I really have more than one family I am having trouble with......BUT...the one I would like to know more about RIGHT NOW...would be my gg-grandfather William C Hancock's family. I have his marriage info and list of children and a bit about the childrens families, and I have info on his wifes family, but I have no information for William's parents or if he had siblings. The 1900 Van Buren Co Arkansas census shows William was born Aug 1857 in Mississippi. The various census records I have found differ on his parents birth places. 1900 census shows both parents born in Mississippi, 1910 shows father born in Alabama and mother born in either So Carolina or Alabama, 1920 census has both parents born in Alabama. I have tried looking through mountains of census images form the different states to find Williams family but so far I havent found one that I believe to be his. I have also tried looking up his sons names in the various states knowing that more often than not names are passed down through the families. Sons names were William D., Joseph F., and Henry Alonzo. I have given up and started over several times with no luck so far. My Mom says that my grandpa didnt like my grandmas Hancock family so he wouldnt let her talk about them much at all other than her mother, so no one that is left living in my family has any information that will help. I also know that he was married in Faulkner Co Arkansas a neighbor county to Van Buren Co in 1880. I have also written emails to well over 200 Hancock families with not one positive response, mostly none at all, and have been in contact with several people whos families lived or still live in the Van Buren CO Ar. area with no luck....truely a BRICK WALL! Always open for any help or suggestions on what to try next!

In the last few days I have recieved a tiny bit more info on this family. Still no luck on the parents or siblings of William C Hancock. But a tiny bit of info I didn not have for some of his children. I signed up for the Hancock list on rootsweb and several folks have been helping look for info.

Found out that the son Joseph "Joe" Hancock was probably married to a woman named Ethel and were found living in Pontiac Michigan in 1930 with 2 children. I did not have any family info for Joseph before. In an article from 1931 about Williams death it again mentions son Joe living in Michigan as well as son David living in Michigan. This will be William David Hancock. I did not have his middle name just inital before. And the daughter Melvina used the name Mellie according to the same article. Its not a huge amoung of info but every tiny bit helps. And I can now fill in a few more blanks. NOW just need Williams family....!!!! William C Hancocks parents are still the highest on my wish list!!

Well I was so hopeful of getting some new info when I got William C Hancock's death certificate...it came today....and it was no help at all. Under parents all it says is dont know......so I am back to square one again. Now I have a question that maybe someone can answer. As far as we know William was born in Mississippi in 1857. If I read things right on the Mississippi genweb site the state didnt start keeping birth records until after 1900. I assume that the counties probably have birth records before 1900....BUT I dont know what county. Is there any where I can look or a way I could find a birth certificate this way? I am more and more curious as to why no one can seem to find this family!

I got a little lost following which censuses you have. I ran into similar issues in Pennsylvania...you have to check every single county separately...argh!

If you can narrow it down via census records as to the most likely counties, I would call them to find out where their birth certificates are kept and how to search them. Every county will probably be different. A site I found that helps me drill down hunting in various states is http://statearchives.us/public

I am not positive, but I do not believe any state or county kept birth records until after 1900. Your only bet is probably going to be Bible records unless someone applied for a delayed birth certificate. Those early records are just nonexistant. A tombstone might give some data, sometimes they will say "son of so n' so"

I am assuming you have looked at the 1860 census and cannot determine which William Hancock he might be? That would be your best bet...finding him with his parents on that census. I see you have listed his son's names, but I am guessing he had no siblings that you have been able to nail down. One would think his own sons are named after his father and his brothers.

Steph..

Mostly been checking through the 1860 Mississippi census right now as that is where all the info I have so far says he was born. To date there has only been 1 family found that has a son in the correct age range in Miss. on that census. Problem is it only lists the initals and from what we can tell they appear to be W.E.J.E. Several Hancock researchers have been helping and we all have agreed on that. Problem is my William's initals are W.C. for sure. The C may be Clark from recent info I was sent. Now I am wondering since William was born according to census records in 1857 if the family could have moved by 1860 census time therefore opening it back up to a nationwide search yet again, though I DO know William C found his way to Ark, by 1880. We have no real idea of parents names or siblings names if he had any.

We also did find out that the family with the son in the 1860 census lived very near an Ingram family, this is an important bit of info since my William was found living before his marriage in Searcy Co Arkansas with an Ingram family who were also from Mississippi, Chickasaw Co. This Ingram WAS traced back to the family who lived near Samuel Hancock, the person that we think "COULD" be his father.

LOL you think you might get answers and just find more questions... It appears also that the Samuel Hancock and his second wife Rachael may HAVE died while all the children were of young ages, and the children may have all gone to different family, friends or neighbors, just theory though....Not giving up still searching....

Well, I have gotten some good news and some bad news! Good news I FINALLY found a Hancock cousin YIPPIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE...She is William C Hancocks grand-daughter!!! This branch of the Hancock family moved from Arkansas to Michigan so they were not close enough to the family here to really get to know them in person so she mostly just has stories she remembers as a young girl. More good news she can fill in some of my blanks for her family and some for one of the other sons of William C Hancock too. BAD news is she DOESNT know much about William C Hancock either. What she could tell me was that Williams middle name IS Clark. That she remembered hearing he was from Mississippi. She also remembered hearing stories that William Clark Hancock was an orphan, spent some time in an orphanage and the records were lost in a fire. Probably one reason its been so hard to find him. So many possibilities as to where to go from here. Still asking questions to see if she recalls anything else that might help. Dont know at what age he was orphaned, dont know if he lost both parents at once or if maybe lost one then the other at a later time???? LOL....you get a few answers just to have more questions!!!! BUT hey I have a new cousin...so life IS GOOD!

I don't know why being an orphan never occurs to me. How great that you found someone to help. Gave you a really good reason to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Steph

Well heres a little update. As mentioned before William Clark Hancock may have been orphaned at a young age. Maybe spending time in an orphanage. He was born in Mississippi in Aug 1857 according to my info from death cer. and census info I have found. Census varies on parents birth place. It could be Mississippi, Alabama or South Carolina. I DO NOT have any information other that that for Williams parents. So far I have found 3 of William Clark Hancocks granddaughters and I have recieved information from 2 so far, 1 I have to contact by snail mail and am waiting to hear back from her now. So far none of the granddaughters can add anything else about their grandfather to what I have. It seems that William Clark Hancock didnt talk about his family much or if he did nothing was passed down. I am wondering if anyone can give me any ideas what I might try next. One of the granddaughters mentioned that his family info was lost in a fire. I DO NOT know if she meant a family loss by fire or courthouse or orphanage fires. Any suggestions where I might go from here would be very much appriciated!

You have no idea when he may have gone to the orphanage right? Have you done any kind of rootsweb search on the counties in Mississippi to see if they have anything on orphanages that might have been in the state, I wouldn't think there could have been all that many. If you could narrow down the orphanage at all...it might give you a clue where he was born. Is Hancock his adopted name? I was wondering if he shows on the 1860 census? He might still be home with his parents or he may be listed in the home.
You said you have his death certificate.....in the place for parents did it just say unknown or was there at least a state of birth for them??

Steph

SOrry I went back and read all the way thru the posts....you have been searching 1860 and are probably sick of looking at it. Can you tell me where you found the guy with the initials W.E.J.E.?
I notice that you said yourself that the man you thought was his father Samuel, and wife Rachel seem to have died at a young age and the children were farmed out.....is there anyway you can expand that? What county were they in. Were there any orphanages in that county back then??

Sorry I'll try to pay closer attention next time Today I am rushing so, I am just checking the most recent posts...so I completely skipped over the real info.

Steph

Steph
You are right I have looked at the 1860 census records so long I almsot have parts memorized...well maybe not but almost! So far no I do not know IF William did go to an orphanage how old he was or the year. I also have not gotten any info saying that he was adopted or that there may be any other names involved, but who knows..could be yet another reason we havent found anything yet. I was just told today on the Hancock list that you CAN google orphanage census records and some are available so that will be my next project. I assume that if William was born in Mississippi and if his parents died there the orphanage would probably be in Mississippi too. The death certifacate shows parents unknown, but I also noticed the person giving the info for the certificate was not anyone from his direct family so may not have had that info to give. The state of birth DID say Mississippi. The family that we have been looking at so far Samuel and Rachel Hancock were found in 1860 in Chickasaw Co Mississippi. I have done a small bit of looking to see if I could find any orphanages in Mississippi at that time but havent found any info yet. I have also since that last post gotten more info from one of the grandaughters. She found her brothers baby book and in it she found some names she thought "MIGHT" be William Hancocks parents names but we arent sure. The spelling appears to possibly be incorrect but that is just assumed one mane was Izer or maybe Izera or Izra...my thought was possibly Ezra? The second was Serra of course one would assume Sara or Sarah, but couls also be Seirra. I havent done much searching with these names yet since I just recieved them a couple of nights ago. Still working on that. Of course who knows there could also be siblings names I suppose. I need to ask if they were found in the great grandparents part of the babybook or somewhere else. Well...even if I never unravel this part of my tree at least in the process I have now found 4 Hancock family members...that makes it all worth it. It took me about 10 years to find them!

Sometimes I have to remind myself...there is only so much you can get from census records. ANd if you are dealing with transcribers who couldn't read the handwriting and bad spelling to boot......there is even less that you will be able to find.
I know we have it a lot better now days than when my great grandfather was trying to do research....this would have been in the late 1800's and early 1900's...but oh there are county records I would give anything if someone would post. Or if all the small town newspapers were online somewhere. Which is on reason I try so hard to post some of the off the wall things I find. Stuff I know probably will never make it onto ancestry or the rootsweb sites. My people were just dirt farmer......or most of them were....so there aren't wills and deeds to work with, no tombstones, I have to depend on poor school records and in some lucky cases a Bible record.

WHere ever your William got married...did he by any chance have to fill out an license application. Do you know WHEN he got married or have any idea where?? One of the women on the Pike Co. list told us that there were two years 1875 and 76 I THINK that the federal government made everyone get some kind of bond or application or something when they married that required the parents names on it. It was only for that two years....but it is possible that whichever state he married in continued the practice.

Ezra sounds right to me.....and maybe whoever filled out the book just didn't know how to spell it. And I would almost bet Sara.....or Sarrah. I don't suppose you have a scan of it that you could upload?? Shani is real good at reading that old handwriting.

Steph

William and Amanda Hancock were married in Faulkner Co Arkansas in 1880. As far as I know there wasnt any kind of bond with that info on it. As for the other question no I dont have the book that this names in question were found in. The information was sent to me by the person who has the book.

Can you believe the last post made was 2008...its now 2011 and I STILL dont have anything new to report for my Hancock family I am starting to think this is one I might never solve. I havent give up completely...but it almost seems hopeless these days.