Thomas J. Hannah
SOURCE: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889
Contributed by Michael Brown
18 Oct 1998
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SEBASTIAN CO
Thomas J. Hannah, a prosperous farmer of Sebastian County, Ark., is a son of
Samuel W. and Rebecca M. (Gilliam) Hannah, both of whom were born in East
Tennessee, in 1816 and 1820, respectively. They were married and resided in
their native State until 1849, when they moved to Texas, and after residing in
Hopkins, Hunt and Fannin Counties for about nine years, came to Sebastian
County, Ark. The father was a soldier in the Florida War, a farmer by
occupation, and was justice of the peace for many years both in Texas and
Arkansas. He was a Democrat, and the last vote he cast was against the
secession of his State, but from some unknown cause he had made enemies, and
while returning home from a neighbor's one Sunday morning in 1863 was shot at
from the brush along the road, and was afterward stabbed with a knife, from the
effects of which he died. He was ever a man of peace, and had the confidence
and esteem of his neighbors. His widow and four of his nine children survive
him. Thomas J. Hannah was his third child, and was born in Bradley County,
Tenn., October 29, 1846, being reared on a farm. January 10, 1864, he enlisted
in Company F, First Arkansas Volunteer Infantry, United States Army, and served
until August 10, 1865, being a participant in the battles of Prairie De Hand
and Saline River. He was honorably discharged at Fort Smith, and returned to
the peaceful pursuit of farming. In 1868 he was married to Susan J. Seamans,
who bore him six children, two of whom are living: Albert W. and Jacob A.
After the death of his first wife he married Parlee McNabb, by whom he has
three children: Maudic, Thomas A. and James L. This wife died on the 29th of
January, 1887, an earnest and devoted Christian and member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Mr. Hannah is a stanch Republican, and a member of the G. A.
R., and the owner of 163 acres of land, with ninety under cultivation. James M.
Hannah, his brother, was born in Fannin County, Tex., February 16, 1857, and
was educated in the common schools and by personal study. He owns a good farm
of 160 acres, with sixty under cultivation, and, like his brother, is a stanch
Republican in politics.