Son of Thomas and Amy Ward Hancock. He married Betsey Johnson and they were baptized into the LDS Church at Mayfield, Ohio in 1830. She died a few months later. He then married Experience Wheeler Rud by whom he had children. After Amy's death he moved to Kirtland, Ohio where he worked as a brick maker. He joined Zions Camp in 1834 and as a sucessful hunter was dubbed "Nimrod" by Joseph Smith (a nickname that stayed with him). He came down with cholera on the trip to Missouri, but was healed by the Prophet. As a result of his faithfulness in Zions Camp he was ordained to the Seventy and called to the First Quorum of Seventy. He hauled rock for the Kirtland Temple and later moved to Missouri where he experienced persecutions. He later settled at Nauvoo, Illinois. He was assigned to be one of the foot hunters on the trek west. Near the end of the trek, he climbed a hill, where he caught a view of the valley. After the saints arrived in the valley, he helped explore for timber. Together with Lewis Barney, he was sent eastward into the mountains to look for timber. They returned after a two days tour and reported "an abundance of good timber, principally pine, balsam fir, and a little cottonwood; access to the same very difficult." He was given property near the temple site, but after returning to Winter Quarters that fall with Brigham Young was unable to return for two years because of sickness and poverty. He was given instead land near Provo, Utah. Of a wandering nature, he traveled to California in 1852 and then to the east but returned ten years later to stay three years in the Salt Lake Valley. He traveled to Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1867 to visit his children. He returned to Utah in 1882. (1997-98 LDS Church Almanac)

Alt. death date Jul. 5, 1893, Payson Cemetery