John Hanks, born in 1802 in Kentucky, was a second cousin of Abraham Lincoln through Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and said he first knew Lincoln when Lincoln was a boy of twelve in Spencer County, Indiana. Hanks left Indiana in 1826, moved to Macon County in 1828, and through his letters to Thomas Lincoln helped prompt Thomas Lincoln's move there; he also helped build the Lincolns' first cabin in Illinois. He remained involved in Abraham Lincoln's personal and professional life, sometimes hosting Lincoln at the Hanks family home when he was in town for court, and family tradition held that he was the only person on Lincoln's family side invited to Lincoln's marriage to Mary Todd. His influence appeared in episodes connected with Lincoln's political rise, including Lincoln's first political speech and the Railsplitter Candidate campaign of 1860. William Herndon, Lincoln's last law partner and biographer, wrote that Lincoln loved Hanks and considered him beautiful, honest, and noble, and Hanks accompanied Lincoln on visits to his stepmother Sarah near Charleston, Illinois; later Hanks went to Springfield for Lincoln's funeral after having heard Sarah fear she would never see Abraham alive again. Unlike Lincoln, Hanks never mastered reading and writing, and this caused difficulty during the 1860 presidential election, when Democrats claimed he would not vote for Lincoln, prompting Richard Oglesby to help him write a letter denying the rumor and praising Lincoln as honest throughout his life. After Lincoln's election, Hanks sought a political appointment as an Indian Agent, but Lincoln could not give him the position because Hanks could not complete the paperwork. Hanks later enlisted in the 21st Illinois Infantry and became a wagoner, a role that did not require literacy. He died in 1889 at age 87 and was buried at Boiling Springs Cemetery.