Levi W. Hancock
Levi W. Hancock was an early convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His brother, Alvah, told him about missionaries who had brought a book with them that was a record of the people from the ancient Americas, that they preached the same gospel Jesus Christ had taught, and that they baptized and bestowed the gift of the Holy Ghost.
- Levi recalled: “At these last words I gathered faith and … [i]t seemed like a wash of something warm took me in the face and ran over my body which gave me a feeling I cannot describe. The first word I said was ‘it is the truth, I can feel it.’” The man who was preaching was Elder Parley P. Pratt.[1]
He was baptized by Elder Pratt in Kirtland, Ohio.
Hancock married Clarissa Reed in March 1831, then served a mission in the summer with Zebedee Coltrin. These two missionaries set up two strong branches in the state of Indiana. He served a mission to Missouri, Ohio, and Virginia, in January 1832.
Hancock was a true friend to Joseph Smith. He attended the School of the Prophets and worked on building projects for the Prophet. He gave the Prophet money any time he needed it. “The Prophet Joseph was often in trouble. If his friends gave him money, he [was] stripped of it all by his enemies. I know for I did all I could do to hold up that good man. My heart would ache for him. He had to stand against thousands of his pretended friends seeking to overthrow him. It was terrible the abuse he suffered.”[2]
He participated in the Camp of Israel expedition to Missouri in 1834. In 1835, he was appointed a President of the Seventy. “A curious incident occurred in 1837. It was discovered that a number of the Seventy had previously been ordained High Priests and were removed from the Quorum and their callings therein. At this time Levi W. Hancock was removed from the Quorum, it being believed that he was a High Priest. When it was discovered that he was not a High Priest, he was restored to his place in the First Quorum and in the Presidency thereof.”[3]
In 1846–1847, Hancock served in the Mormon Battalion, the only General Authority on the march. After their discharge in California, he traveled eastward to meet his family on the trail in Wyoming in mid-1848. Returning to the Salt Lake Valley with them, he made a place to live and took up his trade of carpentry.[4]
In Utah Territory, he settled in Payson, Utah County, and represented the county in the territorial legislature for three terms.
Hancock was ordained a patriarch in 1872.
He is mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 52:29 and 124:138.
He was born on April 7, 1803, in Old Springfield, Massachusetts, and died on June 10, 1882, in Washington, Utah.
