THOMAS HANKS
Much has been said in different sketches regarding
the ox-wagon trip of pioneers from old states
to Texas. This extract from Mrs. Barrett's D.R.T.
papers may be found interesting:
"When Thomas Hanks came to Texas from
Nashville, Tennessee, in the spring of 1836, there
were twenty or thirty ox-wagons loaded with
families and all they possessed. They were three
months on the way. Had many hardships, broken
wagons, etc. They had to stop in Louisiana to
rest teams and get provisions. They crossed the
Mississippi River on a flat boat, one at a time, but
had to swim the Red River and the San Augustine
River, but landed all right. Their closest doctor was
at Nacogdoches, about forty miles distant, but they
made most of their medicine from roots and herbs."
To understand something of the hardships our
forefathers endured, one has but to consider a part
of the routine of living in a typical pioneer home.
In the first place, to prepare or to even procure the
food put upon the table required patient, persistent
toil. To make bread it was necessary to rub corn
between pieces of steel, or rocks, if one had corn if
not roots or bark must be found as a substitute.
To get meat one must kill a deer, a turkey, a bear,
or other wild game (which fortunately were all
plentiful), a'tld for sweets, tedious search must be
made for a "bee tree" for honey.
To raise crops clumsy wooded home-made plows
drawn by oxen, broke the ground, while the hoes
were also of wood. The clothes worn were made
of cotton grown on the farm, picked, spun into
thread, woven into cloth and cut and made by hand
at home. Goards were grown for many purposes, milk
pails, water buckets, and even for buttons to
fasten clothing.
Coffee was frequently made from parched
wheat, sweet potatoes and other things. Fortunately,
milk was generally plentiful. The first rude houses .
were constructed of logs, with dirt or puncheon
floors. The cracks between the logs were oftentimes
wide. One of Thomas Hanks' daughters,
Kizzie Hanks Colwell, would frequently find an
Indian in the early morning reaching his hand
through these cracks to play with her babies. An
experience of this same "Grandmother Cohvell" will
illustrate some of the more terrifying hardships
of the times. On one seven mile horseback ride to
her father's home, she saw nine bears by the roadside,
and one panther in a tree. The big cat sprang at
her, but her horse squatted and squealed, and the
panther went over her. She said the horse seemed
to go on wings the rest of that journey.
Another of her experiences was perhaps even
more hair raising. She was washing at the spring
when a notoriously bad Indian came and, picking
up her sleeping babe by the heel and motioning towards
a great oak near by said. "This how I kill
on war path. Bust brains out". The anguished
mother smiled. The braggart dropped the child and
went on his way.
Thomas Hanks remained a few years in Angelina
County, then came to Anderson where he remained,
preaching the gospel till death ended his
labors in 1857. His remains rest in old Antioch
Cemetery. Thomas Hanks was a picturesque character.
During the days of the Texas Republic he
married many couples. After Texas became a state,
be went to Nacogdoches, procured a license, then
proceeded to hunt up all his couples and marry
them again. Many laughable incidents occurred.
One "bride" was in the cow pen when the preacher
appeared with the astounding tidings that she must
go through another ceremony if she would be a
lawful wife. She washed her hands obediently.
but permitted one doubtful murmur to escape. "All
right, Daddy Hanks but I have a good notion not
to have Mr. Gilliland this time. I know too much
about him now."

Taken from; A Centennial History of Anderson County Texas
By; Pauline Buck Hohes
1936