Hancock Lee Jackson

Hancock Lee Jackson was born May 12, 1797 to John and Mary Forest Hancock in Madison County, Kentucky. His parents were originally from Bedford County, Virginia. He married Ursula Oldham in 1821, and they had eleven children. In 1829 they moved first to Howard County, Missouri, but shortly thereafter moved to what would soon become Randolph County. There he was elected the county's first sheriff and served two terms. He purchased land from the Federal Government in the county in 1831, 1833, 1835, 1840, and 1843. These land patents were scattered throughout the county although the final ones were all in the region of what is now Clark. He served as a member of the Missouri Constitutional Convention in 1845. In 1846 he raised a company of men to fight in the Mexican War, and was elected captain. He fought under General Sterling Price in campaigns in Taos and the Moreau Valley in New Mexico and was in at least two battles.

In 1850 he ran for a seat on the state senate and won, and was reelected two years later. With tensions rising preceding the Civil War Jackson aligned himself with the pro-Southern arm of the Democratic Party. He then ran for Lieutenant Governor in 1856 and when Tursten Polk resigned to become a United States Senator in 1857 Jackson became Governor. He served less than eight months in that office as a special election was called. In 1860 there was a split in the Democratic Party and Hanock Jackson ran for Governor for the pro-Southern arm while his cousin Claiborn Jackson ran for the more moderate wing. Hancock Jackson lost the bid for office. Also about this time President Buchanan appointed Jackson U.S. Marshall of the Western District, a post he resigned when Abraham Lincoln was elected President. At that point he returned to private life and then in 1865 he immigrated to Salem, Oregon where some of his children lived. He died March 19, 1876 and was buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in Salem.