William Lucas and Mary Jane (Kellam) Hankins Graves

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Long before FindAGrave and other genealogy websites existed, genealogists still photographed family markers in cemeteries. I found this set of photo of my great grandparents William Lucas Hankins and Mary Jane Kellam's graves in Lake View Cemetery in Skaneateles, Onondaga County, New York. Their son, Francis William Hankins, was one of many previous family historians in the family. 

William Lucas Hankins died in 1930, his widow, Mary Jane died in 1944. Since William's death date is on the stone, but Mary Jane's isn't, my guess is the photos were taken between 1930 and 1944.




I noticed the fourth photo has a car in the background - so I ran the image through a couple of LLM's to see if it was possible to narrow the time frame. Google Gemini 3.1 dated the car to the late 1920s/early 1930s based on the wooden spokes on the tire and the boxy shape of the car. Gemini also said the spare was mounted on the front of car (it looks like it's on the back to me!). 

Perplexity came up with similar dates. ChatGPT focused on the rear mounted spare, which was common before the mid-1930s. Claude Sonnet 4.6 couldn't come up with anything.

Based on the wood spokes, rear mounted spare, and boxy shape - ChatGPT suggested it could be a 1932 Ford Model B. 



ChatGPT then asked if I could upload a closer in crop - so I did - got very different results! I did enlarge the photo using Topaz Gigapixel so that may have helped. Apparently the tighter crop allowed ChatGPT to determine those weren't wooden spokes - but wire spokes. It now placed the spare as being front mounted on the passenger side (I think the driver's side is visible in the photo). It also identified the top of the car being slightly rounded, so not just boxy. Based on this analysis - ChapGPT suggested it could be a 1934-1935 Chevrolet Master. 

Now since I have trouble telling one modern car from the next using Lyft or Uber, I have no clue if any of the identifications by any of the LLM's are correct. 

The other mystery about William and Mary Jane's graves is why are they buried in Skaneateles? As far as I know, no one in the family ever lived there. William and Mary Jane lived in Auburn, Cayuga County from the late 1890s through William's death. Their only surviving son, Francis lived in New Jersey. And their twin children, Helen Maye and Howard Ray who died before their first birthdays, are buried in Riverside Cemetery in Long Eddy, Sullivan County, New York. 


William Lucas Hankins, son of Lucas Wurtz Hankins (1831-1910) and Mary Ellen Ross (1835-1914) was born 11 October 1872 in Manchester, Wayne County, Pennsylvania. Mary Jane Kellam,  daughter of John Ross Kellam (1830-1903) and Frances Maria Shafer (1846-1924) was born 2 September 1874 in Hankins, Sullivan County, New York. They married on 10 August 1896 at Newburgh, Orange County, New York. They had three children, Francis William (1897-1983), Helen Maye (March - September 1900) and Howard Ray (March - October 1900).  William Lucas Hankins died 24 June 1930 in Auburn, Cayuga County, New York. Mary Jane (Kellam) Hankins died 26 September 1944 in Philadlephia. 

Location: Skaneateles, NY 13152, USA

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