Lincoln Cousin: Dennis Hanks

Betsey Johnston and Dennis Hanks

It was a complicated and sometimes confusing kinship.

Dennis Hanks: A Flotsam-Jetsam Childhood

Dennis Friend Hanks (1799-1892) was the illegitimate son of Nancy Hanks – an aunt of another Nancy Hanks, Lincoln’s mother.

Born in Hardin County, KY, a decade before his more famous relation, Dennis was raised by great-aunt, Elizabeth Sparrow and her husband Thomas. Since the Sparrows also helped raise Nancy Hanks (Lincoln’s mother, occasionally believed to be illegitimate as well), the family was closely connected. Once Nancy Hanks married Thomas Lincoln, they lived in proximity.

When the Lincolns moved to Indiana when Abe was around six, the Sparrows-plus-Dennis joined them. Three years later, the Sparrows died of the “milk sickness.” So did Nancy. Dennis Hanks, now nineteen, moved into the Lincoln cabin to help with the farm – and to look after the children, Abraham, aged nine and Sarah, aged eleven.

Managing…