My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Washington County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1888.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Shadrach B. Hancock, a pioneer resident of Washington County, and a well-known farmer of Walton Township, is a son of Lewis and Sarah (Bradshaw) Hancock, Virginians by birth, the former born in 1702, and the latter in 1798. When young they removed to Kentucky, where they subsequently married and passed the remainder of their lives. They were consistent members of the Methodist Church South. The father was a farmer by occupation, and served as a soldier in the War of 1812. He died when in his ninety-second year, and his wife at the age of seventy-six. She was the mother of seven sons and eleven daughters, and her mother bore eighteen children; Mr. Hancock’s mother had a family of nineteen children, and upon his death he had 168 descendants. Shadrach B. Hancock was born in Mercer County, Ky., in 1822, and was reared as a farmer, but in youth acquired only a limited education, though after reaching manhood he attended school a sufficient period to enable him to teach. In 1848 he came to Missouri, locating in this county, where he became well known as a teacher, having conducted twenty-one schools. In 1849 he married Miss Mary E. Steward, also of Kentucky birth, born in 1830, who was brought the same year to this county. They have two children: Sarah C. and William L. Mr. and Mrs. Hancock have been residents of this township for upward of forty years. They are members of the Christian Church, in which he has been elder thirty-five years. For eight years he has served as justice of the peace, and for thirty years has been a member of the school board of his district. Politically, he is a Democrat. He owns 636 acres of land, the greater part acquired by his own efforts, on which are three lead mines that have been successfully worked.

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This family biography is one of 138 biographies included in The History of Washington County, Missouri published in 1888.  For the complete description, click here: Washington County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Washington County, Missouri family biographies, click here

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