Hanes
John Wesley Hanes' brother Pleasant H. Hanes founded the P.H. Hanes Knitting Company in 1901. The brothers previously operated a tobacco manufacturing business, that they sold to R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1900. The P.H. Hanes Knitting Company merged with Hanes Hosiery in 1965. The P.H. Hanes Knitting Company complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. Consolidated Foods (later renamed Sara Lee) announced its purchase of Hanes in 1978.
John Wesley Hanes II
Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, John Hanes II was the son of John Wesley Hanes and Anna Jannette Hodgin Hanes. His father was the founder of Shamrock Mills who was also a significant shareholder of Reynolds Tobacco Company through the sale of a tobacco business he had started.