John Hankins and Emily Sloan

JOHN HANKINS AND EMILY SLOAN

John Hankins was born 14 August, 1814 in Tennessee and died 27 September 1874 in Ray County, MO. He married Emily Sloan, daughter of Thomas Sloan and Lutitia Russell Sloan on 7th October 1835 in Bledsoe County, TN. Emily was born 1 May 1836 in Wilkes Co., NC and died 18 January 1894 in Ray County, MO.

John attended public school in Tennessee, after which he became a farmer.

Emily moved with her parents to Bledsoe Co., TN between 1830 and 1835.

After their marriage, John and Emily moved to the Sequatchie Valley of Marion County, TN. During the late summer or fall of 1850, John and Emily and their nine children moved to Ray Co., MO in an ox-drawn covered wagon. They arrived in the vicinity of what is now Rayville, MO in December of 1850.

John and his family remained in the vicinity during the remainder of the winter of 1850-51 and planted crops in the spring of 1851. After the fall harvest of 1851, they went back to TN where they spent the winter of 1851-52. While in TN their tenth child was born.

In the spring of 1852, John sold his holdings and once again moved to Ray County, MO, this time by horse-drawn covered wagon. John and his family settled into a three-room house one-half mile north of Rayville. John purchased the house and 80 acres of land from Samuel and Nancy Curtis on 24 Dec. 1852. On Dec 1 1858, he purchased 80 acres of adjoining land from the federal government.

After moving to Missouri, John and Emily had three more children.

On 28 August 1854, John and Emily's first born child died on his 18th birthday. He was buried in the Sanderson Cemetery, southwest of what is now Rayville, Ray County, MO.

John was a successful farmer until the Civil War. On 29 July 1862, John and a company of volunteers were enrolled into Union service as Company D, 51st Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia. John was appointed the rank of Captain and placed in command of Company D. Two of his sons as well as his brother-in-law, Henderson Sloan, served under him in Company D, as well as three men who would become his sons-in-law after the war. They were Calvin W. Narramore, his son Andrew J. Narramore and Andrew J. McGaugh.

At the close of the war, John returned to farming. He was a member of the Republican Party and became prominent in political affairs. He served as Justice of the Peace for several years as well as Postmaster of the Rayville Post Office from 4 Feb 1874 until his death.

He preceeded his wife in death by nearly 20 years, they are buried together at Todd's Chapel, south of Rayville, Ray County, MO.

NOTE THE FOREGOING INFORMATION IS BASED IN PART, ON A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THOMAS HANKINS WHICH CAN BE FOUND IN "A History of Northwest Missouri," EDITED BY WALTER WILLIAMS, VOL 2, PAGES 1256 THROUGH 1258, PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK IN 1915. THE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH CONTAINS A NUMBER OF ERRORS THAT HAVE BEEN CORRECTED IN THE ABOVE NARRATION.

All of the above written information was shared by Derrell Hankins, a new found cousin. Thank you Derell for sharing with us.

HOME BACK

http://www.alhn.org/