John Wesley Hanes I

John Wesley Hanes I
Born	February 3, 1850 Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
Died	September 22, 1903 (1903-09-23) (aged 53) Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Resting place	Salem Cemetery, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Occupation(s)	Tobacco manufacturer, textile manufacturer
Known for	Hanes Hosiery
Spouse	Anna Jannette Hodgin (1857-1947)
Children	1) Daisy (b. 1880) 2) Alexander Stephen (1881-1944) 3) Frederick Moir (1883-1946) 4) James Gordon (1886-1972) 5) Robert March (1890-1959) 6) John Wesley II (1892-1987) 7) Edward (b. 1892) (twin) 8) Ralph Phillip (b. 1892) (twin) 9) Lucy Hodgin (1895-1949)
Parent	Alexander Martin Hanes & Jane March
Relatives	Brother: Pleasant Henderson Hanes

John Wesley Hanes (February 3, 1850 – September 22, 1903) was an American businessman from Winston-Salem, North Carolina who ran a tobacco company before founding Shamrock Mills in 1901, the company that became Hanes Hosiery Mills.

Life

Known by his middle name, Wesley Hanes owned the tobacco company in partnership with his brother, Pleasant Henderson Hanes. Using some of the proceeds of their sale of the business to R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Wesley Hanes went into the manufacturing of stockings while his brother set up an underwear manufacturing business under the name P.H. Hanes Knitting Company.

Wesley Hanes died at age fifty-three in 1903, just two years after creating the business. His son, James Gordon Hanes, would be responsible for the 1963 merger with P. H. Hanes Knitting and for making Hanes Hosiery one of largest producers in the world of seamless stretch nylon hosiery for women.