PAGE 571
Mr.
Hankee was born Oct. 1, 1829, in Lehigh township, Northampton Co., now
Walnutport, on the banks of the Lehigh.
Believing at an early age that industry and self-reliance were the powerful
weapons with which the battle of life might be won, he, when a youth, became a
boat-boy, and thus rendered himself independent. Later he engaged in teaching, and on attaining his majority
entered the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, where he was for eleven years
superintendent of a portion of the line of that company. He then embarked in the business of slate
mining, which for several years absorbed his attention, and in 1867 opened a
real estate office, to which he has since devoted his energies. Mr. Hankee is still engaged in the mining of
slate, and identified with other business interests of the borough of
Slatington. He has brought to bear
during his active life application, vigor, and fidelity to the trusts imposed
in him, which have contributed in no little degree to his standing as a citizen
and success as a man. He was married on
the 13th of May, 1855, to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob Clause,
of Heidelberg township, Lehigh Co.
Their children are Robert E. Lansford F., Catharine A., Hiram W., Eva
C., Ella N., and Eugene (who died in youth).
Mr. Hankee is identified with the Republican party in politics, and, while keenly alive to its success, is rarely active beyond the limits of his own borough, where he has been chosen justice of the peace and school director. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hankee and their children are members of the German Reformed Church of Slatington.
********************************************************************************
From
The History of the Counties of Lehigh & Carbon, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
By
Alfred Mathews & Austin N. Hungerford
Published in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1884
Transcribed from the original in March 2005
by
Jack Sterling
Web page by
March 2005