Daughter of Samuel George Read and Elizabeth Georgina Quilley

Married - Ephraim Knowlton Hanks, 5 Apr 1862, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Children - Ella Mariam Hanks, Walter Ernest Hanks, Martha Georgenia Hanks, Amy Alicia Hanks, Thisbe Hanks, Knowlton Hanks, Sidney Alvarus Hanks, Raymond Elijah Hanks, Lillie Maria Hanks, Arthur Eugene Hanks, Nettie May Hanks, Clara Ellen Hanks

History - Member of the Martin Handcart Company of 1856. Sailed on the ship Horizon with family - Samuel George Read, Elizabeth Georgina Quilley Read, Alicia Quilley Read, Samuel Milford Read & Walter Pyramus Read. Thisbe's sister, Clara Quilley Read, sailed to Sydney, Australia instead of traveling with her immediate family to America.

OBITUARY - Caineville, Mrs. Ephraim K. Hanks Dead, Wife of Noted Pioneer and Frontiersman Laid to Rest.

Special Correspondance. Caineville, Wayne Co., July 25 - Another faithful one has gone from our midst. Mrs. Thisbe Q. Hanks, wife of Ephraim Knowlton Hanks, and daughter of the late Samuel G. Read and Elizabeth Georgina Quilley, died July 23. She was born in London, April 26, 1847; crossed the plains with her parents in the handcart company led by Daniel Tyler, and has passed through all the hardships incident to pioneer life, since that time and stood shoulder to shoulder with him in all his trials, rearing a large family of children who are a credit to any mother, nine of whom survive her. All who knew her loved her for her sterling worth and her faithful example. She was stake aide to the Y.L.M.I.A. and first counselor in the ward Relief society presidency. Her death came as a thunderbolt; no one looked for it, as she had been ill but 48 hours, suffering from acute Bright's disease. her funeral was held today and was largely attended. Crops look well. Grain harvesting has begun. The second crop of hay is being cut.

SOURCE: Deseret Evening News, Saturday, August 1, 1903, Film #0026955.

OBITUARY - Another Pioneer Dead. Notom, July 27 - Mrs. Thisbey Hanks died very suddenly Thursday morning. Mrs. Hanks went to her ranch on Pleasant creek to help her daughter, Clara, cook for the harvest hands. She had only been there a week when taken suddenly ill, and her son, Walter Hanks, who is bishop of Cainesville, was summoned to her bedside. They were preparing to take her to her home in Cainesville when she died.

Mrs. Hanks was one of the first pioneers of this part of the county. She was the second {sic] wife of Ephraim Hanks, so well known in the early history of Utah, who died at the same ranch six years ago. Mrs. Hanks was 61 years old, of a kindly, dignified disposition, beloved by all who knew her for her kind, motherly feeling toward all. She leaves four sons and three daughters to mourn her loss. The funeral occurred Saturday afternoon.

SOURCE - Ogden Standard Examiner 1903-07-28 News of the State.

Family History - While crossing the plains, Thisbe's youngest brother, Walter Pyramus Read, became separated from the Martin Handcart Company. Thisbe's father, Samuel George, and brother, Samuel Milford, stayed behind and traveled back to Iowa to locate Walter with the agreement that they would catch up with the group. Her mother, Elizabeth Georgina, and sister, Alicia, as well as Thisbe stayed with the handcarters. Too much time passed in finding Walter and the three male Read members remained in Iowa. The female Read members arrived safely into the Salt Lake Valley. Mother Read learned of the safety of her stranded family members. Elizabeth Georgina and Thisbe Read traveled back to Iowa to visit while Alicia remained in Salt Lake City under the care of Brigham Young. Once in Iowa they needed to secure enough money to travel again. Samuel George arrived in Utah in 1859 as he and Elizabeth Georgina had decided to separate permanently. In 1861, Thisbe, Georgina and Walter traveled in the Ansil Perse Harmon wagon train to Utah again. Samuel Milford arrived in Utah in 1862.

1860 Census - Thisbe Read
Residence: , Pottawattamie, Iowa
Ward: 1st Ward Council Bhoffs
Age: 15 years
Estimated Birth Year: 1845
Birthplace: England
Gender: Female
Page: 4
Family Number: 23
Film Number: 803338
DGS Number: 4230550
Image Number: 00310

Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, Edward Martin Company (1856), Age at Departure: 11; Joseph W. Young/Ansil P. Harmon/Heber P. Kimball Company (1861), Age at Departure: 16

Sources:

"Mrs. Ephraim K. Hanks Dead," Deseret Evening News, 1 Aug. 1903, 7.

"Read, Walter Pyrimus," [Biographical sketch], in Andrew Jenson, comp., Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia [1971], 2:494.

"Samuel George Read and His Family," in Treasures of Pioneer History, 6 vols. [1952-57], 5:269-70.