Joseph Warren Hancock

A brief history of Joseph Warren Hancock who was the son of Joseph Warren Hancock, known as Warren, and Clarissa DeGraw. He was born in Payson, Utah County, Utah on the 16th day of November 1856. About a year after his birth his parents separated; he was with his mother for a while then with his father or one of his grandmothers until in his teens he went to his mother until his marriage at age 26.

During this period some interesting things happened. He was nicknamed Jode. His mother went to her mother at Lehi, just how long they were there is not known. But while he was quite small he was climbing on an old bowery and fell cutting some deep gashes in his face that left him scarred for life, then he got what they called Black canker that ate the bone out of his nose leaving it quite flat.

During one stay with his father they went for wood out from Payson and while his father loaded the wood Jode gathered wood from the brush where the wood had scraped it off the sheep. He stuffed the wool in his shirt and trousers until he could hardly walk. After they got home his grandmother Hancock carded, spun and wove the wool into cloth from which she made him some clothes.

When Jode was about 11 years old he was with his grandmother DeGraw (Boren) at Midway, Utah. He was Baptized 11 Aug. 1867. Midway is where the hot pots are he talked about in later life. His mother's mother ran a dairy and made butter and cheese. She taught him the fine points of how to handle milk and the byproducts.

It must have been at Midway that he caught one of the few fish he ever caught. He said he went down to the Provo river and saw this big fish trying to get over a rapid. He jumped in and caught the fish. With a stick in it's gills and the stick on his shoulder the tail touched the ground.

One winter while with his father in Payson or south west of Payson some boys raised the barbed wire on a fence so they could coast down the hill. Jode's half brother, just a little fellow, went down the hill and forgot to duck under the wire and it scalped him and of course caused his death.

Jode's mother married James Maxwell who had some wild ways. They lived at Panguitch in southern Utah. Jode saw some wild doings and had a bad start in his late teens. Being small he was favored to ride good race horses. He liked to tell of the time when the horse being young decided to turn quickly. Not expecting the turn, Jode did not turn but "continued on for a few feet and then stopped abruptly on the ground."

James Maxwell was very good to Jode in his own way, he gave Jode some calves to start his own herd. Jode bucket-raised them then turned them out on the range. One day as he was going to town (Panguitch) upon passing the Woods ranch he saw those calves in Wood's corral. When he returned home and told Maxwell about it, Maxwell said "Let's go get them." So they rode over to the Woods' place. They went to the corral and it looked as if no one was home. While they were talking Joe Woods jumped up from behind some logs and shot Maxwell killing him, then he told Jode to get going which he did. Woods followed him for about one half mile to where Jode turned but Woods went straight into the hills where he hid out for a time.

The court record showed that Woods was acquitted on a technicality.

Not long after that the family moved to Mount Carmel then later to Orderville. There Jode learned the blacksmithing trade under Robertson, to whom his mother was married after Maxwell's death. He played the bass violin in the Orderville band. And elderly lady, Emma Segmiller in abt 1951 (she had written a history of Orderville), remembered him as the young man who sang. While at Orderville he was ordained first a teacher then later an elder just before his marriage.

It was at Orderville that he met and became attracted to a good looking young lady by the name of Jerusha Irene Spencer. Her mother objected to him because he was a "cowboy." But finally the objection was overcome and they were married May 31, 1883 in the St. George Temple. After their marriage the Order (United Order) sent them to Houserock in northern Arizona to look after a ranch and supply depot for the men riding the range in that area for the "order." While they were there the cowboys would come in and they offered Jerusha twenty five cents per item, one sock one handkerchief one shirt etc. if she would wash their clothes, so she did. Out of that money she bought the clock that sat on our mantle, and Uncle Ran has it to this day.

On Jun 21 1884 their first son Joseph Spencer Hancock was born to them in Glendale, Kane County, Utah they having gone there to her mother because she was a midwife, and so Jerusha would be with her mother.

Not long after this they moved to Huntington, Emery County, Utah. Jode built or bought a log house there that stands to this day. It has been added to and stuccoed but it still stands. He built his first blacksmith shop on the back of the lot and later moved it downtown. On the 9th of September 1885 Joseph died and was buried in the Huntington cemetery. Jode always wanted something just a little better so he made the wood marker with a ball on top. That marker was still standing about 1960.

On the 5th of February 1886 Ellen Irene Hancock was born in Huntington, then Sept 7th, 1888 Lydia May Hancock was born in Huntington.

While in Huntington Jode worked on the Miller ranch some, the ranch house stands less than one quarter of a mile from where the Hiawatha coal mine is today. In the fall of 1890 they moved into Old Mexico. On the way James Leroy was born 17th of November 1890 at Black Falls, Arizona. (We can't locate it today,)

While in Huntington (Jode wore a beard as soon as possible to cover the scars on his face) the men in town talked him into showing it off shaving it while in downtown one day. He went home after lunch. Always Jerusha and Irene were at the gate to meet him. This time was no different, but when the little girl looked up into the beardless face she let out a scream of terror and ran to her mother who "straightened up" as only she could and went to the house. Jode never shaved again until late in life.

About six months after they arrived in Diaz, Mexico, Ellen Irene died 20 Jun 1891. They say the cemetery is all gone.

It seems that the Church sent men into Mexico to locate available land to buy for the saints to settle on. One man bought a lovely valley in the mountains west of Dublan and Juarez about 45 miles. Around this valley there were quite a number of caves, some filled with ancient ruins. So they called it Cave Valley. In the winter of 1891-2, Jode took his family to settle there.

In Cave Valley Lydia May died 5 December 1892 and James Leroy died 29 December 1892 leaving them childless for the second time. But on January 31, 1893 they had a girl they named Sara Clarissa. Two years later Mary Abigail was born 7th of March 1895.

I don't know why but not long after this Cave Valley was sold to an Englishman who put cattle in the hills and built a whisky distillery in the valley. So the folks in Cave Valley had to find a new home. Most of them just moved a few miles south to a small community called Pacheco. There they felt quite secure. On April 25, 1897 Francis Levi was born in Pacheco. He lived 17 months and died of whooping cough 14 September 1898. Lucy Jane was born 14 June 1899 in Pacheco. Harriet Josephine (Hattie or Peg) was born 5 sept 1901, Lewis Alma was born August 28, 1903. Pacheco was surrounded by large pine forests, filled with wild beasts.

Shortly after arriving in Pacheco, Jode needed to plow some land and being short of horses he borrowed a team of oxen from a Mexican. They only understood Spanish. He had quite a time until he got the plow in the ground then they were fine until they reached the end of the field then they took off. He finally herded them back and got the plow in the ground...after the same thing happened three or four times he put a rope on each outside horn. Then he was able to control them. Later he would tell this and laugh.

In the fall of 1911, Jode received word that his father, age 87 had taken sick in Pima, Arizona on his way to Mexico for a visit. So Jode Hitched his team to the wagon, loaded his wife, Lucy, Hattie, and Lewis in it and headed for Arizona. Sara and Abbie were left in Pacheco to look after interests there.

Upon arriving in Columbus, New Mexico he learned that because he was a citizen of the U.S.A. he had to pay duty on his stuff, much more than he had on hand. So the team and wagon were sold to raise the much needed money and to get enough to pay railroad fare to Pima.

He found his father an invalid or with one side paralyzed. He helped his brother, George care for his father for about one year. During this time they ran a small farm and truck garden. Upon hearing of his mother's illness or death, he moved his family to Salt Lake City, Utah. His mother died before he got to Salt Lake. When he tried to find work, the employers would say he was too old. He thought his beard had something to do with it so he shaved off all but a goatee. He finally found work for a time looking after horses for the Hancock Commission House, a wholesale fruit and vegetable company. In the spring he moved to Indianola and ran a ranch. In the fall of 1913 Jerusha, Lucy, Hattie and Lewis went to Blanding to Jerusha's mother. Jode, Sara and Abbie stayed in Salt Lake. Jode soon went to Iron County to haul supplies for a reservoir that was being built. Early in the spring, Jode, Sara and Abbie joined the rest of the family in Blanding. They then moved to Monticello to help Henry Black on a ranch there. Sara had married Chester Black during the winter. Also Jode had shaved off the rest of his beard but kept the moustache until the last.

In the fall of 1914 they went back to Blanding where Jode bought a lot and built a two room shelter and put up a tent for the winter. The snow of the winter caved the tent in but only caused a little discomfort to the girls sleeping in it. During the next summer he built another room so they had three rooms where they lived until 1925. With the girls all married Lewis took the father and mother to Monticello where he worked in the flour mill with Chester Black until April 1927 when he went on a mission. In April 1929 he received word that his father was very ill. He arrived home only two days before his father died, 13 April, 1929 in Monticello San Juan County, Utah. Buried in the Blanding Cemetery, San Juan County, Utah, 14 Apr 1929.

Some personal impressions by Lewis A. Hancock:

Father stood 5 ft. 9 inches tall and weighed 145 pounds until sometime after 50 years of age he put on another fifteen or twenty pounds. I do not remember him ever being cross with mother or us kids. He was aggravated at times but not cross. He was always concerned about us and never wanted us to do anything that was wrong. He believed in returning good for evil. And never wanted help for himself. He was always doing something for someone else.

He claimed to be a Jack-of-all-trades and master of none. As far as I can remember there was only one fault with his work and that was collecting after the job was done. He could do almost anything in a blacksmith shop. When iron was scarce he would put scraps in a shovel or other container and weld it all together then shape it into what-have-you. He made many of his own tools.

When it came to building a house he could dig for the footing, lay the foundation, put up the walls, put on the roof and do the finish work. Never really fancy, but good.

Father never had much schooling, about to the fourth grade but he applied himself so he knew what was going on most of the time. He seemed to understand people. When it came to the gospel I can say he understood as much or more than the average. Yes, I think father was a good man.

Father was called to build many fireplaces, because they would put out heat and did not smoke.

As mother was deaf and quite self conscious father always tried to keep her close to her mother. That is why he moved so much. I know of no major move except to keep her near her mother until we left Mexico, then he expected to go back but the exodus changed all of that. So as soon as grandma was settled in Blanding, that is where we went. After grandma died there were still the sisters, Aunt Amy for a while, Aunt Mary and aunt Lydia until her death. Then there was Uncle Sammie and Aunt Harriet.