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Show i- . - I 1 ' . - t i i ? .. . . $ I On the right is Frank Ensign, 80, the oldest Hanks jncestor, at the reunion. With him is Teton Hanks ' jackman, geneologist. Hanks family history shared at reunion 1 By Barbara Ekker One hundred members . ,( the Ephraim Knowlton Hanks family was present i A (be reunion this week-al week-al They camped at Capitol Reef in their mobile units and toured He areas of Capitol Gorge, Floral Ranch, Caineville and enjoyed a meeting at the LDS Recreation Hall Sunday evening with films and stories by family members. mem-bers. Twenty seven members mem-bers of the Jane Capener femily were present, 7 family members of Harriet little and 35 members of 1 the Thisbe Read family j were present. Officers for the coming rear were selected and Donald Ensign, son of Frank Ensign (grandson of Harriet Decker Little) was elected President. Gloria Hanks Galloway (granddaughter of Arthur Hanks and daughter of Teton Hanks Jackman) was selected historian; Teton Hanks Jackman (granddaughter of Ephr-aim Ephr-aim Hanks and daughter of Arthur Hanks) is assistant assis-tant geneaologist to May Hanks Jensen granddaughter grand-daughter of Ephraim Hanks and daughter of Sidney Alveris Hanks. Frank Hyde Ensign, 80, was the oldest family member in attendance along with Nellie Hanks Rymer of Salt Lake. hphraim Knowlton Hanks was born in Madison Madi-son Lake, Ohio, March 21, ; 1826 to Benjamin and Martha Knowlton Hanks. The elder Hanks had his beginning in Malmsberry, England just twelve miles from London. Ben Hanks came to America on the Mayflower and made his home at Plymouth. Colonel Colo-nel Benjamin Hanks built his home on Hanks Hill at Mansfield, Conn, and owned and operated a foundry in which were cast cannons for the Revolutionary War. The - old rails that surround the old State House at Hartford, Hart-ford, Conn., were cased in the Hanks foundry. After the war they made bells. When the old Liberty Bell was cracked and taken down from Independence Hall, the bell which replaced it was cast at the Hanks foundry. The first silk business in Connecticut Connecti-cut was begun by Hanks. The Hanks family look back with pride at the doings of their forefathers but one ancestor said, "Do not look up the family tree too high, you may find a nut hanging on its branches." President Abraham Ab-raham Lincoln, who's mother was Nancy Hanks, is among those admired by the Hanks geneolo-gists. geneolo-gists. Nancy was the daughter of Lucy Hanks and Joseph Hanks who died on the emigrant trail enroute to Kentucky. Ephraim K. Hanks was born on the shores of Lake Erie and left home when he was 12 years of age. He and his father had disagreed dis-agreed over desecrating the Sabbath by horse racing. Ephraim worked for smithies for his bed and board until he became a mule driver on the- Erie Canal. He later joined the Navy and spent four years of his young life traveling travel-ing the world. He returned return-ed home a grown man. His brother Alveris had joined the newly founded Mormon faith and Ephraim Eph-raim decided to join his brother, much to the protesting pro-testing and tears from his parents. They met at winter quarters in Nebraska. Neb-raska. Ephraim enlisted in the . Mormon Battalion in 1846 and with them made his way to San Diego, Cal., as a scout. The Mexican War ended with the Mormon boys thousands of miles from home in Salt Lake. There, a young widow, Harriet Little and her young son, George lived and when Ephraim arrived ar-rived in Utah he married her and raised a family of C seven children. n His heritage from his blacksmith father and the portable blacksmith shop kept Ephraim in touch with all the passing emigrants. Plural marriage marri-age was very popular among the Mormons. The leaders and important members of the Church entered into polygamy with church approval in 1892. Jane Capener and Thisbe Read were the plural wives of Ephraim. Seven children were born to Jane Capener and Thisbe Read had thirteen. Ephraim worked with oxen team to pull the . granite blocks for the construction of the Temple. Tem-ple. He ' attended its dedication after making his home in Pleasant Creek in Wayne County years later. Wives, Harriet Har-riet Little and Jane Capener Capen-er married Joseph E. Taylor and both remained in Salt Lake and had not lived with Ephraim for years before he and Thisbe moved to Wayne County. It was in 1882 that Ephraim Hanks located his ranch where the Sleeping Rainbow Ranch now lies. He called it the Floral Ranch. It was at this time that Ephraim 's cousin, Ebenezer Hanks came down the Fremont Trail and settled in Hanks-ville Hanks-ville which carried his name. Ephraim died June 9, 1896 at his ranch and he and wife, Thisbe Quilley Read, who died July 23, 1903 are both buried at the cemetery in Caineville 20 miles west of Hanks-ville. Hanks-ville. Their oldest son, Walter Hanks, was the first and only bishop of Caineville. |