Hanks, Thomas H., House
a.k.a. Hanks-Bond-Major House
516 E. Woodford St., Lawrenceburg, KYThe Thomas H. Hanks House in Lawrenceburg achieves historical significance by its association with Thomas Holman Hanks, an important attorney and political figure in Anderson County, who built the house ca. 1858.
Hanks was born in Anderson County about a mile from Lawrenceburg on November 6, 1823. His father, Turner Hanks, had migrated to Kentucky in 1800 from Virginia where his father, George Hanks, had been killed as a soldier in the American Revolutionary: War. This line of the Hanks family was distantly related to Abraham Lincoln through Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks. John Hanks, the forebearer of Lincoln, was the great uncle of Turner Hanks and his three brothers who came to Kentucky during pioneer days.
In 1849, when he was only twenty-six years old, Hanks was elected as a member of the House of Representatives of the Kentucky General Assembly to represent Anderson County. During the years 1850-51. Hanks became a "Forty-Niner" in California but returned to Kentucky whereupon he was elected Circuit Court Clerk in 1856 and served in this position until 1862. During this time he also studied law and in 1863 was admitted to the Bar. He served as County Attorney from 1863 to 1867. Hanks became well-known as an attorney and was retained on most of the important litigation of his county and circuit.
In 1881, 1886, and 1892 Hanks was elected to the lower house of the General Assembly and eventually became known as the "patriarch of the Kentucky legislature." He served in the legislature under three different state constitutions, was chairman of the committee on suffrages and elections, and was a most able, conscientious, and indefatigable worker on other important committees. He represented Anderson County in the constitutional convention of 1890 and was a member of the house during the two succeeding sessions when the most important legislative work of the state was accomplished.
Thomas Hanks was married in 1858 to Miss Margaret R. Myers, of Anderson County, and shortly thereafter built the two-story frame house on Woodford Street in Lawrenceburg.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.