Sophie Hanks was born 14 March 1809 in Kentucky to Lucy Hanks (1765-) and died 12 November 1893 Newton County, Arkansas of unspecified causes. She married Dillings Lynch (c1810-1840) 13 June 1827 in Perry County, Indiana. She married John Legrand (c1810-) October 1842 in Dubois County, Indiana.
Sophia (Sophie) Hanks was born 14 March 1809[1] to Sarah (Sally/Polly) Hanks in Kentucky (most probably in what was then Mercer County). Sophie was Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)'s half-cousin, and the "discovery" of her story and her children, as pertains to their relationship with her famous cousin was narrated by Arthur E. Morgan in his February 1920 piece "New Light on Lincoln's Boyhood" in The Atlantic.
Sophie died 12 November 1893 and is buried in Newton County, Arkansas, perhaps having lived in her last days with or near her daughter Elizabeth and family, who were living in that county in 1880.
Marriage & Family
1st Marriage: Dillings
On 13 June 1827, she married Dillings Lynch in Perry County, Indiana.
From the 1850 census, that she and Dillings must have had at least the following children together:[5][6] • Sallie Lynch, b. abt. 1833 • John Lynch, b. abt. 1835 (the very old man that Morgan met) • Nancy Lynch, b. abt. 1838 (Morgan met her as "Mrs. Nancy Davidson") • Elizabeth Lynch, b. 1840
Sophie's Findagrave memorial states that Dillings died in 1841.[1]
2nd Marriage: Legrand
In October 1842, Sophia married, second, John Legrand in Dubois County, Indiana. John must also have been a widower, as the 1850 census shows five Legrands in the household who must not be Sophie's children, and two who are.
Sophie and John moved to Missouri prior to 1853. They had the following children together:
- James Legrand, b. 1843 in Indiana (this is "the doctor" who led Morgan on his adventure)
- William Legrand, b. abt. 1849 in Indiana
- Rebecca Legrand, b. abt. 1853 in Missouri
One John Hanks, b. abt. 1850, is living with the family in Missouri in 1860 (perhaps this a son of the John Hanks whom Morgan found in Oregon? Where/who are his parents?).
In 1870, the couple are living with two yet unidentified people, Marion Ford and Nancy Berch. It may be that her 1880 census is lost, as it has not been located.
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Sallie Lynch (1833-) | |||
| John Lynch (1835-) | |||
| Nancy Lynch (1838-) | |||
| Elizabeth Hanks (1840-1891) | |||
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| James Legrand (1843-) | |||
| William Legrand (1849-) | |||
| Rebecca Legrand (1853-) | |||
Siblings