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Wife: Amy Ward |
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9 Children: Elijah Hancock (1786-1818) Thomas Hancock (1788-1848) Clarissa Hancock (1790-1870) Solomon Hancock (1794-1847) Alvah Hancock (1796-1847) Joseph Hancock (1800-1893) Levi Ward Hancock (1803-1882) Sarah Hancock (1805-1886) Amy Hancock (1807-1809) | |
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Father: Thomas Hancock Mother: Jemima Wright 
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Thomas Hancock was born on 21 Nov 1763 in Longmeadow Mass., son of Thomas Hancock and Jemima Wright. He had dark eyes and hair and was tall (5' 9"") and broad chested. He was known throughout the country for his pleasant disposition and his slowness to anger. Being kind and good natured he was imposed upon, always having many friends staying with him who were poor. Some were too lazy to work, laying around while he supported them. He was well loved and called "Uncle Tom" by all around. [by Levi Hancock]
Thomas was a young man when the Revolutionary War began, not old enough to join the army. His two brothers lost their lives while fighting. Near the end of the war he expressed his desire to join, but General Washington said, "No, this is the last battle, it is now victory or death. You stay with your parents. They have already lost two sons. Go home and take care of your mother, for one more will not make much difference now."
He married Amy Ward, daughter of General Jacob Ward, and Irena Jones, and to their union were born six sons and three daughters. With his family and widowed mother, he moved to Bloomfield, New York, and two years later to Bristol, Ontario, New York.
In August of 1809, Thomas's mother passed away and soon afterward the family was stricken with ague. On 9 Sep 1809 their two-year-old baby died. At the funeral services Benjamin Bell, a Presbyterian minister conducted the services and after the services were over, Amy, overcome with grief, asked him if he thought the baby would be saved. Said he, "I cannot tell. It depends wholly on this — has your child been baptized?" She replied, "I have had no chance to have baptized yet." He said, "Oh, woman! The state of your child is very uncertain!"
Amy could not be consoled. She took to reading the Bible, reading for a while and then pausing to pray, then reading again, seeking to find comfort for her soul. She brooded so much about the condition of her baby that she became mentally unbalanced. Her husband cared for the family and sought to comfort her, but the home became sadly neglected. She continued in this mental state until 1811, nearly two years. She had been staying with her daughter Clarissa who had married. Finally, Amy became rational enough to return home. A severe electrical storm raged over the city, and after it abated, she went outside and prayed to God thus: "If all is well with my child, let a light appear at a certain spot on the ground." A light appeared at the spot and then disappeared. She then cried, "Show it again if she is saved." Again the light rested on the spot and again disappeared. She wept for joy, certain that God had answered her prayers, and that all was well with the child. She became completely healed of her affliction.
In 1813 the family moved to their new farm, a lovely place, with apples, peaches and cherries aplenty. But that year a killing frost took their fruit crop and due to the War of 1812 flour could not be purchased at any price. The family subsisted on cowslip greens.
On Aug. 1, 1818, death again visited the home, taking a grown son who was in his thirtieth year.
The next February the family started for Ohio. While traveling toward Buffalo, they saw the remains of homes and buildings ravished by the war and heard the distress of the people. They saw Niagara Falls, and nearby, the bodies of men who had died fighting. They traveled on, sometimes on land and sometimes on the ice, through storm and cold, and at last reached Chagrin, Ohio, their destination.
In the fall of 1830, four missionaries came to Mayfield, Ohio, where they held meetings, proclaiming to have a book which contained the history of the people who once inhabited this land. They baptized by immersion and said they belonged to the true church of God. At one of the meetings Parley P. Pratt and Sidney Rigdon spoke to the people, telling them of their beliefs, and at the class, Parley P. Pratt asked if any desired to be baptized. Thomas and his daughter were among those baptized that Sun 14 Nov 1830, on the very first day they had heard the restored gospel preached. The next day his wife Amy and son Levi rode to Mayfield to be baptized, but found the elder had gone to Kirtland. Levi went there and was bapized by Oliver Cowdery and ordained an elder and went out preaching the gospel in December, 1830, in the next month. Amy and most of their children were soon baptized. His son Levi became one of the seven presidents of the Seventies, being an incredible missionary and retaining that position until his death. Much of this history is taken from his journal.
Thomas and Amy were strong in the faith. They were personally acquainted with the prophet Joseph Smith and loved him. In March 1833 a command was given to build a temple at Kirtland and Thomas was asked to move there. Thomas and Amy moved to Kirtland, Ohio about March, 1833. His son Levi's family lived with him there. His son Solomon and daughter Sally had moved with the saints to Missouri and had been driven out into Clay County. Later Thomas and Amy and much of their family also moved to Far West, Missouri, arriving at Plum Creek about 20 Mar 1838. They traveled with their son Levi's family, along with their son Thomas. Their son Alvah were also in the group. Shortly thereafter, on 16 Apr 1838 his grandson Francis Marion was born there to Levi while mobs were howling outside the house. His grandson Mosiah Hancock remembers gathering pigweed for salad greens with him at Far West. On the Fourth of July that year, his son Levi composed a special hymn which was sung on the cornerstone of the temple by both Levi and Solomon.
Thomas was subjected to mobs and persecutions and he endured them with patience. He died in Hancock County near the border with Adams country, Illinois on 1 Oct 1844, shortly after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
[JPP: Taken from History of Levi Hancock and also History of Hancock and Adams by Charles B. Hancock.]