J. E. Hanes, a well known farmer of Walnut township, although a young man, is numbered among the pioneers of Butler county. The fact of the matter is, that Mr. Hanes was a very young pioneer when he came to this county with his parents, being only five years of age. He is a native of Tennessee, born in 1869, a son of Thomas and Mary (Prudence) Hanes, both natives of Macon county, Tennessee. They were the parents of five children, as follows: Mrs. Martha Long, Augusta, Kans.; Mrs. Maggie Woods, Mulvane, Kans.; Mrs. Nora Black, Douglass, Kans.; Mrs. Kelly Black, deceased; J. E., the subject of this sketch. The father died in 1900, and the mother departed this life in 1899.

The Hanes family came to this county in 1874, and the father purchased eighty acres of land in the Walnut valley, Walnut township, for which he paid $1,300. At that time there were no railroads in this section and most of his supplies had to be hauled from Wichita, a distance of twenty-four miles, although they did considerable trading at Augusta, which was a small settlement at that time. The father engaged in farming and stock raising, meeting with a reasonable degree of success. He was a good reliable citizen and a man who by his straightforward manner and honest methods, won the respect and confidence of his neighbors and those with whom he had business relations.

J. E. Hanes, the subject of this sketch, was reared to manhood on the home farm, and educated in the public schools. He was among the first to attend the first school established in that locality. The district where he attended school was known as Floral School District, No. 120.

However, he attended school before the school house was built in that district when school was held at the old Baum residence, and taught by Hattie Tremak.

Mr. Hanes recalls, among the pioneers who were here in 1874, Clark Haskins, Daniel Baum, J. K. P. Carr and George Lang, who formerly owned the Hanes farm; W. H. H. Adams, Erastus Cease and Robert Ralston. J. E. Hanes owns the old homestead, where he carries on farming and stock raising. The value of the Hanes homestead cannot be estimated at this time, as it is in the rich oil and gas belt of the Augusta field, and it is for future operations to divulge the hidden underground wealth of almost every foot of the section where the Hanes property is located. However, there has already been brought in one gas well on this property, the daily production of which is one and one-half million feet.

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