GEORGE WASHINGTON HANCOCK--PART 6

 GEORGE W. HANCOCK–PAYSON PIONEER

SALT LAKE VALLEY TO IOWA AND RETURN --PART 6

    George left his brother in Salt Lake Valley and on the 10th of October 1847 after but a brief rest from his long, toilsome journey of nearly 800 miles and with a small group of companions.   He pursued his way back over the mountains in falling snows and again across the great desert, depending upon his rifle, the only remnant of the war. Suffering with cold and hunger and a mental torture for the welfare of his father 's family. The impression which tortured George's mind night and day was that his father would not be there to greet him. He finally reached his home, if it could be called a home on the 12 December 1847 with his greatest fears realized. His dearly beloved and honored father had passed away 10 days before and had been buried on the banks of the Missouri River near Council Bluffs in Pottawattamie Co. of Iowa.
    Upon his arrival George possessed but one dollar. He paid this for an ax and then went into the woods and cut down trees and build a log house and move his stepmother and family of five small children from the wagon which had been their only home and which had sheltered them from the wintry blasts of 1846  and the burning sun of the summer of 1847..
    In the spring of 1848 George met and fell in love with Betsey Jane Fackrell daughter of James and Amy C. Fackrell, Mormon refugees from Bertrand, Michigan, who were now living with the saints at Council Bluffs. After a few brief months of courtship George and Betsey Jane were married on 14 May 1848 in the Bertrand branch camp of the Latter-day saints in Pott. Co. Iowa. At the time of their marriage George was 22 years old and Betsey was 24. George took his bride to the Hancock log cabin home and the next day, 15 of May, Betsey's family started upon their journey across the plains. George spent the next year in hard labor preparing an outfit so he could go west and join the saints in the spring.
    On the 24 of March 1849 this little cottage was made glad because of the arrival of a baby boy. They named the baby Charles in honor of the affection George bore for his brother, Charles. When the babe was about 2 months old, the family left their little log cabin home and in company with his father's wife and five children started upon their westward journey. With their earthly possessions loaded into a wagon which was drawn by a team consisting of a cow and a steer, they traveled over plains, rivers, mountains, and deserts and finally arrived in the valley of Great Salt Lake the last of September 1849.
    Betsey's father, James Fackrell Sr., owned a great deal of land in Woods Cross so the first of Oct. George and Betsey journeyed on to Woods Cross and there bought land and built them a log cabin. The next spring they planted crops and a garden and reaped a good harvest which provided well for his small family. On the 22 of Feb. 1851 their second child was born, a girl whom they named Betsey Jane after her mother. After this child's birth the mother was very ill and when the babe was but three weeks old the mother died Erysipelas.
    Thus at the age of 27 Betsey left two children and her heart broken husband with but a memory of 3 happy years spent together. George tenderly laid away his young wife in Salt Lake City Cemetery in Platt 3 Block 12. Their two motherless babies were cared for by kind friends and neighbors and finally George secured the services of his Uncle Thomas Hancock's widow, Annie Hancock, who had come into the valley with her two fatherless boys, John and Daniel. Thus George's home was maintained and his children cared for until 4 April 1852, when he married his 16 year old cousin, Amy Experience Hancock. Amy was the daughter of Joseph and Experience (Wheeler) Rudd Hancock and was born 12 May 1835 near Liberty, Clay Co. Missouri.
    Unto George and Amy 12 children were born of whom only 3 grew to maturity. Alta Marie, who married J. L. Townsend; Solomon and Asael. After his marriage to Amy, George took up his life, sharing the activities of the community and was prominent in all public projects. On March 9, 1852 Brigham Young, the Governor of Utah Territory, appointed him Captain of Co. B. of Regiment Infantry of Davis Military District. In this office he served in honor until he moved to Payson in 1856. (2 years previous to this time in 1854 he was called to go with Orson Hyde to help survey the line between California and Utah.
    On the 6 and 7 of Feb. 1855 the first general festival of the Mormon Battalion members was held in the Social Hall in Salt Lake City and upon that occasion all the members of the Battalion who were in the territory who could possibly attend met with the first presidency of the Church in a social gathering. President Heber C. Kimball addressed them and the following is taken from his speech: "This world was not made in a day, neither will our victory be obtained in one day, but it will take many years for it is a great work. I want to see you all honor yourselves and make your priesthood honorable in the sight of High Heaven. I wish to see you honor God and your calling as you did in the campaign when you went to California. I verily believe and know that you did then, generally speaking, and I know that resulted in the salvation of this people and had you not done this we should not have been here. I want to tell you, gentlemen, that we will have times and seasons yet, and you will be brought into closer quarters than you were on those occasions. I feel to warn you of these things. Do not sell your guns, but if you have not good ones, get some and rub up your swords and be ready, but fear not, for the Lord will prepare a ram in the thicket and he will save his people and overthrow the wicked if it takes everyone of these boys who were in Zion's Camp and the Battalion to do it. It was said in a revelation given to the prophet Joseph Smith, that we then offered a sacrifice equal to that of Abraham offering up Isaac (Zion's Camp) and Isaac's blessing shall be upon your brethren. Our prayers are lifted up day and night in your behalf and you will be blessed indeed, every man and every woman.
    But every man that lifts his hand against you shall fall, and every nation and every president and king that lifts their hands against you and this people cannot prosper but the curse of the Almighty will rest upon them. These are my views and feelings upon the subject, May God bless you forever, amen."
    President J. M. Grant was the next speaker and these are parts taken from his speech. "I have read many narratives of the valor of men and the service they have rendered to their country; but I here see a set of men who have stood in defense of their country, under the most heartrending circumstances that human beings could be placed in; men having families and friends to leave on the open prairie; you not only saved a large tract of land for this country but you saved this people from being pounded upon by the militia of several states, for heartless villains had concocted plans to have all of this people murdered while upon the western frontiers. Yes, brethren, had it not been for this Battalion a terrible massacre would have taken place upon the banks of the Missouri river. Notwithstanding your hardships and the difficulties you passed through rendered service to the people of God that will ever be remembered, and such service as will bring blessings upon your heads in time and eternity. If your friends fell by the wayside and if you lost your families, your wives or your children and you sustain the people of God, you can depend upon a reward for all that you suffered, for you are the sons of God. You have done a good work and I say God bless you. When Isaac went to the alter he was called a lad and was 25 years old (and some of you are not much older now) he went cheerfully because he knew it was right, but he had no more of a task to perform than this Battalion for you had to live upon what you could get, eat hides, blood and all, and you had to eat your mules and walk over the scorching plains and go days and nights without water. I would as soon have carried Isaac's burden as yours. The burden laid upon you was hard to bear and it was harder than there was any need for it to be.-- We love the rights of the constitution guarantees to every citizen. What did the prophet Joseph say? When the constitution shall be tottering we shall be the people to save it from the hand of the foe. . You have been called upon to defend the Church of God and your country. I came here to Say-- thank you for your services in that Battalion."
    A dinner was then enjoyed after which President Brigham Young spoke and the following were part of his talk. "I now behold a part of the men who left their wives, children, fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, cattle, horses, and wagons upon a prairie in a wild savage country and took up arms and marched forth in defense, you men have constantly had a goodly share of my faith and prayers and sympathies from the time you volunteered. At the departure of the Mormon Battalion I am sure that no set of men or people have ever had more faith exercised for them than this people had. Perhaps also there have been no people on the face of the earth who according to their knowledge possessed more faith than these men when they left their families at Bluffs. The brethren that went into the Battalion went as good hearts and spirits, according ho the extent of their understanding, as ever men went upon missions to the world and they manifested a readiness to do anything required of them, these men now before me were the saviors of his people-- when I think of them the feeling bursts in my heart. God bless them. I bless you now and pray every good thing to bless you. I see your motto, the Mormon Battalion-- a ram in the thicket. Yes, and well caught. They made every sacrifice required-- they offered their lives to save this people from the evil designs by their enemies. They did everything that was required by the government of the United States and I am sorry to say that some few of them lost their lives in the sacrifice. I will tell you one thing, brethren and sisters, which is as true as the Lord Almighty lives, if the Battalion had done as I told them in every particular, there would not a single man have fallen in that service; I know that such would have been the result. Most of them did live and act well; but they had the world, the flesh and the devil to contend with and no wonder some should manifest their weakness in those times. Brethren, you will be blessed if you will live for the blessings which you have been taught to live. The Mormon Battalion will be held in honorable remembrance to the latest generation, and I will prophecy that the children of those who have been in the army in defense of their country will grow up and bless their fathers for what they did at that time, and men and nations will rise up and bless the men who went into the Battalion. As the Lord lives, if you will but live up to your privileges you will never be forgotten. Worlds without end will be had in honorable remembrance forever and ever." Is it any wonder that the posterity of George Washington Hancock proudly says, "He is a member of the Mormon Battalion."