by John D. Benedict

1922
The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago
P. 467

W.M. HANCOCK

One of the representative agriculturists in Nowata county is W.M. Hancock, whois residing on a ranch five and one-half miles southeast of Lenapah. He wasborn in Lebanon, Missouri, on the 8th of December, 1860, and received hiseducation in the common schools of Jasper county, putting his textbooks aside atthe age of eighteen years. He then engaged in farming with his father, E.H.Hancock, who was a native of Randolph county, North Carolina, removed to Lacledecounty, Missouri, in 1857, and subsequently to Jasper county in 1866. In 1881he came to Oklahoma, then Indian Territory, with his wife, Levina Louallen, alsoa native of North Carolina, and they located at Vinita, Craig county, where thefather engaged in farming.

W.M. Hancock preceded his father to Oklahoma by two years. He remained on hisfarm in Newton county for the next two years and then moved to Cooweescooweedistrict where he has since farmed. Twenty-one years ago Mr. Hancock purchasedhis present home, which is situated on the Verdigris river, the house locatedamong a veritable forest of elm, pecan, black walnut, oak and hackberry trees.He and his wife own three hundred acres in all and they raise wheat, oats, corn,cattle, horses and mules. At the present time Mr. Hancock has but fiftywhite-faced cows and he is planning to raise hogs on an extensive scale in thenear future. His wheat averages about twenty-five bushels to the acre, and hiscorn forty bushels to the acre. He paid for his first piece of land with cornat thirteen cents a bushel. The Hancock ranch is one of the show places of thecommunity. The land has been brought to a high state of cultivation and a finemodern two-story house and outbuildings have been erected upon it. Mr. Hancockis one of the progressive farmers in Nowata county and his prosperity is theresult of his intelligent labors.

In 1885 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Hancock to Miss Maggie Ironside, anative of Lawrence, Kansas. Her parents were Shawnees and came to the territoryin the early ‘70s. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hancock four children have beenborn: Louella, is the wife of Hal Gaffney and the mother of three children,Robert, Beulah and Margaret; Jessie married Sam Bolsh and lives at Wymer, shehas one son, who makes his home with Mr. Hancock; Robert, twenty-eight years ofage, is married to Pauline Nelson and they have two children, Helen and William;and Nellie, the youngest child, is living at home.

The religious faith of the family is that of the Baptist church, and Mr. Hancockgives his political allegiance to the republican party. He is a thirty-seconddegree Mason and holds membership in Lodge No. 116, of Lenapah. He is one ofthe public-spirited citizens of Nowata county and his aid may always be countedupon in the furtherance of any movement for public development and improvement.He is a stanch advocate of good roads and was an influential factor in thebuilding of the first steel bridge in the county, on the road running throughhis farm. Mr. Hancock is a man of large stature, with a most pleasingpersonality, and his friends in the county are legion. 

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