ID: I0715 Name: Fielding HANKS Sex: M Birth: 1783 in VA Death: 13 AUG 1861 Note: Fielding Hanks, son of Abraham, and presumed uncle of Abraham Lincoln was one of Morgan County's founding magistrates. Tradition says that plentiful game lured him from Montgomery County to the eastern hills. The legend is supported by the only known photograph of him shown posing with his trusty caplock rifle. A brother to Lincoln's mother, Nancy, Fielding Hanks was born in Virginia about 1783. He later settled in the part of Old Morgan Co. that was to become Campton, now Wolfe Co., building a cabin there in 1818. Fielding was among the dozen men who met to organize the new county of Morgan in 1823. As authorized by an act of the General Assembly, these magistrates met at Edmund Well's tavern in the sparse Wells Mill settlement - present day West Liberty. (Wells Inn and water mill stood where the historic Old Mill Park is today) However, at the close of this first court session, presumably feeling himself better suited to more basic pioneer pursuits, Fielding gave up the commission he had received from Governor Adair. He continued to reside in Morgan Co. until Wolfe County was created in 1860, one of his sons being instrumental in the formation. Fielding and his wife Lydia both died in 1861. They are buried in the old cemetery behind the present Church of God in Campton. Fielding's name is cast in bronze on the Founders monument in Morgan's courthouse square.
Full Blooded Choctaw Indian.