Died at sea and buried in the Atlantic Ocean, 21.34 N 26.11 W of Greenwich

Son of Benjamin Hanks and Martha Knowlton

Never married.

May 11, 1843 Joseph Smith calls President Noah Rogers, Addison Pratt, Benjamin F. Grouard, and Knowlton F. (sic) Hanks as the first LDS missionaries to travel from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Sandwich Islands.

Oct. 9, 1843 The Sandwich Islands-bound missionaries sail from Boston for Cape Horn and the Pacific ocean.

April 30, 1844, after nine months en route, and Elder Hanks' death at sea, the surviving missionaries arrive in Tubua'i, French Polynesia, and decide to remain in that area. They start the Church's first foreign-language mission in what is now generally called Tahiti.

DEATH: TAKEN FROM THE JOURNAL OF NOAH ROGERS

Having been set apart together with Addison Pratt, B. F. Grouard and Knowlton Hanks, to go to the South Sea Islands in order to fulfill our appointment, we made ourselves ready and took leave of our families and friends in Nauvoo on the first day of June 1843 about 2 o'clock in the day. We traveled by steam boat, rail and horse--preaching the Gospel along the way, meeting many friends and baptizing some. The 9th of October we went on board the ship "Timelion" and bid farewell to our friends. We got under way, the winds being South West we beat down below the lighthouses and came to anchor. Next morning got out to sea. Brother Hanks is very feeble and weak. There are eight passengers on board the ship besides ourselves. Dr. Winslow and wife and 3 children, a servant girl, Mr. Lincoln and wife, who have been very kind to us so far. We had some high seas so that they ran over our decks, winds were fair and it began to be more pleasant to me had not Brother Hanks been sick but such was the case, and he grew weaker all the while until the 3rd day of November. He [Hanks] departed this life without a struggle, about half past five in the morning. Before he died he had a vision of the spirits in prison. We laid him out, the same as on shore, and we sewed him up in a piece of canvass, and attached a bag of sand to his feet. The flag was displayed at half mast and there were prayers with other ceremonies as is common on such occasions. When the sailors hoisted one end of the plank he was committed to a watery grave. He [Hanks] died in Lat. 26 deg. Long. 27 deg. Otherwise we had a very speedy passage to the cape of Verds Islands.