The family of John Scroggins Hanna and Jane Anne King lived in Shelby Co., Kentucky during the 1800s.  To this union five sons were born and three daughters (1826 - 1844).  Of these eight children, only one son, Samuel McAfee Hanna, Sr. moved to Texas by the time he was 38 years of age.

Samuel's draft register for the Civil War in Shelby County, Kentucky shows him to be 30 years of age, single, and  a farm.  He had married Sarah Margaret "Sallie" Brown just at the close of the Civil War on Tuesday, May 5, 1865.  In 1870 Sam left home along with his brother T.K. Hanna, heading for the west.  Their first stop was at Kansas City, Missouri, where T.K. Hanna chose to settle.  Sam chose to travel south with the M.K.&T. through Indian Territory.

By 1870 Samuel and Sallie Brown Hanna had two sons and a daughter.  Their third son, Samuel McAfee Hanna, Jr., has the distinction of being the  on December 1, 1872.  Another son and daughter would be born to Mr. and Mrs. Hanna in Grayson County, Texas by 1878, making a total of four sons and two daughters.

In 1871 Sam Hanna and partner Joe Owens set up a commissary along the south bank of the Red River at Colbert's Ferry  landing to feed the men who were helping build the MKT railroad into Denison from Indian Territory; the Hanna-Owen traveling commissary moved with the progression of the railroad crew into Denison.  Upon arrival in Denison, Sam Hanna and Joe Owens built a 25' x 60' permanent structure in the new tent town across the street from the depot.  They began a grocery business and sent groceries out in wagons; deliveries were made by freight drivers on narrow trails into Indian Territory.  The two businessmen also set up a munitions dump on the outskirts of Denison to supply ammunition to hunters and ranchers.

The first mention of Mr. Hanna's name occurs in the December 27, 1872 issue of The Denison News, just three months after Denison's first town lots were sold. The paper mentions in a letter printed in the Levenworth (Kansas) Commercial and dated December 24, 1872 associated Mr. Hanna with the business of Hanna, Rosencranz & Co. but does not indicate the type of business.  The mention of Mr. Hanna at such an early date in Denison's history indicates that he and his family were residents of Texas, Grayson County, and Denison at least by the close of 1872.

Children

John McFeeters McAfee Hanna (1866 Shelby Co., KY - 1926 Dallas, Dallas Co., Texas)
William Brown Hanna (1868 Shelby Co., KY - 1873 Denison, Grayson Co., TX)
Alice Brown Hanna (1870 Shelby Co., KY - 1952 Texas)
Samuel McAfee Hanna, Jr. (1872 Denison, Grayson Co., TX - 1947 Dallas, Dallas Co., TX)
Janet Brown Hanna (1876 Denison, Grayson Co., TX - 1953 Dallas, Dallas Co., TX)
Thomas King Hanna (1878 Denison, Grayson Co., TX - 1945 Houston, TX)

Just two weeks later, Mr. Hanna is again mentioned in connection with the organization of the Denison Sunday School on January 5th, 1873.  Dr. A.W. Acheson was Superintendent, Mr. Hanna, Assistant Superintendent, and Mr. Hays, Librarian.  Also in January 1873, Samuel Hanna is listed among the most prominent businessmen in Denison - a cotton and hide buyer, Hanna, Rosencranz & Co. and Hanna, Rosencranz & Co. - general merchandise, stock of $30,000; also listed is the dry goods and clothing firm of Waterman, Weil & Star,

The Hanna family lost their second born son March 1, 1873.
"DIED - In this city, Saturday morning, March 1, of congestion, after an illness of two weeks, Willie, son of Samuel Hanna, aged 4 years and 8 months."  (The Denison News, Thursday, March 6, 1873, pg.3)

In 1878 A.F. Platter joined the Hanna-Owens Co. and in 1885 E.B. Waples and sons Paul and John joined the thriving business.  By then the company was known as Waples-Platter wholesale grocery company.

Read a sketch of his life in the Bancroft Collection

Meeting with financial difficulties during the Panic of  1893, the firm went out of business and Mr. Hanna became engaged in the mercantile brokerage business.

The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, February 28, 1892

ASSIGNMENT OF SAM HANNA & SON
On Saturday morning of last week the wholesale and retail hardware and implement house of Sam Hanna & Son, doing business at 111 and 113 Main street, filed with the court at Sherman an assignment, according to the laws of the state, for the benefit of all their creditors, naming A.H. Coffin as assignee.  The house began business here 4 years ago under the name of Hanna, Cowles & Elliott.  IN a few months Mr. Elliott withdrew and the name of the firm stood for some time as Hanna, Cowles & Co.  Something over a year ago Mr. Cowles withdrew, disposing of his interest to Messrs. Sam and John Hanna, since which time the firm name has been Sam Hanna & Son.
In conversation with a Gazetteer representative Mr. John Hanna stated that he could not attribute the failure to a want of business nor an inability to collect, but in assuming entire proprietorship of the business, they involved themselves to a greater extent than they were able to either carry or meet.  Mr. Sam Hanna owned some very choice city property, both improved and unimproved, but it was found impossible to dispose of it at anything like a fair valuation.  During the past week the doors have been closed and an invoice of the goods is being taken.  Mr. Coffin has not, as yet, announced what disposition he will make of the stock.
The members of the firm have the heartfelt sympathy of every one in Denison.  Mr. Sam Hanna came to this city with the pioneers, and has always been an active business man and a leader in all enterprises looking to the city's prosperity.  For a man at this time of life to be overwhelmed by business misfortunes is lamentable in the extreme, and expressions of regret were heard on every hand when it became public that the house had made an assignment.

The 1900 census shows Sam, wife Sallie, and daughter Jane living in their home on Sears St.  In the 1903 Sherman/Denison City Directory, Samuel Hanna is listed as a merchandise broker operating his business at 122 W. Main Street and residing with his wife at 1007 West Sears St.

In 1903 Hanna Bros. built a blacksmith shop, located at 120 West Woodard St.  The frame structure stood for approximately 38 years until it was demolished in 1941 to make way for Jim Johnson's oil depot.

The Denison Press
Thursday, June 12, 1941

Blacksmith Shop, Local Landmark, Going Way of All the Earth Today
One of the oldest landmarks in the city, a blacksmith shop at 120 West Woodard street, which, according to the best information has been standing for 38 y ears, is going the way of all the earth, and is being razed this week.
The shop was built in 1903 by Hanna Bros., who operated a lumber yard in that block at that time.
It was learned today that the site is to have a brick building 14x20 feet which will be used as a wholesale oil depot by Jim Johnson, who operates a service station also.
The old frame structure has been in an ill state of repair for years and has been gradually decaying. However, until this week, the ring of the anvil as the blacksmith hammered at sharpening plows, shoeing horses or shrinking tires, has been heard daily.
The days of the blacksmith have been relatively numbered since the advent of the auto, and those smiths who have not taken on the auto angle of modern day shops, find themselves, gradually being moved out of the picture.
The blacksmith shop was opened in Denison with the first sign of any form of business through the years.  Active in the blacksmith business have been such men as Ed Ford, in the west end, Tignor and Mosse, who ran a place where the Rialto theatre now stands, and John Holder, whose place of business still is conducted at 210 W. Chestnut.  There are others of the old school still operating.
The old shop now being razed dates back to the days of such men as R.S. Legate, J.B. McDougal, Milt Eppstein, W.B. Leeper, John Gardner, J.L. Blackford, some of whom owned fine horses and were patrons of the old-time blacksmith shops.

Sam Hanna died about 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 21, 1903 at the family home, 1015 West Gandy St. after a few days' illness.  He is buried in Fairview Cemetery.

Source:
Calvin Mauldin. "Hanna-Owens and the later Waples-Platter Grocery Helped Guide the Growth of Early Denison"  The Denison Herald, April 23, 1995
"Samuel Hanna."  The Sunday Gazetteer, November 29, 1903

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