Eli Fisk Hanks was probably born in Greenwich, Washington County, NY and migrated to Pennsylvania with his father as a lad of sixteen. He married Amerilous F. Spring who lived with her parents further down Sugar Lake Creek, Crawford County, PA.. Alvin Hanks says her father was Scotch and her mother English. they first lived in the crude house about 500 feet east of his fathers' house. Later, in 1852, moving to Grand Valley, in Warren Co., one of the pioneers of that section.. He made his living by farming, building barrels, oil derricks, barns, etc. The United Brethren Church at Grand Valley was built by him and still looks good. (as of 1935). He was 38 at the outbreak of the Civil War, with 8 children to support, the oldest being 14 yrs old. Near the close of the war, he was drafted and was on board a train for the south when Lee surrendered. About 1871, he traded his farm to S. Q. Brown for his fathers old farm and came back to Lake Creek, but Brown retained his oil rights. I (Charles Rufus Hanks) was about 11 yrs old when he died of pneumonia which last 18 days prior to death ( at Wayne Twp, Crawford County, PA.) and as I recall him he was medium build, about 165 pounds in weight, and of a quiet disposition. He chewed plug tobacco, but as far as I know did not use any liquor. His wife Amerilus was the more outspoken and domineering member of the household. She was the last line to spin and weave cloth. Both are buried at Sugar Lake Cemetery, Sugar Lake, Crawford County, Pa
Written by Charles Rufus Hanks (1935) and Copied from his Research Paper on his family. Charles Rufus Hanks is the Grandson of Eli Fisk Hanks.
Biography donated by Kenneth Carpenter.