Hanback, Lewis, jurist, soldier and member of Congress, was born on March 27, 1839, at Winchester, Scott county, Ill. His father, William Hanback, who was by profession a portrait painter, moved to Madison, Ind., in 1844, and resided there until the spring of 1848. He then moved to Switzerland county, Ind., but returned to Illinois in the spring of 1850 and settled near Quincy, where he died in 1855. A year later his wife died, leaving a family of six children, of whom Lewis was the eldest. During the winter he attended the district schools, and was for a part of three years at Cherry Grove Seminary in Knox county, Ill. The winter of 1860-61 he taught school in Morgan county, Ill. In April, 1861, at the first call for volunteers by President Lincoln for three months' men, he enlisted as a private in the Tenth Illinois infantry and was mustered out the following July. He immediately reënlisted as a private in the Twenty-seventh Illinois infantry. Mr. Hanback rose rapidly in rank, being appointed brigade inspector on the staff of Col. G. W. Roberts and remained on staff duty until mustered out of the service in 1864. He took an active part in many battles, among them being Corinth, Stone's River, Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, and was with the Fourth army corps, Army of the Cumberland, in its many battles. At the close of the war he entered the law school at Albany, N. Y., but soon returned to Illinois, and on Aug. 9, 1865, married Hettie A. Cooper at Chapin. Immediately after the wedding they came to Topeka, Kan., where three children were born to them. In 1868 Mr. Hanback was elected probate judge of Shawnee county and held that position for four years. He was assistant clerk of the state house of representatives in 1876, and assistant secretary of the senate in 1877. In March, 1877, he was appointed assistant United States attorney for the district of Kansas and held the position for two years, when he was appointed receiver of public moneys at Salina, Kan. This position he held until he was elected to Congress as representative at large as a Republican in 1882. He was reëlected in 1884. Mr. Hanback died at Armourdale, Kan., Sept. 9, 1897.