GEORGE WASHINGTON HANCOCK--PART 8

GEORGE WASHINGTON HANCOCK–PART 8

    During the Johnson Army invasion the saints moved south in 1857. The Hancock home was a place of refuge for many on the unfortunate people. His house was full and his yard was full of tents pitched and on his fields wagons were drawn and in them homes maintained and he and his family were a source of comfort and help to the weary driven travelers.
    At this time George was serving as constable of Utah County. In this work he was involved in many Indian troubles as a peacemaker and his life was often in great peril. He did a great deal of trading with the Indians, trading merchandise for furs and buckskins. When the Indian affairs became too troublesome to solve he would invite them to his store and let them have blankets and provisions on credit, of which he never lost a cent as the Indians were very honest with their dealings with him. In this way he could keep them contented for a time. He would also take them to his home and feed them at his table and was always sought as a peacemaker between them and the white men. The Indians gave his great respect and consulted with him in their difficulties and called him their "White God."

    Because of the office he held as constable he was away from home a great deal of his time and his life was in constant danger. During these trying days of the Johnson Army trouble, lawlessness prevailed and to some degree the people were prone to take the law into their own hands and execute justice as they saw fit. During the move south impostors took shelter under the cloak of religion and professed sincerity while in reality they lived by unlawful and dishonorable acts.
    Oct. 9, 1869 a Zion's camp reunion was held in Social Hall in Salt Lake City and George and his brother Charles joined as representatives of the Saints who were driven out of Missouri. Memories brought back those days of hardships and suffering and they gave thanks for their present blessings and for their deliverance.
    About this time George was serving as guard in protecting the people from organized cattle thieves operating in the settlements in the southern part of the state, many in California. The people were losing stock every night and special guards were stationed at different high points overlooking the town. A lot of the stock was kept in a large corral. One night 2 boys planned to steal some horses out of this corral, but one boy became frightened and gave the plot away. So the guards were watching for them and George was one of the detailed men. One of the boys came to the enclosure in the night and George and another guard (Geo. Patten) started after them. The boy fired his gun at them. Mr. Patten & George pursued the boy as far as Salem where they caught him and brought him back to Payson. When they reached there a large mob had gathered and great excitement prevailed. While they were holding this boy, George one arm and Patten the other, someone in the crowd shot the boy in the back. No one at that time seemed to know who it has as there was so much confusion and excitement at that time as the mob had already been to the shack of a woman who had been in ill repute for a long time and who was the mother of this boy outlaw. The mob had been so enraged and incensed that they had torn down the dugout or shack over the head of this woman and had killed her while Patten and George were after the boy. At the time of all this nothing was done to apprehend the guilty party or persons involved, but 32 years later, just before the assembly of the National Legislative Congress which met in December, when National prejudice was at its peak on the anti-poligamy, the case was recalled. As one reporter recorded it the Deseret News of November 22, 1889. "The anti-Mormon bloody shirt must be washed in front of the National Legislative Congress which meets in December and in the absence of no live coals concerning the Mormons, the dead coals are fanned into Life."
    A son Asael Hancock living in Payson gives an account of this trouble. He says, "One night a messenger came to our house and called my father to the door and said are you George Hancock, and he answered yes. I have a paper for you to read. Mr. Hancock invited him to come into the house so he could read it better in the light but he preferred to have him accompany him to his hotel. He was then taken from his home under arrest where he was kept all night in a home about 5 blocks away and made to sit up all night in a chair while these men played cards with the woman who owned the place and drank whiskey. This place was an inn which had a bad reputation. In the morning he was taken to a jail at Provo. Mr. Patten and gotten word of this and left that night for Nephi and later went on to Mexico to his ranch. This woman and her son had been in ill repute for a long time, her husband had killed an emigrant at Kanesville, Iowa in the early forties by striking his head with an iron bar. George's brother, Charles, was at this time a bishop and had seen that this family had been furnished with food many times. But the mob had been incensed and aroused while the guardians of the law were busy protecting the people from cattle thieves. This woman also had a daughter who grew to womanhood and always came into George's store after the trouble and always said she considered George innocent of any of the trouble. Quoting from one of the papers "There is a good reason to regard the arrest of Mr. Hancock as a work of malice." He is an aged man and a highly respected citizen and has given many active years of service.

    While George was interviewed at the jail he emphatically said, "I am not guilty." He was confined in jail without bail for a period of 4 months waiting trial and the courts refused to hear his case, but fanned it before the public eye in every newspaper as "Mormon criminal". Being brought to justice after 32 years when in reality he was at all times available in the little town of Payson, engaged in public enterprises. The case was taken before the Supreme Court of the Territory of Utah and after one year a new trial was held and Pres. Cleveland reviewed the evidence and the case was dismissed. The testimony of one of the witnesses was questionable and the other witness at the time was serving a sentence of 2 years for an immoral crime. So George was finally vindicated. George showed his wonderful character and influence for good while he was confined in jail. He had such a peaceful and spiritual influence and commanded such great respect from the prisoners that they kept themselves cleaned and washed up and George said a blessing for them on all the food served to them.
    While he was thus confined his son, Asael, was brought home from Tintic where he was working to look after his father's store and to see him in his trouble. About that time he telegraphed to Asael that a man had been to see him and had offered him $4,000 for his store building. Asael was renting the upstairs at that time for $:200 per month and asked his father to hold out for a better price. Asael had been given power of attorney in his father's affairs. After much dickering back and forth Asael finally sold the property for $8,000 cash. This enabled his father to pay off the mortgage on his home and gave him $6,000 to start again in business. He then started a creamery forming a company. But it proved failure as the people would often put water in their milk and with other discouraging features they gave it up. Going back to the year 1847, after the woman and her sons had been killed. George continued his useful and active life in full confidence of his fellowmen and the authorities of the church, and having no guilt upon his conscience pursued his life in the usual manner, helping and serving all who came across his path. His only regret was that his beloved church would come into the limelight through this trouble.
    At conference 1871 George was called upon to fulfill a mission to the eastern states and was set apart by Lorenzo Snow. After he had successfully fulfilled this mission and was returning home he brought a carload of hogs as he had heard there was a scarcity of pork at home. He brought them as far as Lehi. The railroad was only built that far so he had men help him drive them on the road from there to Payson. He got a good price for them which was a big help to him financially, later his merchandise business increased so much he was able to build a nice store building where he carried on his business. It was well stocked with dry goods, groceries, hardware, etc. He brought in stoves by the carloads from the east. In later years he built a lovely home, about the year l875. This home is still standing and was purchased by Asael his son. Then the cruel years that followed grieved and aged him far beyond his years and involved him financially and taxed his strength and tried his soul. The injustice of it all in the guide of justice. On the 9 March 1897, a host of his relatives and friends met at his home to celebrate his 71st birthday and this report of it was given in the Desert News. "By request he sang songs composed by Patriarch Levi W. Hancock, his uncle, and also related many, experiences while serving in the Battalion. He told of their march to Sante Fe and California and upon their release, to Fort Hall and Thence south in search of the pioneers and how he found them in Salt Lake Valley in 1847. He told them of his trip back east through the snows of winter with but a few companions, crossing the mountains and plains, exhausted by privation finally reaching the settlements of Missouri, having been sustained nearly all the way by game from his rifle, seeds and corn bartered by Indians and now and then gristly mule meat and raw hide strips cut from the pack saddle and cooked over the camp fire without salt and from the wayside shrubs in place of vegetables and bread. The family were so interested they begged to hear more and stayed on listening until one o'clock in the morning. George Hancock bore his testimony to the truth of Mormonism and the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith whom he had know so well. He said "I have seen 500 of the strength of Israel volunteer into active service. I have seen the saints settled in a new land in the desert of the mountains. I have see the crusade of Johnson's army and its departure to the southern states at the great rebellion of the Civil War. I have witnessed the building and dedication of the Salt Lake Temple. I have known all five of the presidents of the church and have seen the growth of the church from its very beginning. I have gone through so many trials but I still love the Gospel of Jesus Christ." He urged his children and grandchildren to be faithful to the cause for which he went through so many privations and in which his heart still throbbed in full fellowship and sympathy.
    George W. Hancock was 5 feet 8 inches tall - weighed 133 pounds, chest measurements 45 inches. Eyes were blue and his hair was jet black. He possessed a cheerful disposition and was agreeable company, well informed and intelligent with a fair education for his day. It is said that he had but 3 months of schooling in his life but this did not keep him from studying. He and his brother, Charles, after a hard day's work, would gather birch bark to make a light by which they could study. He had been a hard worker and passed through so many experiences which made him older than his years. Although he had been wealthy and prosperous at one time he suffered great losses but lives to pay every debt he owed but dies a poor man, leaving only about $500 in cash and his home and the memory of a life well lived and a posterity that is proud to bear his name. His life may be called a grand success.
    Of him his daughter, Betsey Jane wrote "My father was a good man and I wish my son to emulate him." What greater tribute could be paid a father then that?
    His daughter, Alta, wrote of him from Albuquerque, N.M. January 6, 1925 "Father spent his life and substance in helping the poor and needy. He tried to create employment for all in their own trade, yet with all these cares and business worries he never shirked his religious duties. He was a kind husband and father. He would not eat unless every child was at the table for the blessing and prayer. The best I can say of my father is that he was one who loved his fellowmen."
    Although he had been ailing for the past few weeks, he passed away on January 15, 1901.
He was buried in the Payson City Cemetery.