GEORGE W. HICKS of Hancock is one of our soldier farmers who served his country in the great civil war, and helped to preserve the stars and stripes unsullied. After the war he engaged in farming. William Hicks the grandfather of George, was born in England, and emigrated to North Carolina at an early day. He is supposed to have married in that state. He was the father of three sons and two daughters: Jesse, Saul, John, Dorothy and Madeline. He lived to a great age. He was a substantial farmer and a large landowner, and left a large estate in Fleming County, Kentucky, whither he had moved from North Carolina.

His son Saul, the father of George W., was born in North Carolina and was but a small boy when his father moved to Kentucky. He early learned to work on the farm, and followed that business all his life. He married in Fleming County, Elizabeth McDougal of Scotch parentage. Her father came to Fleming County, Kentucky, when she was a child and followed farming there. He was the father of four children: Solomon, William, Hannah and Elizabeth. Mr. Hicks in 1844 moved with his family to Menard County, Illinois and settled on a farm as a pioneer there. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and Mr. Hicks was an elder for some years, taking an active interest in his church. He died at the age of sixty years in Menard County, Illinois.

His son, George W. Hicks, the subject of this sketch, was born in Fleming County, Kentucky in 1832, learned farming when young and when thirteen years of age moved with his father to Illinois. He married Mary E. Trumbo of Menard County in Springfield, Illinois in 1857 and settled on a farm in that county. In 1859 he moved to Grundy County, Missouri and when the war broke out he returned to Illinois and enlisted, August 21, 1862 in Company K, One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry as a private and was promoted to First Sergeant. He was at the battles at Jackson, Champion Hills, Black River and the siege of Vicksburg at the second battle at Jackson and at Guntown, all in Mississippi. At the last named point he was wounded in the left shoulder and was in the hospital at Memphis, Tennessee, a short time, and sent from there to Camp Butler, Illinois and was honorably discharged, October 29, 1864 on account of disability from wounds received in battle. He had served two years and three months. He returned to Menard County, Illinois and resumed farming and lived there until 1874 and then settled in Madison County, Iowa where he lived twelve years.

In 1886 he moved to Pottawattamie County and settled in Valley Township on a farm. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks have five children: Mary E., George H., William T., Samuel M. and Charles E., all born in Menard County, Illinois; but Mary E., who was born in Grundy County, Missouri; and all are living. In politics he is a stanch Democrat. He has always commanded the respect of his fellow citizens and was elected to the office of coroner in Illinois by a large majority of the voters.

Mr. Hicks has always taken an active interest in the cause of education and has served as school director and held township offices. He is a member of William Layton Post, No.3 58, G.A.R. at Oakland. He owns a good farm of 120 acres in Valley Township and is esteemed by his neighbors and fellow townsmen as a good citizen and as an upright and moral man. As a soldier he was loyal and faithful in his country's service in war and in peace. He is a law-abiding citizen, and interested in the prosperity of his county. His memory will be cherished by his descendants as an honorable and patriotic man who offered his life and shed his blood to save his country in time of peril. May his descendants emulate his example.

Contributed by: Darlene Vergamini