles east of Reading, in Exeter township, and within half a mile of Mordecai Lincoln, great-great-grandfather of the President. This John Hank, with John and Benjamin Lincoln, moved to Fayette county, and from there Mr. Hank moved southward."

As to a removal, first, to Fayette county, I do not know; but as has already been noted, John Hank was in Rockingham county, Virginia, at least as early as 1787, when his daughter Hannah married Asa Lupton. That this John was the one described by Mr. Lincoln is probable, or he may have been a son of the Berks county man, for the latter was in all probability the same John Hank who was born 1712, the son of the Whitemarsh yeoman and Sarah Evans, of Gwynedd.

[H.M. Jenkins note, 1897: John Hanke, of Whitemarsh, m. Sarah Evans, of Gwynedd, dau. of Cadwallader, the immigrant. She, after his death, m. Thomas Williams. It was the daughter of John and Sarah, Jane Hank, who was the wife of John Roberts, of Whitpain, and the mother of Squire Job Roberts]

Thomas Lincoln of Kentucky married, for his first wife, Nancy Hank. The tradition was that her family were from Virginia . She was a tall woman, above middle height, with black hair, little educated, but of marked character, and a mind naturally intelligent and vigorous. Her experience in the rude frontier life was hard. The glimpses we get of her in the biography of her great son are somber, and probably to her the President owed that underlying element of sad thoughtfulness in his nature, always so apparent, and so in contrast with the humorous surface traits that perhaps came from his father. Nancy Hank, I have little doubt, was a descendant of that John who was in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1787. Her family name was English, but her black hair we may believe she had from the Welsh blood of her ancestress Sarah Evans, of Gwynedd.

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2004, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 Editor's note: Since the documentation from Nancy Hanks' cousins and stepmother was not found in an internet search we have put some letters and statements from them to William H. Herndon on the Gwynedd web site. Since then, the University of Illinois has put all of Herndon's Informant on-line. The ancestry of Nancy Hanks Lincoln remains a controversial subject to this day that can only be solved through DNA analysis, particularly maternal lines via mitochondrial DNA. So far, DNA testing of the y chromosome of descendants of John "the Rail splitter" Hanks' line shows it to be the same as some, but not all, Richmond Co., Virginia Hanks lines and similar to the Maryland William "the Quaker" Hanks (m. Ruth) of West River MM (though there are two markers, Y-GATA-H4 and DYS 576 that distinguish the Virginia and Maryland lines.) No one from the Gwynedd MM line has yet been tested. DNA results can be found at http://www.familytreedna.com/public/HanksDNAProject/default.aspx?section=ycolorized and kit 21548 is the line of Lincoln's cousins.

From the statements of the cousins of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the only thing that can be said with any conviction is that Nancy's mother was named Lucy Hanks, and is the same one that married Henry Sparrow in Mercer Co., KY on April 03, 1791 (Dennis Hanks names Lucy as Nancy's mother and John Hanks says Henry Sparrow was his uncle. see links for theories b, d and k below for more). This marriage to Henry Sparrow occurred 7 years after Nancy was born according to a Bible record in Lincoln's handwriting that says his mother Nancy was born on February 05, 1784. On 24 Nov 1789, a Mercer Co., KY jury presented a charge of fornication against Lucy Hanks. This case was not brought to trial due to her taking out a marriage license to Henry Sparrow. A second illegitimate daughter Sarah Hanks was born in 1789, before the marriage to Henry Sparrow and is probably a cause of the indictment. Lincoln, according to Herndon, his law partner, told him that Nancy's father was a Virginia gentleman. Henry Sparrow, who is likely the son of James Wright Sparrow of Mecklenburg Co., VA, does not fit this description, as this James, left his oldest son Henry only 100 acres of land. After his marriage to Lucy Hanks, Henry Sparrow lived on 71 acres adjacent to John Berry, son of Richard Berry and Rachel Shipley and adjacent to Robert Mitchell, the father in law of John Berry. This same John Berry (m. Ann Mitchell) was on the grand jury that indicted Lucy Hanks for fornication and signed marriage documents for Lucy Hanks testifying that she was 21 years old (along with Robert Mitchell.) Curiously Lucy Hanks writes a hand written note on her marriage license, though her father, Joseph Hanks, signs with an X on his will. Lucy Hanks appears to have been left behind in Mercer County with Nancy when the rest of the Joseph Hanks family moves west to what is now Nelson County, Kentucky. About the time that John Berry dies (1795) is the time that Sarah Mitchell Thompson told her granddaughter Charlotte Hobart Vawter that Nancy Hanks moved from Mercer County where here mother and step-father lived to Washington County where Richard Berry and his sons lived.

Lucy had the following siblings: (1) Nancy m. October 18, 1802, Green Co., KY, to Levi Hall (mother of Dennis with Charles Friend, who had been born 1799, out of wedlock). (2) William m. September 12, 1793, Nelson Co., KY, Elizabeth Hall (parents of John Hanks the rail splitter). Because this wedding occurred in Nelson County, it is commonly supposed that William is the son of Joseph Hanks and Nannie who left a will in Nelson County (will book A, p. 102 dated 8 Jan 1793, and probated 14 May 1793) naming children Thomas (who did not remove to Kentucky but stayed in Hampshire Co., VA then removed to Ohio), Joshua, William, Charles (who went to Louisiana and names his parents Joseph Hanks and Ann Lee in the parish registry there when he is married), Joseph (who went back to Virginia with his mother Ann [Lee] Hanks), Elizabeth, Polly, and Nancy. However, this Joseph names no daughter Lucy. (3) Elizabeth Hanks m. October 17, 1796, Mercer Co., Thomas Sparrow also in Spencer Co., IN. with the Lincolns. This couple died of milk sickness 28 Sep 1818 with Lincoln's mother. Elizabeth and Thomas Sparrow had adopted Dennis Hanks, and after they died Dennis moved in with the Thomas Lincoln family.

After the death of Joseph Hanks in 1793 his family disperses. His wife, who inherited everything by the will, sells the farm and with son Joseph returns to eastern Virginia. Son William moves to his newly married wife's family farm. Charles goes to Louisiana. Nancy, who is perhaps nine years old when her father dies, is left in Kentucky when her mother leaves and takes up a few years later with Charles Friend. Elizabeth goes to Mercer County apparently where her sister Lucy lives. The Joseph Hanks farm was on the Nelson County side of the the Rolling Fork of the Salt River, which is the modern boundary between Nelson and Larue. The Henry Sparrow and John Berry farms were near the village of Mitchellsburg in what is now Boyle County (then Mercer.)

The documentation leads one to speculate that this is the family of orphaned Hanks children, left to fend for themselves in Mercer County, Kentucky about 1783. However, the links to Joseph Hanks (will in Nelson county 1793) are convincing when combined with the statements of Dennis and John Hanks to Herndon (see theories b and d below). Ascribing this line to Richmond Co., VA, a la Paul Verduin is consistent with the DNA evidence as we have it (though the Pennsylvania line has not been tested.) The Pennsylvania Quaker line is apparently from Derbyshire, England (Breach Meeting) and the name Luke Hanks is used by Derbyshire Quakers and by one of the Richmond Co., Virginia lines (the one with y DNA similar to the John "the Rail-splitter" line.)

It appears likely that Nancy Hanks, mother of the President, was raised by Richard and Rachel (Shipley) Berry of Washington Co., Kentucky, from about 1795 on based on (1) the fact that Richard Berry Jr. (son of Richard and Rachel) signed the marriage bonds of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks and put the word "Garden" [i.e. Guardian] below his name [where traditionally a relative of the bride signs] combined with (2) a letter written by a great-great niece of Richard Berry (Charlotte Hobart Vawter [born 1825]) reproduced in the Louisville Courier-Journal in 1874 said that this was the case as told her by her grandmother, and [3] John Berry and Robert Mitchell signed as a witness on the marriage documents of Lucy Hanks, mother of Nancy Hanks. These two marriage documents, plus the Mercer County grand jury are, in fact, about the only documents existing for Lucy and Nancy in the late 1700s and the Berrys are involved in all three of them. There is no real evidence, yet, that Lucy Hanks (Nancy's mother) was a relative of the Berry or Shipley family, other than the recollections of Mrs. Vawter. Mrs. Vawter named no names and got things second hand from her grandmother (Sarah Mitchell Thompson) who was long dead when Mrs. Vawter wrote her letter to the editor. It is possible, though, that Nancy Hanks father was related to the Berrys, Mitchells or Shipleys, since no one knows who he is, which would make Nancy Hanks a "cousin" of Sarah Mitchell Thompson. The Berrys and Shipleys fit Lincoln's description of his maternal grandfather (a well-to-do Virginian) to some degree (they are descended from well-to-do slave owning Maryland plantation owners, had migrated from Maryland to Virginia, and owned slaves and over a thousand acres in Mercer and Washington Counties, Kentucky.) However, Paul Verduin's speculaton that Nancy was born in Richmond Co., VA and was perhaps the daughter of wealthy plantation owner there is just as likely.

Numerous theories about the ancestry of Nancy Hanks have been proposed. However, recent mitochondrial DNA testing shows fairly conclusively that Nancy is the daughter of Lucy Hanks and an unknown father. Her mother had a second daughter named Sally who was also born before Lucy married Henry Sparrow. A summary shows that descendants of Henry and Lucy Sparrow have the same mtDNA as descendants of Nancy Hanks Hall and Mary Hanks Friend, who are children of Joseph and Ann Hanks of Nelson County Kentucky. Thus the genealogy outlined by Paul Verduin is probably correct. There is no match for the mtDNA of Naomi Shipley Mitchell or Rachel Shipley Berry, so Lucy was not a Shipley. The mtDNA match also proves Lucy (and Nancy mother of the President) was born a Hanks of a very specific Hanks family (not, for instance, the one proposed by the Hanks genealogist Adin Baber, or the one proposed by Sturgill, or one of the North Carolina Hanks.) Since the Y DNA of this Hanks matches a line from Richmond County, Virginia (descendants of William Hanks, father of John the "Rail-Splitter.") this is where this line of Hanks originated from. Thus,DNA has solved the origin of Nancy Hanks' mother's line, solving one of American genealogy's bigger mysteries. It also means that it is very unlikely that the Berks Co., PA line is a direct ancestor of Nancy Hanks, mother of the president (disproving what Howard Jenkins speculated on above.) A well-written summary of the Nancy Hanks controversy has appeared in Wikipedia.

James Quinn, Gwynedd Monthly Meeting

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In addition here are the Quaker records from Gwynedd, Exeter, Hopewell (VA), Crooked Run (VA) and elsewhere for the Hanks family as found in William Wade Hinshaw's card catalog at the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College and his Encyclopedia of Amercian Quaker Genealogy Volumes 2 and 6.

p. 140-1, 1754-5-30 Joseph Hank, received on certificate from Gwynedd MM

p. 145-1, 1754-9-26 Joseph Hank, disowned for marriage out of unity

Note: Last found on Berks Co., PA tax records in 1779.

Gwynedd Monthly Meeting, Pennsylvania

P 37-1, John Hank, and wife Sarah [Evans] ch: John b. 9-20-1712; Jane b. 8-12-1714 d. 10-7-1762, Eliz. b. 11-28-1716; Wm b. 1719; Wm b. 9-12-1720; Samuel b. 1-15-1723; Joseph b. 1725; Sarah b. 8-8-1728

P 38-1, John Hank and wife Margaret; children: Jane d: 6-9-1745; Joshua d. 5-31-1758

P 39-2 , 1750-5-31 John Hank and wife got certificate to Richland MM

P 381-2, 1763-12-27 John Hank, disowned for disunity

P 24-2, 1768-1-26 John Hank, disowned for disunity

P 42-3, 1768-8-30, Caleb Hank, offered an account for Marriage contrary to discipline

p. 170-3, 1774-2-22 Margaret Hank, and daughters, Susanna, Eleanor, Margaret and Hannah: got a certificate to Hopewell (Va) MM

Philadelphia Monthly Meeting

John Hank received on certificate from Darby MM dated 1734, 5, 3.

1737, 6, 26. John Hank got certificate to Burlington MM to marry.

NEW JERSEY

Evesham Monthly Meeting, New Jersey

p. 6-1, John Hank, son of John & Rebekah, b. 6-17-1747

p. 153-1, 1767-7-9 John Hank, got certificate to Burlington MM

Haddonfield MM, New Jersey

p. 153-1, 1730-6-10 John Hank, received on certificate from Breach MM Derby Co., Great Britain

p. 170-1, 1731-10-13 John Hank, granted certificate to Derby(Pa) MM

p. 373-2, 1757-10-10 John Hank and wife Hannah [should read Rebecca?] & daughter Hannah; received on certificate from Burlington (NJ) MM dated 8-1-1757

p. 428-2, 1760-3-10 John Hank granted certificate to Burlington (NJ) MM

VIRGINIA (from Hinshaw's Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy)

Hopewell MM

1777,6,2, Margrat & daughter Susannah, Elenor, Hannah & Margret, received on certificate from Gwynedd MM, dated 1774,2,22

1777,12,1. Susannah Bryan (form Hank) reported married out of unity; disowned

1778,2,2. Elleanor disowned

1779,4,5. Margaret, daughter Margaret, reported married out of unity

1781,5,31. Margaret widow, disowned for disunity (when first comdemned 5-1779, her daughters Margaret & Hannah, are also comdemned for non-attendance; Margaret disowned marriage out of unity; no further mention of Hannah)

1784,3,1. Hannah Hank recieved on certificate from Crooked Run MM, dtd 1784,2,28

Crooked Run MM

1783,11,29 John Hank, received in membership on request

1784,2,28 Hannah Hank, granted certificate to Hopewell MM

1792,5,5 John Hank, granted certificate to Westland MM

Thomas Holme's Map of Pennsylvania, 1687

J. Hank owns land adjoining the west edge of Newtown, Chester County, PA.

Will Abstracts, Philadelphia County:

1. John HANK, Whitemarsh township, Co. of Philadelphia. Yeoman. December 12, 1730/1 (wonder if Feb 1730/1). Proved May 31, 1731. Philadelphia Co. Book E.158.
Wife: Sarah. Children: John, William, Samuel, Joseph, Jane, Elizabeth, Sarah. Cousin: John Hank.
Exec: Sarah Hank.
Trustees: John Evans, Thomas Evans, Jonathan Robeson.
Wit: Isaac Williams, William Trotter, David Davies.

note: mention of cousin John Hank is interesting. This could be the John Hank of Breach, Haddonfield, Darby, Philadelphia, Burlington and Evesham MM. If so, John Hank of Whitemarsh is of the Derbyshire, England Hank family.

2. A John Hank witnessed the will of Robert Parry of Philadelphia in 1738.

3. Joseph Hanks (yes there was an s at the end) witnessed the will of John Edwards of Montgomery township, Philadelphia County in 1748.

4. Anne Hanks witnessed the will of Oliver Williams of Philadelphia on March 13, 1749/50.

Source for will abstracts: Philadelphia PAGenWeb Archives

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