The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-11-12


The eastern reader cannot realize as we
do the environment of the Lincolns, the
Hanks and the Sparrows in lS20-30 We
see az in vision the great dense forests
which had so much to do in deepening their
native superstition; the wild beasts in war
with which they acquired Il sort of dcstruc-
tive activity: the noXious insects swarming
in the air. and poisonous reptiles lurking
i'll the grass, which, unknown to them,
seriously affected their theology: the dread
full malaria, and the still more dreaded
milk sickness.
Dennis +. Hanks was born on the south
fork of Nolin'S creek, three miles south
east of the present Hodgensvillc, Harden
county Ky, May Is. 1899 1t is scarcely
possible to eNaggerate the rudeness of the
society of that time and locality or the
primitive character of the people. and
there is an overa bundance of testimony
that the two families so strangely CON
nected and eventually SO famous were
below rather than above the average. If
there is any spirit of art or refinement in
people it is most apt to show in their re.
ligion. and if Peter Cartwright and others
of that day can be believed the popular
religion of that day and place was sort
of rude frenzy. In other respects there
was a wild freedom which often resulted
In evil OF one case of such unrestrained
social freedom Dennis Hanks was Il non
| legal result.
The Genoese. in their age of extreme
piety erected u hospital especially for
those To whom, in their complicated Italian
phrase. had not been granted the bcnc-
diction OF a fathers smile" 1t is pain
fully certain that Dennis and his Cousin
Nancy. mother of Abraham Lincoln, were
OF that class Their mothers had been
known simply the Hanks girls" and
were described as -'uncommonly smart and
mighty fond of tending camp meetings
and such" or course both these waits
| took their mothers family name. Lin
| coins mother was born in Virginia. John
Hanks, another relative, was Il son of that
Thomas Hanks in whose shop, at Eliza
BEETHOVEN, Ky. Thomas Lincoln learned
| the carpenters trade
| All the testimony indicates that the
family were of the class known as ''poor
| whites" 1t all emphasizes the great fact
| that Abraham Lincoln was Il man apart
| from his kind, an exception quite us re-
| markable as Shakespeare one not to be
numbered among his people. and it re
| quires no great power of religious imagi-
nation to believe that he was raised up
| for the work he did 1t is IL fact worth
| noting that in the only biography Lincoln
| ever wrote he does not give the maiden or
| Christian name of his mother and gives
| but three lines to her family. The genial
| and communicative Dennis Hanks has
| told US nearly all we know about his race
The first dozen years or SO of his life are
n historic blank. His mother married
Thomas Sparrow, and her sister married
| Henry Sparrow, the result of these unions
being that Nancy Hanks, mother of the
| president at an early age went to live with
| Thomas Sparrow, and thus she and Dennis
passed several years under the same roof
| The story that Dennis saved the life OF
Lincoln In Kentucky is an error. The man
! who did the nation that Kindness was Aus.
| tin Gollaher, of lIodgcnsville, and he was
| still living ut last accounts. Dennis next
| appears i'll history at the age of eighteen
when he reached the Lincoln home in In.
| diana. became n neighbor and in no long
time champion of young Abraham The
two families worked together, aided each
other and shared their little fortunes in IL
sort of frontier communism, and very nat
| urally Dennis became the tutor of his
| younger relative i'll all sorts of woodcraft.
| In 1878 the great calamity fell OH those
simple people, There is generally much
sickness in settling a new country, but
that in Indiana was probably worse than
| in any other state.
According to all accounts, and confirmed
by our observations in later years, people
who got through the winter Sin any kind
| of condition" usually enjoyed good health
az long as the vegetation was growing,
| but when 1.-THE turn of the season came
on" in August the pioneers fell in all d.
rections. Travellers through southern In
diana at that time relate that they would
| often call in succession ut half dozen
houses before finding one where any one
| was able to even prepare good meal for
chance conner. After three to five years of
this sort of thing many constitutions were
80 weakened that the next winter brought
death. Dennis told us OF an af1iiction
known as the "cold plague" meaning
probably those dreadful congestive chils
which sometimes BILLED the victim in three
hours.
On top of this came the dreaded milk
sickness and 1.-The tribe" as people good
naturally called such family association,
was decimated. Thomas Sparrow and
wife died almost at the same time Abra-
ham l-incoln's mother soon followed. IS
fact the whole vicinity was terribly
scourged. \ year later Thomas Lincoln