THE HANCOCK CONNECTION 1710-1850 Virginia - Kentucky - Tennessee - Missouri - California From miscellaneous references - usually footnotes - we first connect our California Hancocks to the John Hancock Family of Patrick County, Virginia. Numerous researchers have poured over old documents for years establishing connections to this large and most adventuresome family. Richard Ramsey Hancock, author of The Hancock Family, was the first to mention that Jonathan Barton "Bart" Hancock, tax collector of Fresno, was a member of this family. In his own biography J. B. Hancock states that he is from the Hancocks of Patrick County. Our difficulty over these many years has been to fill in the years of 1750-1850, a period which many researchers consider the "black hole" of history. The vast migration west began with Daniel Boone, accompanied originally with the relatives of Rebecca Bryan, his wife and members of the Boone Family, into Kentucky. (Research now indicates that Lavinia Bryant who married Michael Donahoo was a member of the Bryan Family of Kentucky.) With Daniel were many original signers of the Watagua Association of N. C. Watagua Association settlers spread from the frontiers of Virginia and North Carolina through the Cumberland Gap, going north to Kentucky and on the Ohio River, or south on to the Cumberland River into middle Tennessee. As we have followed the Hancocks through the Cumberland Gap north and south, we find they scattered every way, and always going in family groups. Our research approach therefore, has been to "sweep" all Hancocks channeled through that 550 foot gap in the mountains as they floated south or travelled the Wilderness Road north. Often family members were separated for years, but history has shown us that many converged several years later into new territories such as Missouri and Indiana. Our sweep approach has been to find these groups the Hancocks travelled with, following their descendants through to their deaths, and picking up old histories. With the computer this is now possible - 25 years ago it was a nightmare. Our summation, therefore, is that by understanding the bonding of the family, deep friendship, and the forces of historical events we can find ourselves and our own roots. J. B. Hancock and brother Benjamin C. Hancock were youngsters when they reached the Sacramento Valley in 1852 with grandfather Jonathan Barton and mother Serena Barton Hancock. County histories in Missouri often list community members who "went to California in 1849, and never came back." It is erroneous to assume, however, that the ties to old roots died away. Although primitive, families kept track of each other by word of mouth or mail. Sometimes letters arrived long after the death of a member, but knowledge as to where family members settled was well known by groups. We know this by the way they travelled - some going north, others west, and then years later settling together again. Roots were deep. We know now that the Hancock boys were not the only Hancocks who went west from Missouri. Stephen Hancock left Howard County at the same time and is noted as "going to California." We believe there were other Hancock's in the Valley, although the exact relationship is not known now. Whatever, word got back to Richard Ramsey Hancock that J. B. Hancock, many years after the arrival in California, was politically successful. We believe also that J. B. Hancock visited family in Missouri when he returned after the death of Jonathan Barton. There were letters - communication. Missouri knew we were in California, but that knowledge would eventually fade from our memory. J. B. stated that his father was Dr. John Calvin Hancock of St. Charles County, son of Benjamin Hancock early settler of St. Charles County. J. B. was only 9 years old when he went to California and only 16 years old when his mother died. How much he really knew about his Hancock family is debatable. We have found that his biography is laced with wishful thinking, perhaps written for a political audience. Indeed, there was a skeleton in the closet which most likely embarrassed the family. J. B. Hancock's mother Serena was not widowed at a young age by the death of her husband, but a deserted wife. This above all has been our greatest stumbling block in research. Serena was a Barton, a family well known throughout Missouri. She married a Hancock, who was from a very respected "founding" family in Missouri. They were a proud people. Integrity was so important to them. Because John left his family, his place in history and knowledge of our link to the Virginia Hancocks has been difficult to determine. This past year, extensive research has finally given us the Hancock Connection beyond John. We have concluded through land, marriage, court and census records that J. B. Hancock actually descends from William Hancock of Virginia, rather than his brother John Hancock. The Draper Collection has been of tremendous help in our research. Several letters written by Robert Hancock, son of Stephen Hancock SR in the 1850's are contained in the Boone Manuscript, Draper Collection. In one letter, Robert had this to say: "You wished to know about my father and Uncle William. They were born in Goochland County, Virginia. They were the two youngest children of a large family, my father was 16 years old when his father died. His older brother bound my father and Uncle William to the house carpenters business. They served a while. Col. Byrd was going on a campaign against the Indians and French. They both enlisted and went on the campaign when they returned my father was overseer for a wealthy widow and Uncle Wm was also employed by her. My father was married when he was 22 years old, two years after Wm married. Both married sisters of Henry Merchant that was in the first convention that formed our Confederacy. They then moved to settle in Bedford Co. in Virginia in 1775. They joined in with Col. Boone as he moved his family to Kentucky settled at Boonesborough, Kentucky with Col. Boone. Raised a crop and transferred to Col. Boone until they moved their families. Then replaced the same amount....." (Draper, Boone Manuscript, Vol. 24C page 17 February 25, 1850) Hopkins of Virginia mentions the difficulty in tracing a family in Virginia. "The reader should bear in mind, always, that the difficulty in tracing a family in Virginia, and especially in the Eastern portion, is due to the fact that the records of a great number of counties of Virginia were completely or partially destroyed by the Federal Army during the War Between the States. Therefore, it is impossible to trace, definitely, the ancestry of a great number of the earlier families who settled and lived in counties where the records were so destroyed." Page 116 Benjamin Hancock was born about 1710, in Virginia. A Benjamin Hancock is listed on the List of Tithes in 1748 and 1749 in Goochland County. Virginia. At this point, we have only a few tax records and notes to document his life. His family was large. Marriage dates and other information on this family are documented in the Douglas Register, of Goochland County, Virginia. A current Family Group Record has been included, although it should be noted that more research is needed on this family. (FGR 30) William Hancock SR was born in 1738 in Goochland County, Virginia and married Mary Merchant about 1763. He died in St. Charles Co, Missouri in 1821. Stephen SR, a younger brother, was also born in Goochland County in 1744 and married Mary's sister, Catherine Merchant about 1765. Their first child was christened in Goochland County. Stephen SR died in St. Louis, Missouri in 1827. Robert, son of Stephen, described them as follows: "My father (Stephen SR and Uncle William SR) were 5 feet 8 inches high, weight 160 lbs. They were both nearer alike in every respect than most of other two men -- my father a little bow-legged, my uncle straight as an Indian." William and Stephen were said to have been "very cheerful and social in character and greatly enjoyed a good joke and were able in telling one." Brother John lived his life in Virginia, while brothers William SR and Stephen SR headed for the "Great Meadow" of Kentucky. Stephen SR is quoted as stating "I came to Kentucky in January of 1776. We followed the trace known as "Boone's Trace", past the Blue Licks, Twitty's Fort and thence to Boonesborough. I went back to Virginia in the company of Thomas Phelps, and eight others in the fall of 1776 and stayed there until October 1777. At that time, in the company of my brother, William we brought our families out to Boonesborough. We stayed at the Fort until the fall of 1780 when I went down to my place on Tates Creek." In 1776, William SR and Stephen SR were close and loyal friends of Daniel Boone. The Hancock boys are found throughout early records of Kentucky and were in several historic battles in the early days of the Fort. They were in the group of men who left the Fort in January 1778 to encamp at Blue Licks on the Licking River to obtain desperately needed salt for the Fort. They were captured with Daniel Boone and other salt makers by the Shawnee Indians, held captive in Detroit to be sold as slaves to the British. Stephen SR was fortunate enough to get away, but William was taken to Chillocothe, Ohio as was Daniel and most of the other salt makers. William SR stayed for several months before he made an escape. He returned to the Fort on July 17, 1778, so nearly dead that Boone and others nursed him for three days. (Refer to the the article "William Hancock, Adventure at Fort Boonesborough" for an account of William's capture.) Daniel had the choice of being a prisoner, or be killed. He actually "collaborated" with the Indians during those months of captivity. He later escaped in time to warn the people of Boonesborough of the pending attack of Shawnee, travelling an incredible 160 miles in four days. His arrival at Boonesborough enabled the Fort to be prepared, and the Indians were turned away. The brothers sided in the Siege of September 1778 and were among those chosen to go meet with the Indians during the battle. Their wives and children helped mold bullets in this siege. However, collaboration charges were brought up soon afterwards by Captain Richard Calloway, one of Daniel's oldest friends, and a trial was held in Boonesborough. Daniel was acquitted of all charges and made a Major in the Virginia Militia, but the trial sorely affected Boone and severed many old friendships. Records list the brothers in Captain John Holder's Company dated June 10, 1779 in Madison County, Kentucky. William SR and Stephen SR are listed on the pay roll for part of Captain James Estill's Company of Militia in actual service in the Frontier of Lincoln County in 1782. The "actual service" became known as the Battle of Little Mountain, or Estill's Defeat. After Madison County was established, William SR and Stephen SR were on the first jury that met in the home of Captain David Gass, March 7, 1787. Current records list seven children in William's household - Mary, Stephen, Benjamin (no doubt named after his grandfather Benjamin Hancock born about 1710), Forrest, James, Sarah and William JR. Records list eleven children in Stephen's household. In 1799, feeling very overwhelmed by the influx of settlers into Kentucky, Daniel and Rebecca struck out west again. Travelling with them was Forrest Hancock. Upon the invitation of the Spanish Governor who wanted Americans to settle in Missouri, then under Spanish control, Daniel was given 850 acres when he first arrived. If he could get 100 families to settle in the area he would be given additional land in the Femme Osage district, some 40 miles west of St. Louis. A letter back to his loyal friends in Kentucky in 1799 soon brought results. Among those soon to arrive were brothers Stephen and William. In the History of Missouri, page 25, we read "These settlements were made on the water courses, usually along the banks of the two great streams, whose navigation afforded them transportation for their marketable commodities, and communication with the civilized portion of the country. They not only encountered the gloomy forests, settling as they did by the river's brink, but the hostile incursion of savage Indians, by who they were for many years surrounded." Often we have wondered why only a few of the Hancocks arrived in Femme Osage District, St. Charles County, yet a plausible explanation could be that indeed, "a few letters went to Kentucky to a select 100 friends". We doubt that this included the extended families at that time which would explain why in 1799 children of Stephen and William were in Tennessee, an area which were accessible by waterways, entering statehood, and offered cheap land. We believe now that Benjamin Hancock, perhaps the eldest son of William Hancock SR had already left Kentucky for Tennessee, an American Territory, settling in Rutherford County where he remained until after 1822. He is listed on the 1820 Rutherford Co, Tennessee census records. Son Benjamin Franklin was born in Rutherford Co, Tennessee in 1822. Records have revealed a glimpse into the lives of William's family. William SR owned 600 arpens, or 510 acres of land with boundaries of the Missouri River and Tuque Creek. Land documents of St. Charles County list William Hancock SR giving land in St. Charles County to William JR and Benjamin Hancock who was then living in Tennessee, dated 20 July 1816. Sometime in the mid 1820's Benjamin came to St. Charles County with his family to claim this land - John Calvin, Rhoda, Forrest, Benjamin Franklin, Nancy and a daughter not yet identified. Three children were born in St. Charles - Elizabeth, Charlotte and an unidentified male. Elizabeth, his wife, was fifteen years younger than Benjamin and it is possible that this was his second marriage. Further research is required. William's second son, Forrest, was an adventurer. Hunters Forrest and Joseph Dickson left the Illinois in the summer of 1804 and ascended the Missouri River, hunting and trapping beaver. These men were the first to follow the trail which the Lewis and Clark expedition had blazed. They met up with the Lewis and Clark expedition on August 12, 1806. Shortly after that time, Forrest, Joseph and John Colter, a member of the expedition, continued to trap and explore Yellowstone basin. Eventually Forrest returned to St. Charles where he owned 340 acres of land near his brother Stephen and father. William JR was administrator of his will in Warren County in 1846. We have been unable to locate Forrest on the Missouri census records and have no information on his family, although there is speculation that he married Emily Boone. James, also known as Jesse, died the 18th of November 1813, while a Mounted Ranger under the command of Captain Daniel Morgan Boone, son of Daniel Boone. His estate papers give no indication that he was married. Stephen died in St. Charles County in 1816. He had a farm next to his father of 400 arpens, 340 acres, located on the Missouri River. Estate papers mention his widow Sarah and "heirs" which would indicate that there were a least two children. A Stephen Hancock married Rosetta Darst in 1836 in Warren County, Missouri. We believe Stephen is the son of Stephen and Sarah Hancock, grandson of William SR. Rosetta was the daughter of Jacob Darst, life long friend of William JR. (Jacob later died at the Alamo.) In 1846 William JR is the administrator of the estate for Stephen Hancock. The 1850 census in Warren County lists three children - Mary Frances born 1839, Roswell born 1840 and Zerelda born 1842 with William JR. It is our belief that these are orphaned children of Stephen and Rosetta in the care of Stephen's uncle, William JR. William JR is listed as the guardian of Mary Frances when she married Patrick Gabin in 1856. William JR was one of the earliest settlers of nearby Montgomery County which later became known as Warren County. He states that he lived in three counties and never moved - St. Charles, Montgomery and Warren County. In 1816, William SR and wife Mary sold their planation, slaves, and livestock to William JR "for a maintance". After researching the male children of William SR, it is easier to understand why so little information has been available from other descendants. Jesse and Stephen died while in the prime of life, and we know little of Forrest. The only son of William JR died unmarried. Mary, daughter of William SR married in Lincoln County, Kentucky and Sarah married in St. Charles County. Stephen Hancock, brother to William SR, settled in St. Louis. In Louis Houck's History of Missouri, pg 217, it mentions that Stephen SR was a regular attendant at a prosperous little Baptish Church at Point Labadie, St. Louis. He is quoted as "another venerable Baptist of North Missouri, who mourned the low state of Zion." The 1830 St. Louis Census lists Judy Hancock, widow (second wife of Stephen SR). Daughter Ruth married Sarshell Cooper and came with her husband and father early in the 1800's to St. Charles County. The Cooper family played an important role in early history of Missouri. Little is known about Joseph. Stephen JR lived near his father in St. Louis until after his death. He served under Captain Allen Ramsey in at least one engagement with some Winnebago Indians. By the 1840, he had settled in Boone County. Robert, John and daughter Frances were all early settlers of Howard County. Son George settled in Maury County, Tennessee. It is believed that after the death of George in 1823, cousin Benjamin Hancock left Tennessee and moved closer to his family in the Femme Osage district, St. Charles County. Early St. Charles County marriage records reveal that many children of the early settlers of Femme Osage intermarried. John C. Hancock, son of Benjamin Hancock, grandson of William Hancock, married Serena Barton 1838 in Boone County. In the History of the State of California, written about 1898, son J. B. Hancock recorded that his father studied medicine at the Louisville Medical School and returned to Missouri to set up practice in Columbia, Boone County. Dr. Hancock first appears on the tax records of St. Charles County in 1836 when he paid $.44 3/4 taxes on a horse valued at $55.00. This was high compared to the average horse in St. Charles County valued at $15.00. Dr. Hancock did not own any "real property" in 1836 and does not appear again on tax lists in either St. Charles or Boone Counties. Census records reveal that he was born between 1810-1820 probably when his father lived in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Approximate date of birth is 1814. Research has not confirmed that Dr. Hancock did attend medical school, although the Louisville Medical school replied to inquiry that school records were incomplete 1830-1840. Often students attended only one year and dropped out. The science of medicine was certainly in infant stages in 1836. The evidence is strong that John C. Hancock did practice medicine. In the 1840 census of St. Charles County he is referred to as "Dr. John C. Handcock". J. B. Hancock also noted that his father was a doctor many years later. Living in St. Charles County in the 1830's were the following families: Neal, Winchester, Gilmore, Barton, Burdyne, Hancock, Boone, Overall, Bryant and Harrold. The Bartons, Hancocks, Boone, Overalls, Bryants, and Harrolds settled St. Charles early in the 1800's, some coming from the "river counties" in Tennessee and others travelling with Daniel Boone in 1799. Amos Burdyne in 1840 residing in Culvier Township was a close friend of the Winchesters and possible kin. Several of his daughters married between 1830-1840. Pioneer Families of Missouri records several incidents in the life of this colorful pioneer. Tracing our Hancock roots back through Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee and to Virginia has demanded that relationships be understood and documented. Certainly events and decisions made by family members effected the course of the family for generations to come. It became paramount that the life of Dr. John Hancock be carefully studied to enable us to accurately link our family to the Hancocks in Virginia. On 27 Mar 1837 in St. Charles County Miss Elizabeth Winchester became the bride of Lytte Neal. Dr. Hancock was listed as a resident of St. Charles in 1836. It is unknown if Dr. Hancock knew Miss Winchester in St. Charles County, but given the close proximity of the families it is most likely he did know her prior to her marriage. When he attended medical school is unknown, but approximation of dates puts attendance between 1836-1838. If he did return to St. Charles County, it was for a very short time, for at the time of his marriage in 1838, he listed himself as being a resident of Howard County. Living in Howard County at the same time was Stephen Hancock, first cousin to Benjamin Hancock, John's father. Serena Barton, daughter of Jonathan Barton, was living with her father in Perche Township, 5 miles north of Columbia. J. B. Hancock records in his biography that his father went to Columbia to set up a medical practice. Very likely Dr. Hancock met the Barton family during this early period of his medical practice and married Serena in 1838. Famed frontier minister A. P Williams conducted the marriage. Understanding why Dr. Hancock moved so often has been difficult and from a researcher's standpoint, nearly impossible to establish his family affiliation. In 1839 he was again back in St. Charles County living next to his father. In that year Serena gave birth to her first child, Benjamin C. Hancock. In 1840, however, another turn of events would affect Dr. Hancock. Elizabeth Winchester Neal married earlier to Lytte Neal, was deserted by her husband. Amos Burdyne, on behalf of Mrs. Neal placed a notice in the St. Louis "Republican Gazette", "Elizabeth Neal divorced St. Charles Co., Mo 'Litel" Neal, posted by next friend Amos Burdyne - accused of desertion and abandonment more than two years." Filed 29 April 1842 By posting notice in the local papers, Mrs. Neal was considered legally divorced by reason of desertion. Serena gave birth to her second son 13 May 1841. J. B. Hancock's biography states he was born in Boone County. This would mean that Dr. Hancock again moved from St. Charles County to Boone or the biography was in error and Dr. Hancock remained in St. Charles County. Whatever, continual movement, lack of property records, and an inconsistency in recorded history hints that all was not well with the marriage of Dr. Hancock and Serena. Sometime in the Spring of 1843 Dr. Hancock made the decision to leave his young family. Polk and Greene Counties of southwest Missouri had attracted several members of the prominent settlers in Missouri. Among them were Hancock cousins, grandchildren of Thomas Gilmore of St. Charles County, Neal families, John Winchester, and another Winchester who was a "stage coach driver" living in Polk County. With family residing in west Missouri, Mrs. Neal and Dr. Hancock left St. Charles County. One can only image the stage coach ride from St. Charles to Polk County. On 20 July 1843 the couple was married in Polk County. No doubt John's actions were difficult for the established families in St. Charles and Boone Counties to accept. In the fall of 1843, Serena placed the following ad in the local papers: "Serena Hancock, she is the daughter of Jonathan Barton, and the legal wife of Dr. John C. Hancock, now in Iowa Territory, that he intends to marry another woman." John Hancock was not in Iowa, and was already married to Mrs. Neal. An abstractor of these early news articles comments in her preface, "We think of 'Women's Lib' as a product of our own time. But these records show that Missouri women have been far more liberated than we realized, and for a very long time!" Serena went home to live with father Jonathan in Perche Township where she is found in the 1850 census. Her son J. B. Hancock records that his father "died young just as his practice was being established." It is suspected that Serena knew where her husband was and that sometime between 1843-1850 he died possibly in Polk County. No records have been found of him after 1843 in either Boone or Polk County - no guardianship records, no probate, no land, and no wills. He is not mentioned in his father's will nor did he inherit any of the original land owned by grandfather William Hancock. All efforts to find Elizabeth Ann Winchester Neal Hancock have been unsuccessful. Her friend Amos Burdyne eventually settled in Arkansas where his children can be found. If indeed Dr. Hancock died young, perhaps Elizabeth travelled on to Arkansas. No records have been found of any children from this relationship. Dr. John Hancock and Elizabeth vanish from recorded history. (Note: An Elizabeth Ann Hancock married Hiram Blair in 1853, Polk County. Could this be the Elizabeth Ann Neal who married John C. Hancock remarrying?) In 1852 Serena left Missouri with her father's family. The family settled in the San Joaquin Valley. It was here she married William Harrold. It is believed now that he was the son of Leonard Harrold, another early pioneer family of Missouri. Serena and William had a son George Harrold, named possibly for William's brother George. The Hancocks of Missouri did not forget Serena and John. Was it only a coincidence that John's brothers, Forrest and Benjamin named children born in 1850 - Serena and John? After many, many years and only with the unselfish efforts of many dedicated researchers can the family of William Hancock be identified and take a well-earned place in history. We are a scattered family, found now in all parts of the country. We are found in the foothills of Fresno, in the San Francisco Bay area, in the farm lands of Idaho, near the Sandia Mountains of New Mexico, on the rolling plains of Texas and Nebraska. We are all religions, all ethnic groups, and can be found in every economic group. Much remains to be done, many family members remain unidentified. But we are confident that in the next decade with the aide of technology we will continue to identify descendants and solve difficult research problems identifying our roots back through Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia and finally across the Atlantic to our beginning in the British Isles. Hancock Family Organization P.O. Box 22 Richfield, ID 83349 July 1991 Research continues on this family, any corrections or additions are welcome.