Our Hours Upon The Stage
Volume ll: The Denman and Hankins Family 1951-1978
The Hankins Family
Record
of Hankins WW ll Service 1941-1946
Epilogue
My Denman
Line from England to Present
List of Denman Ancestors in
England
The Hankins Family
Charles Hankins on farm, circa 1940s.
Double click photo for larger image.
C
harlie
Lee Hankins was born on November 12, 1886, and died on February 5, 1968. He
was one of five children born to Robert Brown Hankins and Mary Ellen Gass. One
of the sons, John Eddie, died of typhoid at the age of seventeen. Another son,
William, died when he was three months old. Charlie’s mother died when he was
still a young boy, and his father then married Susan Fortner.
Charlie’s brother was Theron, who
married Chlodie Harmon. Three of their children died in childhood, and three
daughters reached adulthood. They were Margaret, Alice, and George. Papa’s
sister, Laura, who married Joe Babb, had five children. They were Joe, Hugh,
Ray, Jenny Grace, and Hilda. Jenny Grace, who married Joe Justis, had one
daughter, Helen, who has been a good friend of mine during the last few years.
Joe Babb and his wife, O'Dean, come to our church, as Helen does, and I know
them better than any other of the Hankins' cousins.
Charlie had several half-brothers and
sisters, children of Robert and Susan, as follow: Lucy Rebecca, George
Frankie, James Hobert, Robert Leckner, Mary Grace, and Edith Pauline. Two
others died in childhood, Hugh at age four, and Larry, who died at birth. (A
second cousin of Hank’s, the Reverend James Hankins, compiled a Hankins family
history in Greene County that covered all of the family genealogy until the
date of its publication, which I believe was in the late 1950s. This
information comes from that booklet.)
Charlie lived in Greene County all
his life. He was a hard-working man, rising to work early each morning and
working until late in the afternoon. He learned the skill of a brick mason,
and worked at that for several years. When a health problem no longer allowed
him to climb ladders, he accepted a job at the Greeneville Post Office, and
spent many years there, working until his retirement.
Kitty
Clyde Hope was born on July 27, 1895, and she lived until January 3, 1981.
Kitty Clyde was the daughter of James Russell Hope and Cora Katheryn Bohannon.
The Hopes had three children, but their son, Tommy, died in early childhood,
leaving two daughters in the home, Kitty Clyde and her sister, Martha Lura,
who was about two years older.
Kitty Clyde Hope Hankins, circa mid 1940s.
Double click photo for larger image.
Kitty Clyde and Charlie Hankins
married while she was still a teenager, on July 30, 1911. On July 7, 1912,
they had their first of six children, Leora Don. Kitty Clyde's sister, Martha
Lura, married Dennis Mays. The Mays’ family had two boys, Fred and Llewelyn.
Fred and Elizabeth, his wife, had two children, Nancy and Jimmy. Llewelyn and
Edith Cox Mays had three daughters, Louise Verran, Carolyn Gardner, and Lynda
Young. Llewelyn and his second wife had a daughter, Vickie Mays.
Hankins children circa 1934, F: Betty,
Charles; B: Leora, Mary, Tommy, Alvin Lee
Double click photo for larger image.
Kitty and Martha’s mother died when
they were young, and their grandparents, William Thomas and Martha Jane
Bohannon raised the young girls in their home. There was one son in the
Bohannon home, John. He seemed more like a father to Kitty and Martha as they
grew up. After the deaths of their Bohannon grandparents, Kitty and Martha
Lura were more closely attached to Uncle John than anyone else.
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RECORD OF HANKINS
WORLD WAR II SERVICE, 1941-1946
During
World War II, all three sons had to go to war. Tommy served in the Army and
was in the direct fighting in Europe. Alvin Lee lost an eye during one battle
in the Japanese area. Hank served in the Navy, and was a radioman on his ship.
He too was in the waters of the Japanese theater of war. These years were very
troubling to the Hankins family at home. Oscar Bullen and Carroll McInturff,
sons-in-law, were also in the service. The Hankins family spent many hours
writing letters to their loved ones in the service, and reading, then
rereading, letters from their servicemen.
Tommy B. Hankins entered service on
March 13, 1942. He served with the 808 Tank Destroyer Battalion in the
European Theater. He was discharged on October 265, 1945 as Technician 5th
Grade. Alvin Lee Hankins entered service on June 29, 1941. He served in the
Asiatic Pacific on New Guinea and in the Luzon Islands. He was wounded in
action on January 30, 1945. He sustained loss of his left eye due to an injury
by shrapnel. He was discharged on October 9, 1945, as a Sergeant. Charles
Russell Hankins entered U.S. Naval Service on June 1, 1944. He served in the
Asiatic Pacific aboard an L.S.T. He was discharged as Seaman First Class on
June 4, 1946. Oscar Bullen, Leora’s husband, served on a tanker in the U.S.
Navy in 1943-1945. Carroll McInturff, Jr., Mary Katheryn’s husband, was in the
U.S. Army during World War II.
Gypsy (hiding face); L to R: Mama
Hankins, Charles, Leora, Betty, circa 1945.
Double click photo for larger image.
I
met Charles when he was 21 years old and I was 17. Four years later, at ages
25 and 21 years, we married on March 23, 1951. For the next 27 years we lived
together and raised our children. Charles, or Hank, as I called him, was born
on January 22, 1926, on North Main Street in Greeneville, Tennessee . . . .
Charles Denman Hankins, 1948, Tusculum
College Student.
Double click photo for
larger image.
Except for the two years he was away
from home serving in the U.S. Navy, 1944-1946, Charles Russell lived in his
hometown. No one could ever love his county, town, and East Tennessee more
than he did! Charles completed high school in 1944. Soon after that he entered
the U.S. Navy. He was stationed in the Pacific area during World War II. As a
radioman, he was the first on his ship to learn of the end of the war against
Japan. Upon his return to Greeneville two years later, following his honorable
discharge, he entered Tusculum College, where he played on the football team
for four years. He obtained a degree in Business Administration, and earned a
secondary teaching certificate. Charles graduated Tusculum College in May,
1950.
1950 article about Charles beginning career after college.
Double click photo for larger image.
After college, he began work as an
assistant football coach and basketball coach for Greeneville High School, and
also taught social studies at the Junior High School. After one year, however,
he left the school system and became associated with C.C. Roach's Men's Store,
where he worked for several years. Later, when he was offered a better
position with Sherwin-Williams Paint Company as an outside territorial
salesman, he took that job and worked in the East Tennessee area for about two
years. However, he did not enjoy traveling around the area, and preferred a
job that would keep him solely in Greeneville. In 1962, he ran for County
Court Clerk in Greene County, won the election, and served in that capacity
for twelve years. He became a leading figure in the local Democratic Party and
in other governmental affairs during those years. Charles took much pride in
serving the people of Greene County, and he always had a friendly greeting for
everyone he met.
When Charles left his job at the
Courthouse, he became associated with Terry Leonard in The Men's Shop, and
worked there until July 13, 1978, when he suffered a sudden, fatal heart
attack at the age of 52. He was buried in Andrew Johnson National Cemetery in
Greeneville. Charles was a lifetime member of the Greeneville Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, where he served several years as deacon. Active in
community and civic affairs, he was a member of the Lions Club, Greeneville
Shrine Club, Scottish Rite, Andrew Johnson Post 1990, Veterans of Foreign
Wars, American Legion Post 64, Moose Lodge 692, and the Greeneville
Quarterback Club. Nothing gave Charles greater pleasure in life than our four
children--Jennifer, Susan, Charles Thomas, and Amy Beth. I deeply regret that
he did not live to see any of his eleven grandchildren. Charles’s family and
friends fondly remember that Charles had a genuine liking for the people of
his county, and he enjoyed a broad circle of friends. He was a jovial,
friendly person who enjoyed the people with whom he came in contact. Often he
would remind his family of one thing he firmly believed: Greene County was the
best and most beautiful place on earth.
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Epilogue
After
Hank’s funeral, Charles was at home for a few days, and then he was sent to
Fort Knox, Kentucky, to complete his required ROTC training. He worked in the
Fort's hospital veterinary department while he was there. Nancy and her mother
offered to postpone their wedding date, if Charles wished, but he chose to
stick to previous plans and get married in August, just five weeks away.
Mama Hankins, who had already lost
one son, Tommy, in 1958, and her husband, Charlie, in 1968, mourned the loss
of yet another son, Charles Russell, in 1978. Amy began her senior year at
Greeneville High School, and Charles entered his senior year at UT. Jennifer
continued her job in the County Clerk's Office in Nashville, and Susan and I
started another term as teachers of young children.
NOT IN THE PINES, BUT UNDER A CEDAR
Through
the years, whenever we traveled, and drove through areas forested with an
abundance of pines, Hank would often burst into loud song, somewhat off key,
"In the pines, in the pines; where the sun never shines. In the pines, in the
pines for me . . ."
Sometimes when I visit Hank's grave
on a hillside at Andrew Johnson National Cemetery, I remember how he sang this
song. In the cemetery, however, there are not pines, but tall, old cedar trees
scattered along the hillside. Hank's grave is just in front of one of these
trees. Instead of having his final resting place in the pines, he has it under
the kind of tree he, Charles, and Amy chopped down with an ax each Christmas
and placed in our home. Like a pine, the cedar is an evergreen, and also
fragrant, so I think that Hank would like this spot on the hillside of the
town he cherished.
LIFE CONTINUES
On
that Thursday evening when Hank's walking shadow lengthened into a dark
nothingness, his fretting upon the stage ceased. His candle went out on this
earth after 52 years, and those of us who loved him suddenly found ourselves
in darkness. There is light, however, the true light that lights the world,
and the darkness cannot put it out, just as it cannot put out the light of a
single candle. That light guided us through the night. Faith, hope, and love,
kept us from being swallowed up by the darkness. God lit the way for us at
that time.
Cumberland
Presbyterian Church 1978.
Double click photo for larger image.
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MY DENMAN LINE FROM ENGLAND
TO PRESENT
T
he
first Denman documented in the north and east of England was a William Denman.
In the latter part of the fourteenth century, in the year 1385, he came into
possession of Newhall Grange, one of the granges of the old town of Bramton,
in Cumberland. The British usage of grange is for a farm, especially the
residence and outbuildings of a gentleman farmer.
The Denman name is very old, and is a
contraction of Dane and man; that is, one of the Danes. The first appearance
in England of Danes, inhabitants of Denmark, was near the close of the eighth
century. The raven was the national emblem of the Danes, and the presence of
the raven in every form of the Denman Coat of Arms is evidence that the
Denmans were Dane-men.
John Denman was born about 1560 in
Retford, England. His son, John II, was born in Nottinghamshire, England, in
1591, and died in 1622 in Retford, Surrey, England. He married Judith
Stoughton, born between 1591 and 1605, in Essex County, England. She died in
Salem County, Massachusetts, in 1639.
John T. Denman III, and his twin
sister, Mary, were born in January, 1621, in Naughton, Suffolk, England. His
mother became a widow when John II died in 1622. Judith then married a William
Smead, and they had a son. She became a widow for the second time when William
Smead died in 1627 or 1628.
A few years later, Judith decided to
bring the children to New England. They sailed from Gravesend, England, on the
ship Dorset, first to Barbados, and then to Boston. John, his sister,
Mary, and his half brother, William Smead, arrived in our country with their
mother, Judith Stoughton Denman Smead, in 1635. They sailed from Gravesend,
England, on the ship Dorset. The history of the Denmans in America
started at the time the two Denman children arrived in New England. They
settled at Salem, Massachusetts.
Publisher's Note: Book Contains 65
pages of Genealogy Charts.
LIST OF DENMAN ANCESTORS IN
ENGLAND
1. William Denman of Newhall
Grange, 1385
2. John Denman, 1430-1517
3. John Denman, b. 1560, Retford, England
4. John Denman II, b 1591, Nottinghamshire, England, d. 1622; m. Judith
Stoughton, born 1591-1605, about 1620. They had twins, John III and Mary, born
January, 1621.5. John Denman III, born January, 1621, Naughton,
Suffolk, England, d. 215 1691; m. Sarah Hollander in
1643 in Salem Colony, Massachusetts. She was born about 1620 in Long Island,
New York. He was the child of John Denman and Judith Stoughton. His mother
brought her three children to America after she was widowed twice in England.
Read more in the book. . .
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