The Reproduction
AT LAST! The reproductions of the 1883 White County Illinois History have arrived.
They will be available for sale at the Genealogy Library on Wednesdays for $80.
We will mail them anywhere in the U.S. for $85.
They contain more than 14,000 names, so an index is a must. Indexes are available for a time at $15.
Write us at
PO Box l21,
Carmi IL 6282l;
or call
Janet Armstrong
at
1-618-382-7105.
Two prior columns have contained an account of Andrew Jackson Hanks. Back in 1967, Vincent Kallenbach researched the story of this man by interviewing descendants and delving into records.
Last week, there was a listing of the credit customers who used Mr. Hanks' ferry and mention of his boarding house.
Today appears the conclusion of the A.J. Hanks story, as condensed from Kallenbach's account.
Sometime during the 1850s, Frances Hanks died of pneumonia.
She was 58. In 1859, A.J. Hanks married Mary Ann Hogue.
She was only a year or so older than Mr. Hanks' daughter, also named Mary Ann.
A.J. and Mary Ann Hanks had two children: Frances and Andrew David.
On Nov. 23, 1866, A.J. Hanks had taken someone across the ferry with a wagon load of apples.
When the next ferry customer came, he located the ferry boat drifting down the river.
Anxious neighbors found Mr. Hanks' body downstream.
Much mystery surrounded this event, as Mr. Hanks was known to have been a powerful swimmer.
Thus ended the life of Tennessee-born Andrew Jackson Hanks, who came at an early age to Illinois, living first in the more southern area with his parents before coming as far north as White County.
It is believed he first taught school in New Haven.
However, it is known he was teaching in White County by 1831.
A math textbook, which Mr. Hanks wrote out in beautiful Spencerian script, is in the possession of his great-great-granddaughter, Maxine Grimwood, of Crossville.
This is quoted directly from Kallenbach's report: Andrew Jackson Hanks was buried on the high bluff overlooking the spot where for so many years he had operated his ferry, and only a few yards from his home.
This Riverside Cemetery today is a quiet and beautiful place, standing high above the murmuring stream.
The old abandoned roadway today is only a deep scar across the brow of the hill leading down to the river.
A few years after the tragic event, the ferry was replaced by a bridge.
This bridge has been known now for a hundred years as the Hanks Ferry Bridge.
Thus, Andrew Jackson Hanks left his name stamped indelibly on that part of White County.
We continue to be comfortably busy with letters and visitors to our Genealogy Library. We're open from 11 to 5 on Wednesdays. Come join us.
Posted with permission from
THE CARMI TIMES
and CHARLENE SHIELDS
Return To~~ White County Historical Society Library~~by Charlene Shields
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