1763 –1882

My father Thomas Hancock, born 20 November 1763 son of Thomas Hancock and Jemima Wright. My mother, Amy Ward, was born 29 February 1769, daughter of General Jacob ward and Irena Jones.

Children:

Elijah 21 Sept 1786

Thomas 25 Jan. 1788

Clarissa 03 Sept 1790

Solomon 15 Aug. 1793

Alvah 19 Apr. 1796

Joseph 18 Mar. 1800

Levi W. 07 Apr. 1803

Sarah(Sally) 18 Jun 1805

Amy 08 Sept 1807

died 09 Sept 1809

I was born in the town of old Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts on the seventh day of April in the year of our Lord Eighteen Hundred and Three. I was the seventh child of Thomas and Amy Hancock.

My father started from York State with his wife and seven children and settled down in what was called Bristol, there stayed two years. We then moved to Pittsford town where we stayed for one year, worked for a Mr. Allcott later going to Mr. Perry in the same town in Ontario County.

The first of my remembrance is back to the summer of 1805 a man by the name of Poas took me on his lap and opened the spelling book and showed me the round letters and I said they were O's. This could have been baby talk but the man thought I was smart.

At the age of four I began to call upon the Lord seriously. My mother was a praying woman and trusted the Lord to hear and answer her prayers. She often told me I must love God or He would let the devil have me. This would frighten me so much I could not sleep nights. I would have her tell me about the damned souls in Hell and how they had to be in a lake of fire and they could not die. This wrought such a serious impression upon my mind; I was like to be distracted before I made it known. At last I broke out after I had laid all night without sleep and said, 'Mother must I die?' 'Yes,' she said. Then I said, 'I wish I had not been made.' 'Why?" said mother. I said, "Because I am afraid I shall not be saved." "Oh, my goodness," said an old woman sitting in the corner, "Can it be possible that a child at the age of four thinks of future state and I, now so far advanced in life and just ready to fall in the grave, scarcely ever thought of God. What will become of me?" Much was said concerning me and my attitude toward the Lord.

Soon after this we moved a short distance into Bloomfield, to my brother-in-laws, Samuel Alger. My father had got home from his farm and moved us here all in Ontario County; the town of Wolcott is fifty miles in the county, joining Lake Ontario. In the fall he returned while mother was milking the cows and said he had bought a small farm near my Uncle Ward Jacobs and would move there in the winter following. I was in the fifth grade.

We made preparations for moving and at the appointed time started out but stayed at Samuel Alger's. My father prepared to take the near cut cross the bays on the ice as it was near the last of December and very cold. We got to Sadus and then put up for the night. Next morning father took an ax and went to try the ice ahead of the team. We came near the bank and in went the sleigh. How excited we all were! We came near losing it. We saw men on the bank looking at us and at the time I remember my thoughts, "If you were like my father you would come and help get this sleigh out and onto land." But father being very active worked with the teamster and soon unloaded us children and a few other things to make the load lighter so as to be able to get it out and ascend to the bank. It wasn't long until we came to a house and for the first time in my life I saw some Negroes. There were three or four. One Black man was called Saul and a woman called Caroline were owned by a Mr. Adams. I used to like to her Saul talk, he would motion how he had to suffer with the cold and his master would abuse him. He wished he had been born White as I was and my brother Joseph. Saul's master died and he used to tell us, "He had gone down, but that he was going up."

We stayed at his place until about the middle of the winter when Silas Munsel, who had married my Cousin, Dolly Ward, came and moved us to my Uncle Jacob Ward's. Here we remained until spring. We then moved onto a farm my father had rented of a man by the name of Woodruff. It was here that we all took sick with the agu fever. It was during this time when we were a in the house, which was made of round logs, the door facing west, we were aroused by the sound of a noise like a musket shot at the northwest corner of the house. We all ran to see what it was and nothing could be seen. One week from that day my father's mother died. It was said by all that this noise must have been the sign of her death. However, my father was stripped of his tender mother, who had brought up three sons. Two had fallen in the Revolutionary war. My father was the youngest. He went to enlist and gave his name to fight for his country. "How can I spare my last son," cried my grandmother. "He is all my dependence." Now the news went to General Washington and in his kindness he said, "I cannot rob her of her remaining son, here take the boy, she has done enough." I learned this from my parents.

Since my Grandmother's death, which was about the time of green roasting corn, A.D. 1809, many a time have I been to her grave upon top of a hill under a green beech tree which leans over her grave west. I think of her when alive and how she used to say 'Come Levi, lets take the basket and go get some chips.' I was near her height when I was six years and four months old. It was said that she was the smallest woman in stature know in the country round about. And often I have heard it remarked, 'Although she is so small, she had been mother to good stout men."

I know my father was strong for he has been known to stand in a half-bushel and throw 4 ½ bushel of wheat on his back. It was once proved to me for I saw him do it as he tended the gristmill. He was five feet nine inches high, very large about the bust, dark eyes, black hair and rarely ever known to lose his temper. Indeed he was called the best-dispositioned man in all the country. Three times he was obliged to fight, but never was shipped in the city of Boston. Once he fought a sailor who was a boxer and was called the bully of three rebels who had challenged the place. My father was known to be the stoutest man then, so fight he must. He said, "No, I will treat," offering the glass. It was knocked out of my father's hand by the sailor. The third blow my father gave him, he gave up whipped.

Then one time he was struck in a store, or struck at, by a man who got his pay on the spot. The next time was in a tavern where a fellow threw my uncle out the door, then said to my father, "now you must go. . ." "No," said my father, "I hired this room for the night." But, the man said, "you shall go," and took hold of him when the squabble began. He brought my father to the floor but soon found himself whipped hoarsely. This statement came from those acquainted with father, for he would never tell what he had done for he didn't like to hear a man boast or brag.

Now to return to the year of 1809 while we were living at the Woodruff house as we called it. My grandmother had been dead a few days. My baby sister was very sick with the fever. Father and Mother were sitting by the bed pondering in their hearts what course to take to obtain a comfortable living for their children when their attention was aroused by the sound of three strokes made on the floor. It was like a ship stalk laid on the floor, heavy, three times. "There," said Mother, "One more from the family must go." In three days our baby sister, Amy, died (09 Sept 1809) just two years and one day old. I tried to follow them to the grave to bury her but couldn't for I had the Agu fever. I sat down on the ground to rest awhile before trying to get back to the house. After sometime down on the ground I finally made it back and laid down on the bed where I stayed until I was better.

The Presbyterian Minister preached the funeral sermon. When he first saw the baby my mother said to him, "I want you to tell me what you think about the child. Do you think she will be saved?" The minister said, "I cannot tell, it depends wholly on this, has she been baptized or not?" Mother said, "I have not had a chance to have it done." He said, "Amen, the state of your child is very uncertain." At these words my mother's countenance fell. Mother was broken hearted and took to the Bible reading most of the time. She was sick from the shock of this minister. Mother was unable to keep house so Father did the cooking and my brother, Solomon, tried to do the washings. I remember one time he put some flannels into some lye as mother did the linens and cottons, he boiled them all them all to soap. It taught him a lesson, not to boil woolens in lye.

About this time my father moved onto his farm where he had cleared off a small piece and sowed it to timothy grass. Here he and his boys went to work. I was only seven years old at this time and as was the custom, I was to be put out in the spring to help all I could. Mother was still ill and father had to do most of the work as well as go a half mile to his work there labor all day and then go home at night and help.

In the year 1810 mother got some better and would talk to me of Jesus Christ. (Would hear observations about the Presbyterian Minister whose name was Benjamin Bell.) I recollect one day I said, "It was a pity that there had not been a ‘Zebub’ put to the end of his name," which caused quite a laugh.

Just before I went out to live I had a curious dream. One night before going to bed mother and I had been discussing the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. I dreamed He came to me and said He was my Lord and presented me with a white decanter and said, "Drink of this, it is for you." It appeared to be white liquid matter and when I tasted it, it ran through me like oil and filled me with the love of God until I felt so satisfied. It cast out all fear of death. I looked and saw a dark colored bottle in His other hand, and I asked Him if He would let me taste of it. He handed it to me but I only took a drop for it was the most bitter of anything I had ever tasted or heard of. I awoke with a start and found it only a dream. I told Mother and she told the other boys. "Oh, the little Christian," said one. "There goes a little Christian," said another. For awhile they tormented me over and over. I didn't understand what they meant and supposed they were calling me something mean. I got mad and asked what they meant. "Why, you have got religion," said one. "You lie," said 1, "You have got all my good feelings,'" and then fled.

About this time Father gave me a whipping for the first time. I had taken a board he had hewed and sawed it and made a swinging board. Father had other plans of making me a sled without my knowledge. He inquired about the board and one of the boys said I had made a swinging board out of it. He took a little stick and gave me three blows. It grieved me so I wouldn't show up until night. By short breath I thought I deserved it and would try not to offend him again.

My mother grew worse and I was put out to a man by the name of Eliason Tupper and his wife Lucy. The winter now is past and spring has come at last. The flowers and grass are beginning to show and are beautiful. . Again I must change my home. About the first of May my brother Solomon came and got me and I went to live with them where I was received kindly. One of the young men where I stayed tried to scare me by saying he would open my neck as I had caught cold and had a bad cough. They would not let me lay down when I was sick, so I grieved and wished I was back home with my father. I sat up until I was well and he sent me to school to Miss Polly Woodruff long enough to learn the letters. I had to do all the chores in the fall. They let me go home for a while then I came back and chopped all his firewood through the winter, all but the large logs. Sometimes I would be sent on errands near my father's place and I would have to stop and see him. It would seem like the sun would go down so fast again as the other times. The man would meet me and give me the beech rod. So, the next time I was sent close to home I would stop and see father but I would not stop long, as I knew I should get a whipping.

After winter and until summer came I had to go and trim the hemlocks where the man was chopping trees. Then I had better times and he moved back on his old farm after he had finished his job of clearing the land he had taken of Mr. Jonathan Melvin, the richest man in the place at that time. It has been warm weather now and in the year of 1811 there began to be considerable said about the war. It was said that the British had been fighting one of the American Rebels and the United States was going to war. The name of the American Rebel was "Littlebelt" and war was the cry all season.

The President's message demanding the United States be put into armor and attitude demanded by the criers and corresponding with National spirit and respectation was the cry and soon came the news of some battles that had been fought. Me who witnesseth, when the battle was over, that the imagination cannot conceive the awful spectacle presented on board the ships. Bloody limbs and bodies of men dead or dying. Some groaning and screaming in distress. This produced a terror in some minds, while some were boasting what the Americans could do. These battles took place on or about the year of 1811.

Winter came cold and dreary. I then had returned to my father's house. My mother had been sent to my sister Clarissa who had married some six years ago to Mr. Samuel Alger. Mother was getting better and soon returned home and all things looked flourishing. Spring came with all its loveliness.

My mother used to pray a great deal. One, night she came to my room and said, "I shall never have to worry again." "Why?" asked father. "The Lord has made it known to me," she said. "How did He make it known to you?" my Father questioned her. "I went out after it had thundered and lightened. I asked the Lord to let a certain light appear on the ground in a certain place if all was well with my child and it came and went away, then appeared again. I asked if she was saved show it again. It came as I desired so I know all is well and I shall never worry again."

Mother then stated many things she remembered. While in Bloomfield a man tried to force her and she fought him with all her might. My brother Thomas heard of this and swore he would nearly kill him and what he did with him I never knew.

Up to this point I (Afton Alger) have copied from the Levi Hancock journal. It was suggested that we take from the journal only those items that were pertinent to Samuel Alger and Clarissa Hancock. With this in mind I will continue stating that all that was talked of at this time was the war that was being fought in and around Lake Ontario. Many Americans were taken prisoner, Levi's brother, Thomas, was among them. One of these battles was fought on 12 October 1812.

In 1813 Levi's father took a job clearing the trees off the land for 12 dollars an acre which was hard work but gave them a little badly needed money. That spring Alvah, Joseph and Levi were given small pieces of land to plant whatever they desired and to see which could raise the most and take the best care of it. They each raised a good crop, but Levi" corn was trampled by the horses. That summer while they were all out making hay, Thomas, who they all thought was dead came and along with him a lovely looking wife of about sixteen years of age. He told them about his war experiences, how he was taken prisoner, that he sailed down Lake Ontario then down the St. Lawrence River- into the Atlantic then the United States exchanged prisoners with England.

After the crops were in, Levi went to live with Samuel Alger and his sister Clarissa in 1815. While there his mother came to visit for a while with his sister who had a baby girl named Fanny. The following summer Levi went to work with Lawrence Seamor. One of the finest men he had ever seen and one of the most ingenious to work in wood. After working for some time, Levi was given some sawed timber from which he made a turning lathe and went to work. He was shown by Mr. Seamor how to make bedsteads and tables. He soon fixed his folks up very comfortable. He was in his fourteenth year at this time and now had a trade.

His older brother, Elijah, was sick for a long time with a fever which he never recovered from. He died 01 August 1818. Shortly after Elijah's death, Thomas Hancock sold his property and took his family to Ohio. Levi had been on his own for some time, staying here and there wherever there was work to be done. He bought himself some clothes which he stored away for winter use. His desire then was to find his sister, Clarissa, who had moved some time before into the Ohio country.

(I am writing this as he tells it): I started without purse or script into the wide world not knowing where to go. I went through Chagrin, Painsville, Austinburg and then inquired if they could tell me where Lebanon was as I had a sister living there. The man asked me who she was and I told him her name was Alger. He said he knew them well and directed me which way to go. I took the course and travel until sundown then asked a boy how far it was to Lebanon. I learned it was six miles farther and that I had already traveled forty-four that day. I asked the man if I could stay there that night. He said yes, and gave me a good supper and breakfast. The next day I went on to my sisters. I had not seen her since she lived at my father's in the time of farming with Samuel Alger.

I lived with my sister and helped her husband Samuel build some fine buildings and one sawmill. He was kind to me here. He gave me rest and was pleased to see me enjoy myself. All of the people were my friends. While he lived in that town he taught me many things I did not understand. My sister was like a mother to me. He never made me work only when I pleased.

I found he was a man of influence among the people. He gave me paper and ink and let me write as much as I pleased and clothed me also. I went among the young people where I had not been used to. I used to play a fife and a flute and was not easily beat. I sometimes played the violin too. Samuel was a Lieutenant in the Ohio Militia and when training came I was sure to have some new tunes that suited the fancy of the people. Always I was asked to feast with the officers. This I enjoyed very much. I went to some dances that winter and practiced music a part of the time. I helped Samuel's eldest boy do the chores.

Next spring we were calculating to work at the Jainers, working together. I was getting to be considered stout though small for my age. At this time I weighed about 94 pounds and not a boy of my age was found to be any stouter or more active.

One day Samuel Alger and I were asked to come to a log house rolling near the cast end of town where I for the first time saw him lay out his strength on a large elm log that some stout men had been lifting. When Sam went to the butt end and lifted it so easy that it caused the whole crowd to wonder.

A man by the name of Stephen Bishop then wanted to throw him down and said if he could get him just where he wanted him he could throw him. Samuel let him take his left in his arms and when he would say ready, Samuel would throw him easily. Apparently as easy as I could a child that had just begun to walk. This was in the year of 182 1.

Samuel took a job of cabinetwork to do for this man's brother, John Bishop, when he could get the lumber ready. He bought a place in Chagrin and moved my sister Clarissa in and gave me a few tools and I went to work in the place where he had been working this summer. In the fall I went to another place to work in the town of Rome. I put up my lathe and went to making spinning wheels, reels and bedsteads. The man I worked for was Michael Powers. I'd only been there a few days when he came and asked me to go get the midwife. He said, "If I have a daughter she shall by yours." "Agreed," said I, and went to find the midwife. It was at night and I had to go to the town of Lebanon about four miles away. I soon returned with the midwife and it wasn't long until Mr. Powers told me I had a girl. I laughed and said I should be mad if I knew I would have to wait for her to grow up. "Yes," said he, "but you may do that." "If I have to wait for that child to grow up," I thought, "I would not want one," I told him. Then she could be free to choose for herself. Our conversation here stopped as Samuel Alger came to do some work he had promised to make for John Bishop which was one bureau and other pieces of furniture.

Now as we read the journal we find that Levi helped Samuel Alger in the carpentry trade; they covered a house for Elijah Peck. They worked for a Joseph Miller. At this time Levi said he had signed a petition to have Lebanon called '"New Lyme" as most of the people there were from Old Lyme, Conn. The town was then called New Lyme.

After working for some time at Joseph Miller's, Samuel Alger returned home to his family in Chagrin. This was in 1822 and Levi was at that time in his 19th year, and a good carpenter.

in the fall of 1830 Levi returned to Chargin to visit his sister, Clarissa and Samuel. It was here that Parley P. Pratt and Sidney Rigdon came as missionaries. Levi says that at the close of the meeting, his father and Clarissa and some few others were baptized. The next day Levi went to Kirtland and found that Parley P. Pratt was engaged in baptizing. He asked Elder Pratt to baptize him, which he did after questioning him about the Gospel.

After the Saints had taken all they could from the mobs in Missouri, Nauvoo and other places; their Prophet and Patriarch martyred and Brigham Young sustained as their leader, they gathered together what little they had and started west toward the Salt Lake Valley. While on the way this incident took place. I would like to like to present it as it is written. Quote:

When we got to within two days travel of Laramie, we just about got into some trouble with a large company of Sioux Indians. John Alger started it in fun to trade a 16 year old girl to a young Chief for a horse. The Chief was in earnest! We got the thing settled, however, and were permitted to go without the loss of Lovina.

In 1856 this interesting bit of information is recorded. Levi Hancock and others were asked to consecrate their property to the Church. Which they supposedly did. These are his words: He and I were down from Payson and Bishop Raleigh got the consecration deeds up. He said to father one morning, "Brother Levi, if you are ready to consecrate your property to the Nineteenth Ward, now is the time." "All right," said father. So we went over to Bishop Raleigh's residence with my Uncle Samuel Alger and myself as witnesses. When we got there Raleigh said, "Brother Levi, I haven't had time to make out these deeds in full, but you put your name here and Brother Alger and Brother Mosiah put your name here." Which we did. Now we were required to consecrate to Brigham Young, he being trustee for the Church. We supposed it would be filled out in his name. Some few years after we found out that the Government took it in hand to see that things were restored to their rightful owners. We found that the deeds had been made out to another person by the name of Thomas White for $1.50. I inquired into the affair and found by Mr. White that he had paid Mr. Raleigh sixteen hundred dollars and fifty cents for the premises. We had been duped, supposedly by a Brother in the Church.