DISCLAIMERS

1) The following is my interpretation of Hanna family history as it relates to my particular branch of the family.
2) I have borrowed heavily from other researchers work and have condensed/summarized large parts of family history.
3) As I cannot guarantee the accuracy of any of this please do not quote this information. If you find serious errors and can correct any of this information please feel free to contact me, thanks!

SCOTLAND

The original home of the Hanna family is the region of Galloway in Southwest Scotland.

The exact origins of the Hanna name are unknown.
Like many names from Scottish early times it is found in a variety of spellings including "De Anneth", "De Hanyethe", "Ahanna" and "Ahannay".
Current spelling of the name include Hannay, Hanna, Hannah, Hanner and possibly other variations.

Ahanna or Ahannay seems to be the most prevalent early form of the name and this has caused some to suggest that it is of Celtic origin, the "A" being the Welsh "Ap," meaning "son of".
Some have argued in favor of a Norse or Scandinavian origin while others consider it a Pictish name.

It is safe to assume that like most of the people who lived in the area the family has blood ties to all of the various groups that have inhabited the region over the centuries be it Celt, Pict, Norse, Gael, Brit or Norman.

There is not a great deal of recorded Hanna family history prior to the 13th century but family tradition speaks of a Patrick Hanna who in the late 12th century served Richard Coeur de Lion and was knighted in the Holy Land. The Hanna crest depicts a fitched crosslet over a crescent which refers to this participation in the crusades.

It was around the 13th century that the family started to come into a certain amount of power in Galloway both financial and political.
No records of family land ownership are found prior to that point.

In the Ragman Roll of 1296, amongst those barons who swore loyalty to Edward I is listed the name Gilbert de Hanyethe.
The Hannas sided with the English in Scotland's War of Independence until they were defeated by Edward Bruce and submitted to King Robert the Bruce in approx. 1308.
Thereafter the Hannas fought for Scotland and are noted as having participated in the battles at Sauchieburn in 1488 and Flodden in 1513.

The part of Galloway where the Hanna's power centered was in the area known as the Machars at the village of Sorbie, near the town of Wigtown.
It was near Sorbie that Alexander Ahanna built the fortified towerhouse known as "The Old Place of Sorbie" in about 1550.
It's believed that Alexander built the stone castle in response to his father Patrick's murder in 1543.

Sorbie Tower replaced the previous family stronghold, a nearby wooden castle which had been built by the former owners of the land, the de Vetereponts.
The exact point at which the land passed from the de Vetereponts to the Hannas is unknown but it was well before 1550. There is some speculation that the land came into the family through marriage.

It was around the time that the Tower was built that the family was at the height of its power in Galloway. A power which soon declined due largely to constant feuding with their neighbors, the Kennedys, the Dunbars, the Murrays and others.

It should be noted that feuding was a way of life in Galloway during those days. The area is liberally dotted with strongholds similar to Sorbie Tower from which families would forray out against neighboring clans. The acts performed during these feuds ranged from simple harrasment to serious aggression such as barn burning, cattle theft and, in extreme cases, battles in which blood was spilled and lives lost.

In 1601 the Hannas were "put to the horn" or outlawed for their extreme transgressions against the Murrays. The family was made to pay heavy fines which brought financial ruin to the Hannas of Sorbie causing many estates to be sold off.

Perhaps it was this downturn of fortune that prompted many members of the Hanna family to participate in the Ulster plantations in Northern Ireland which began about that same time.

IRELAND

The Ulster plantations took place on large tracts of land in Northern Ireland which had been taken away from the Irish and then redistributed to English and Scottish subjects who swore allegance to the English crown and church.

Many Hanna families went to Ireland to become tenant farmers on the plantations, some of these families permanently settled in Ireland.
Other Hanna families maintained their ties to Galloway, traveling back and forth the short distance separating the Northern part of Ireland from Galloway in the the Southwestern part of Scotland.

AMERICA

Many members of the Hanna family were among the throngs of Scotch-Irish who came to America by way of Ireland in the early part of the 18th century.
Included among them was one Patrick Hanna ( born approx. 1699 in Scotland ) who in around 1730 travelled from Ireland to North America along with his father Robert Hanna and at least one of his brothers.

Reportedly Patrick's father Robert eventually returned to Ireland. Patrick stayed in North America where he settled in the area that would become the state of Pennsylvania.

PENNSYLVANIA

I believe that Patrick's son Samuel Hanna ( born approx. 1740 ) was the father of my Great(X4) Grandfather, the Rev. Samuel Hanna, and that Rev. Samuel Hanna's mother was Mary Brady, daughter of Hugh Brady.
Evidence to support this family tie is circumstantial.

KENTUCKY

What is certain is that my Great(X4) Grandfather, the Rev. Samuel Hanna did settle in Kentucky near the end of the 18th century. It was in Bourbon County on 18 Nov 1796 that he married Mary Elizabeth Cassidy.
From Bourbon County they soon moved to what was to become Floyd County and raised their family. Among their children was my Great(X3) Grandfather Jesse P. Hanna, who in 1823 married Elizabeth Williams.
While in Floyd County the Rev. Samuel Hanna was a active member of the Baptist church and served as an elder of the Burning Springs church near present day Salyersville Kentucky.

OHIO / ILLINOIS

In the 1820s the family was on the move. Over a period of about ten years the family relocated three or four times, first to Ohio then Illinois and back to Kentucky. A persuit of greener pastures?

ARKANSAS

Sometime around 1832 the family made what was to be Rev. Hanna's final move. Washington County Arkansas was where the family settled, near the middle fork of the White River. There Samuel helped build yet another church. That church became known as the Whitehouse church and was built on land donated by the Rev. Hanna as was the land for the nearby Whitehouse cemetery where many members of the Rev. Hanna's family are buried.

TEXAS

The family stayed in Washington County Arkansas several years after the Rev. Samuel Hanna's death in 1837.
But in 1848 the lure of new land in Texas prompted many families in the area to pull up stakes and head South. Among these was the family of my Great(X3) Grandfather Jesse P. Hanna who at first settled in Williamson Co. Texas but then after a brief return to Arkansas settled permanently in what was then Brown County Texas.
The Brown County Texas land they settled was on the banks of the Colorado River and became known as Hanna Valley.
It was in Hanna Valley that my Great(X2) Grandfather Robert M. Hanna grew up and married Sarah Ann Williams, a second cousin once removed.
Robert and Sarah Ann's time together was short. My Great Grandfather Joseph Y. Hanna was born in 1870, in 1872 Sarah Ann lost a set of twins in childbirth then in 1873 Sarah Ann died at age 23.
A few years later Robert remarried and raised several more children with his second wife Sarah E. Hardin.
Robert lived his entire life in Texas, he died 1917 in Holt Texas.

OKLAHOMA

My Great Grandfather Joseph also grew up in Hanna Valley and in his youth participated in several cattle drives. In 1900 Joseph Hanna headed North to the newly opened Oklahoma lands where my family has been ever since.