Will the real Nancy Hanks Lincoln please stand up?

Who was the Nancy Hanks who married Thomas Lincoln and became the mother of our 16th President Abraham Lincoln?

Generation after generation of Hanks researchers, historians, writers, etc. have tried to answer that question.

Was she the daughter of Lucy Hanks, grand daughter of Joseph Hanks and Ann (Lee/Shipley?)

Was she the daughter of Abraham Hanks (brother of the above Joseph) and Sarah Harper?

Was she the daughter of James Hanks (also brother of Joseph and Abraham) and wife?

Below are some of the Nancy Hanks who bere born in America between 1780 and 1866.

This list should help rule out many candidates who could not possibly be the real Nancy Hanks Lincoln.

Sources for this list are: "The Hanks Family of Virginia & Westward" - Adin Baber, 1965, Lincoln's Youth - Indiana Years - Louis A.Warren, James Hanks families ofWilkes Co., NC - Johnsie Brown - 2000

Nancy Hanks - Barbara Baber - January 1995 Hanks Historical Review. Ron Hanks, Decatur, Illinois. Jack Key, Muskogee, Oklahoma. If you know of any Nancy Hanks born in this time period and would like to add them to this list, please email us at rbaber@cinci.rr.com

1. Nancy Hanks b. 1784, Granville Co., NC (Pro Rec) dau of Argyle Hanks (son of William III) and Frances Hargrave (2nd wife). This Nancy died before she was twenty. Estate probated 1804.

2. Nancy Hanks b. 1780, dau of Mott Hanks (son of John).

3. Nancy Hanks b. ca 1800 Rutherford Co., NC dau of William Hanks (son of Richard, Sr.). This is the Nancy who resided in the household of Abraham Enloe in Rutherford Co. NC

4. Nancy Hanks b. ? dau of Joshua Hanks and Ruth Bryant. Married Geo. Moore (Hitchcock Charts). They went to Georgia.

5. Nancy Hanks b. July 25, 1805 dau of Richard Hanks II (son of Richard) and Phebe Hayes.

6. Nancy Hanks b.? dau of John Hanks (son of Elijah) and Jane Armstrong. This Nancy married John Holt 4-8-1828. Migrated to Missouri.

7. Nancy L. Hanks b. Feb. 7, 1822 dau of Joshua Hanks (son of John) and Hester Gatlin. Married Bryant Roach in Davidson Co., TN

8. Nancy Hanks b. Dec. 30, 1812 dau of Joshua Hanks (son of Richard). Married Willis Morris. Buried on old Morris farm near Sunbright TN.

8. Nancy Hanks ? dau of Joshua Hanks (son of Joshua) and Rosamond Carrico.

9. Nancy Ann Hanks b. July 25, 1805 - dau of Richard Hanks, Jr. Married Luke Brown, Sept. 12, 1821. Marriage bond signed by Richard Hanks, Jr. and Samuel McKee, Lincoln Co. N.C.

10. Nancy Caroline Hanks b. June 8, 1860 dau of Robert Mansfield Hanks (son of Joshua) married Thomas B. Jennings Oct. 9, 1894.

11. Nancy Hanks b.1830 dau of Howell Gilliam Hanks & Rebecca Smith. She was 20 years old in the 1850 census.

12. Nancy Hanks b. 1808 dau of John Hanks. Married Holt.

13. Nancy Ann Hanks dau of James Hanks(son of William).

14. Nancy Hanks b. 1768 dau of Luke Hanks II.

15. Nancy Hanks b. 1784 dau of Joseph Hanks, son of Luke I. Married Levi Hall. They were the parents of several children. (This is the Nancy that Caroline Hanks Hitchcock named as the Nancy that married Thomas Lincoln in her book "Nancy Hanks, the story of Abraham Lincoln's mother"-1899)

16. Nancy Hanks b? dau of Luke Hanks I - married _____ South. (This Nancy is also believed to be the Nancy that married

Thomas Lincoln. That she married a man named South is proved by

the probate record of her mothers estate.)

17. Nancy Hanks b? dau of Thomas Hanks son of Joseph.

18. Nancy Hanks b. 1784 in Virginia dau of Abraham Hanks and Sarah Harper. Married Thomas Lincoln and was the mother of

Abraham Lincoln.

19. Nancy Hanks b. 1784 dau of William Hanks, son of

Joseph.

20. Nancy Hanks b. 1818 dau of Joseph Hanks, Jr.

married William Hoosier.

21. Nancy Ann Hanks b. ? dau of George Hanks, son of

Turner.

22. Nancy Hanks b? dau of Thomas Hanks, son of James.

23. Nancy Hanks b 1800 in North Carolina, dau of Luke

Hanks of Tennessee, son of Abraham. Married Peter

French.

24. Nancy W. Hanks b. 1864 dau of Thomas J. Hanks,

son of Elijah Hanks, married Joseph Chaffin.

25. Nancy Emaline Hanks b. 1824 dau Elijah Hanks, son of

Moses Hanks.

26. Nancy Hanks b. ? dau of Thomas, son of Luke Hanks III, married Thomas Taylor. She was his second wife.

27. Nancy Hanks b. 1821 dau of James Hanks, son of William. Married 1. Abraham Miller, 2. Andrew Muirhead.

28. Nancy Hanks b. 1825 dau of Charles Hanks, son of William. Married James T. Varner.

29. Nancy Melvina Hanks b. 1824 dau of Dennis Friend Hanks. Married James Shoaff.

30. Nancy Hanks b. 1850 dau of William Hanks, son of Thomas.

31. Nancy Hanks b. 1840 dau of James Hanks, son of Thomas.

32. Nancy Hanks b. 1834 dau of Thomas Jefferson Hanks.

33. Nancy Urbana Hanks b. 1856 dau of Cuthbert Million Hanks. Married Charles Sutherland Gray.

34. Nancy Hanks b. 1818 dau of Fielding Hanks. Married Allen Day.

35. Nancy Hanks b. 1832 dau of William Hanks, son of Sarah Hanks.

36. Nancy Hanks b. 1793/5 dau of George Hanks. Married John Fitzgerald.

37. Nancy Hanks b. 1766 Richmond Co. Va., dau of Thomas Hanks, son of John I.

38. Nancy Hanks b.? dau of Peter Hanks III, son of William the Quaker.

39. Nancy Hanks b. 1769 dau of William, son of William the Quaker.

40. Nancy Hanks b. 1851, Decatur, Ind., dau of John Melton Hanks. Married Carey L. Nelson.

41. Nancy Hanks b.? dau of Jonathan Hanks, son of William the Quaker. Married Peter Jones.

42. Nancy Hanks b. ca 1785 dau of Fleetwood Hanks, Sr. son of William of Bedford. Married 1. Enoch Holdron, 2. Francis G. DeMar.

43. Nancy Hanks b. 1845 dau of Horatio McMullen Hanks, son of Peter IV. Married Robert H. Jackson.

44. Nancy Hanks b. 1802 dau of James Hanks and Mary Starrett. Married Lambeth Blackburn.

45. Nancy S. Hanks b. 1844 dau of Nicholas A. Hanks & Kasinda Anderson. Married George A. Love. Buried in Marion Co., Il. (Phillips Cemetery, Omega Twp.) no children.

46. Nancy Jane Hanks b. 1867 d. 1934 dau of Fielding Hanks and Sarah Francis Gilmore. Buried in Atoka Co Oklahoma, nine children.

(more to be added later)