Verda Waller Hankins was the daughter of Thomas Leander “Lee” Hankins and Samantha Angeline Petty of Hopkins County, Kentucky. Several branches of Verda’s Hankins line trace to colonial America and into England. Her Petty line branches are much shorter, ending with great or 2nd great-grandparents.
Verda’s Hankins line surnames include Berry, Dobyns, Fox, Gill, Goodloe, Hankins, Mott, Waller, Weeks, Wright, and Younger. Her ancestors, John Berry, Edward Dobyns, Henry Goodloe, John Hankins, and Titus Fox all settled in Hopkins County in the early 1800s. Her Petty line surnames list is much shorter—Petty, Thomas, Rose, Baker, and Forrester. The Pettys and Roses were in east Tennessee. The Thomases and Bakers were in north Georgia.
View Ancestry.com tree starting with Verda.
Photo on right: Vernon, Verda, Gladys, and Will McCauley
- 1. Verda Waller Hankins
- Parents
- 2. Thomas Leander Hankins
- 3. Samantha Angeline Petty
- Grandparents
- 4. Albert Elvie Hankins
- 5. Isabella Jane Goodloe
- 6. John R. Petty
- 7. Margaret E. Thomas
- Great-Grandparents
- 8. Houston G. Hankins
- 9. Mary Weeks
- 10: John Emerson Goodloe
- 11. Eliza Ann Dobyns
- 12. John Petty
- 13. ? Rose
- 14. Jesse Thomas
- 15. Rebecca Baker
- 2nd Great-Grandparents
- 16. Barnabas Hankins
- 17. Sarah Fox
- 18. James Weeks
- 19. Delinda Younger
- 20. Henry Lewis Goodloe
- 21. Elizabeth Berry
- 22. Edward Dobyns
- 23. Sarah Mott
- 24. James Petty
- 25. Martha Jane Payne (?)
- 26: John Rose (?)
- 27. Didama (?)
- 28.
- 29.
- 30. Christopher Baker
- 31. Agnes Forrester
Rebecca Baker, wife of Jesse Thomas, was the daughter of Christopher Baker and Agnes Forrester. Christopher married Agnes Forrester in 1783 in Rowan County, North Carolina, and moved to Georgia. Christopher died about 1828 in Gwinnett County. He was the son of Absolom Baker Sr., who died about 1775 in Rowan County, North Carolina, and Mary Sewell. Rebecca was Verda’s great-grandmother.
John Berry was probably the son of Thomas Berry, who came to Fayette County, Kentucky (possibly when it was still Fayette County, Virginia) from Virginia. John was in Clark County, Kentucky by 1801 when his daughter, Elizabeth, married Henry Lewis Goodloe. Elizabeth was Verda’s 2nd great-grandmother.
Edward Dobyns arrived in Hopkins County from Virginia before 1810. He married Sarah Mott in Richmond County in 1797. Edward was the son of Edward Dobyns who died in Richmond County before 1789. Edward and Sarah’s daughter, Eliza Ann, married John E. Goodloe in Hopkins County in 1836. Eliza was Verda’s great-grandmother.
Agnes Forrester was the daughter of Owen Forrester and Eleanor Angell Windsor who lived in Rowan County, North Carolina, and Franklin County, Georgia. Agnes married Christopher Baker in 1783 in Rowan County. She was Verda’s 2nd great-grandmother.
Titus Fox was a Revolutionary War soldier from Wilkes County, North Carolina. He married Elizabeth Wright there in 1780. They lived in Burke County, North Carolina in 1790 and in the Pendleton District of South Carolina in 1800 before settling in Hopkins County by 1810. His father, James, and some of his siblings also made the move to Kentucky. Titus’ daughter Sarah married Barnabas Hankins in 1811 in Hopkins County. Sarah was Verda’s 2nd great-grandmother.
Sarah Gill married John Hankins in 1783 in Frederick County, Virginia. Following John’s Revolutionary War service, they lived in Wilkes County, North Carolina before settling in Hopkins County prior to 1810. Her parents are unknown. Sarah was Verda’s 3rd great-grandmother.
Thomas Allen Goodloe was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. He married Dorothy Waller there in 1776. By 1790 they were living in Fayette County, Virginia, which became Fayette County, Kentucky two years later. Thomas and Dorothy’s son, Henry Lewis Goodloe and his wife, Elizabeth Berry, left central Kentucky for the western part of the state, settling in Hopkins County before 1810. Henry and Betsy’s son John Emerson Goodloe married Eliza Ann Dobyns. Their daughter, Isabella Jane, married Albert Elvie Hankins in 1855. Isabella Jane was Verda’s paternal grandmother.
John Hankins was a Revolutionary War soldier from Frederick County, Virginia. John married Sarah Gill there in 1783. They lived in Wilkes County, North Carolina after the war before migrating west to Hopkins County, Kentucky prior to 1810. Their son Barnabas married Sarah Fox in 1811. Barnabas and Sarah’s son Houston married Mary Weeks in 1833. Houston and Mary’s son Albert married Isabella Jane Goodloe. Albert and Isabella Jane’s son Thomas Leander was Verda’s father.
Sarah Mott was the daughter of Randolph Mott and Nancy Ann Walker of Richmond and Northumberland Counties in Virginia. She married Edward Dobyns in 1797 in Richmond County. Sarah and Edward left Virgina for Kentucky and settled in Hopkins County before 1810. Sarah was Verda’s 2nd great-grandmother.
John Petty lived in Sevier County, Tennessee in 1830, McMinn County, Tennessee in 1840, Bradley County, Tennessee in 1860 and 1870, and Whitfield County, Georgia in 1880. He was probably the son of James Petty of Sevier County, Tennessee. Several of John’s children moved to Kentucky after the Civil War. Sons John R. and Joseph lived in Logan County in 1870, then John R. moved his family to Hopkins County shortly after that. Daughters Caroline and Mary Elizabeth lived in Webster County when Mary married there in 1869. John R. had married Margaret Thomas in 1857 in Whitfield County, Georgia. Their daughter Samantha Angeline was Verda’s mother.
John Petty’s first wife, who was the mother of his children, is unknown. But DNA evidence ties her to five Rose siblings—Nancy Lanetta, Green Lee, John, Lorenzo Dow, and Matilda Jane—with connections to the east Tennessee counties of Cocke, Polk, Sevier, and Bradley. These five and additional siblings were the children of a John Rose and his wife Didama. This John Rose is probably not the John Rose who was in Sevier County in 1830 and 1840, but was likely the John Rose who was in McMinn County in 1840. This unknown Rose was Verda’s great-grandmother.
Jesse Thomas and his wife, Rebecca, lived in Murray County, Georgia in 1840 and 1860 and in Lumpkin County in 1850. I know nothing about Jesse’s parents. Rebecca’s maiden name is unproven but might be Baker. Their daughter, Margaret, married John R. Petty and moved to Kentucky after the Civil War. Rebecca and at least two other children also made the move to Kentucky. Margaret was Verda’s maternal grandmother.
Dorothy Waller was the daughter of John Waller and Agnes Carr of Spotsylvania County, Virginia. She married Thomas Allen Goodloe there in 1776, and they settled in Fayette County two years before Kentucky statehood. Dorothy was Verda’s 3rd great-grandmother.
Job Weeks was a Revolutionary War soldier from Gloucester County, New Jersey. After the war, he migrated to Ohio County, Virginia, where he was living in 1810. By 1820 he was living in Livingston County, Kentucky and moved back and forth between there and Pope County, Illinois (which is across the Ohio River from Livingston County) before dying in Pope County in 1841. His son James married Delinda Younger, and they made the move to Kentucky and Illinois with Job. Job’s parents and the mother of his children are unknown. James and Delinda’s daughter Mary married Houston Hankins. Mary was Verda’s great-grandmother.
Elizabeth Wright married Titus Fox in Wilkes County, North Carolina in 1780 and moved west with him to Hopkins County. Her parents are unknown. Elizabeth was Verda’s 3rd great-grandmother.
Nehemiah Younger of Kent and Anne Arundel County, Maryland lived in Ohio County, Virginia in 1810 and died in Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1819. His daughter Delinda married James Weeks in Ohio County, Virginia, about 1811. Delinda was Verda’s 2nd great-grandmother.
