This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Hanks, Willis, Stark, Jenkins, Soileau, Graham, Lawson, Stagg, Strother Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/WEB.2ACI/450 Message Board Post: My maternal great-grandfather ARTHUR ALLEN HANKS (b. Aug. 27, 1877; died Aug. 22, 1942) Arthur Allen Hanks was born on August 27, 1877 in Crowley, Louisiana. He died on August 22, 1942 in Norman, Oklahoma. His family was living in Quay, Oklahoma at the time of his death. He is buried in the Lawson Cemetery north of Yale, Oklahoma in an unmarked grave. He farmed, worked on the railroad and worked for the Carter Oil Company. He also, lived in Augusta, Kansas briefly, around 1930, but moved back to Oklahoma. His parents were William "Billy" Hanks and Francis Cordelia Soileau Hanks (b. March 18, 1851; d. June 26, 1948). They were married on November 8, 1873, in Opelousas, Louisiana. His mother is buried at Elizabeth Memorial Baptist Church Cemetery, near Branch, Louisiana next to her second husband, Rufus A. "Ike" Stark. Arthur Allen Hanks married Mary Stark (b. Jan. 18, 1860; d. Jan. 08, 1931) on Oct. 17, 1895. He was 17-years younger than her. They owned a meat market in Lecompte, Louisiana. Their log home was located right in the middle of where IH 49 is today (approx. 500' south of Highway 112) near Lecompte. The Children of Arthur Allen Hanks and Mary Stark were: my grandmother, Lillie Gertrude Hanks (b. Dec. 29, 1897; d. July 02, 1973), Ivy "Buddy" Lee Hanks (b. Nov. 18, 1898; d. Dec. 10, 1982), William Hanks, b. Nov. 18, 1898; d. Dec. 16, 1898), Callie Hanks (b. June 18, 1901) and Mary Cordelia "Delia" Hanks (b. Apr. 04, 1902; d. Aug. 20, 1946). My grandmother told me that each day, after school, her mother, Mary Stark Hanks, would say "little lady, get a potato and work n the field." My Uncle Howard Willis, told me that his grandmother Mary Stark Hanks, reminded him of Grandma Walton on "The Walton's" TV show. Arthur Allen Hanks left Mary Stark Hanks and later married (date unknown) Gertrude G. Jenkins (b. Aug 11, 1900; d. Jan. 15, 1973) and moved near Quay and Yale, Oklahoma. Gertrude Jenkins first husband was a Laughful Miller; they had four children. Gertrude died in Tulsa on Jan. 15, 1973 and is buried in Cheneyville, Louisiana next to her parents. Arthur Allen Hanks and Gertrude Jenkins also had four children: Wilma Ruth Hanks (b. Mar. 14, 1928 in Quay, Ok.), Mary Hanks (b. June 24, 1930 in Augusta, Kansas; d. Oct. 10, 1962 with her husband in an auto accident), Donna Faye Hanks (b. June 24, 1938 in Quay, Ok; d. Sept. 25, 2003) and Edwin Lavelle Hanks (b. Dec. 17, 1941 in Yale, Ok). Arthur Allen Hanks is buried in the Lawson Cemetery north of Yale, Oklahoma in an unmarked grave. He farmed, worked on the railroad and worked for the Carter Oil Company. He also, lived in Augusta, Kansas briefly, around 1930, but moved back to Oklahoma. Randy Willis www.randywillis.org randywillis@ev1.net