Parents: Sydnor Hanks and Elizabeth Skidmore

Siblings: Elijah Hanks, Susan J. Hanks Spicer, Sarah Frances Hanks Smith, Matilda Hanks Wirey, James Hanks, Delilah Arene Hanks Vick, George Washington Hanks, and Joseph Newton Hanks

Wife: Amanda A. Craven (married 7 Jul 1880 Nashville, Brown Co., IN)

Children: Celia A. Hanks Myers, Maude Hanks Adams Curry, Silvia Newton Hanks, Emma Ellen Hanks Tuttle, Nellie Hanks Barnett, Katie Hanks Haas, Ethel Marie Hanks Douglas, William W. Hanks Sr., Loretta Fern Hanks Thompson, and Paul E. Hanks

Obituary: Arcola Record-Herald 6 Mar 1933
Funeral Rites for John Hanks Held Sunday Afternoon

Funeral services for John Hanks were conducted Sunday afternoon from the Pleasant Grove church with Rev. Petty, minister of the Methodist church at Newman in charge. Mr. Hanks passed away Friday morning at 3:40 o'clock, death being due to old age and a light stroke of paralysis.

John W. Hanks, son of Sidner and Elizabeth Hanks was born in Brown County Indiana April 14, 1856 where he grew to young manhood.

On July 7, 1880 at the age of 24 he was united in marriage to Amanda A. Craven of the same neighborhood.

The pioneering spirit, inherited no doubt from their immediate ancestors was strong in this young couple and they turned their faces westward hoping to build for themselves a home in the New West. Their first attempt was a farm near Arcola, but strange faces, the hardship and drudgery of the new land, the swamp and its attending evils were in such contract to the wooded hill homeland which like a mirage kept beckoning until they returned to its embrace.

Any yet again the horses were hitched to the covered wagon, again their steps were retraced and this time with a determination to overcome all odds, they began operations near Humboldt and from there to farms just east of Hindsboro, and it was here while living on the Margoson place they purchased the plot which for mostly forty years has been home, adding thereto as they say, by hard work and careful planning.

In this area ten children arrived to maturity, namely: Mrs. Henry Myers of Newman, Mrs. Edgar Curry, Mrs. Kenny Haas of Indianapolis, Sylvia of Aberdeen, Miss., Mrs. Bert Tuttle, Mrs. Ralph Douglas of Hindsboro, Mrs. Frank Barnett of Murdock, William of Champaign, Paul of Elkhart, Ind., and Mrs. Walter Thompson who has gone on leaving a little son to fill her place. There are also 32 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his wife and two brothers, Joseph and George of Forest, Okla.

Mr. Hanks was known far and wide as a man of his word, rigidly honest in his dealings with his fellow man, asking only what was due him and insisting the other be fully recompensed.

As he grew aged his concern was more and more to keep the home fires burning so that no matter how far away a child might get he could feel the warming welcome of the fireside, and how well they appreciated it is attested by the number and frequency of their gatherings.

Early in his young manhood days Mr. Hanks had a definite, clear cut experience in his religious life and often has related the details of that event and express the wish that he might come into it again. He departed this life March 3, being 76 years, 10 months and 19 days of age. Interment was made in the VanVoorhis cemetery.