Ephraim Knowlton Hanks

Biographical Summary:

"...Ephraim Knowlton Hanks was born 21 March, 1826, in Madison, Lake County, Ohio, to Benjamin Hanks and Martha Knowlton. At 16 years of age, Eph ran away from home, and worked on the Erie Canal for a few months. He subsequently signed up for what he thought to be a 'freighting job on the ocean' which turned out to be a nearly 3-year stint with the Navy as a 'first class boy' on board the man-of-war USS Columbus. He returned home to his native Ohio after this voyage and found his brother Sidney had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Eph himself was soon converted to the church's teachings and became a member in 1845. In time he left Nauvoo, Illinois with many of the members of the church and started on the trek West with them. While on the trek West he left the main body of the emigrants with the Mormon Battalion, and marched with them to San Diego, as a private in Company B. Eph eventually arrived in the Salt Lake Valley and soon after married Harriet Amelia Decker. In time he married 3 other women in plural marriage, Jane Maria Capener, Hannah Hardy, and Thisbe Quilley Read. In 1856, Eph played a role in the rescue of the Martin Handcart Company..."

SOURCE: http://wiki.hanksplace.net/index.php/Ephraim_Knowlton_Hanks