John Hancock (1660 - abt. 1710)

Born 1660 in England

Husband of Mary (Chambless) Blansher — married 1688 (to 1709) in Salem, New Jersey

Descendants

Died about 22 Mar 1710 at about age 50 in Salem, New Jersey

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Doug Lockwood [send private message]

Biography

Came to America on the ship "Willing Mind" about 10-25-1679

The Hancock House sits on property that was purchased from John Fenwick in 1675 by William Hancock, an English shoemaker. Upon his death the property passed to his wife and then to his nephew, John Hancock. John’s inheritance of approximately 500 acres made him a major landholder in Fenwick’s Colony. He contributed to the development of the area by building a bridge across Alloways Creek in 1708. Now known as “Hancocks Bridge,” it permitted passage on an important highway between Salem and Greenwich and gave the settlement its name. When John Hancock died in 1709, he left his property to his son William. William became a Justice of the Peace for Salem County and served in the Colonial Assembly for 20 years In 1734, William and his wife Sarah built the Hancock House. Their initials [WHS] and the construction date [1734] can be seen in the brickwork on the house’s west elevation Upon his death in 1762, William left his house to his son William, who succeeded him in the Assembly and became His Majesty’s Judge of the County Court for the County of Salem. It was this William who figured in the massacre of March 1778. The Hancock House remained in the family until 1931, although the extent to which the house was used as a private residence and the property farmed is uncertain. There is evidence to suggest a section of the house was leased for a tavern during the 18th & 19th centuries. The State of New Jersey acquired the Hancock House for $4,000 in 1931 and opened it as a museum in 1932. The winter of 1777 found George Washington and his Army encamped at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The British occupied Philadelphia. Both armies needed food and supplies. In February of 1778, General Washington ordered General “Mad” Anthony Wayne to forage for food, cattle and horses in South Jersey. A month later, Sir General William Howe dispatched 1500 British troops and loyalists under General Charles Mawhood to do the same. Mawhood’s foraging activities met with considerable resistance from the Salem County militia and local patriots. Repulsed at the Battle of Quinton’s Bridge, a key transportation link to the fertile fields of Cumberland and Salem Counties, the British were frustrated and angry with the people of Salem County for their support of the Continental Army. On March 20, 1778, Mawhood issued the following mandate to his British troops: “Go - spare no one - put all to death - give no quarters.” At approximately five o’clock in the morning of March 21, 1778, these orders were carried out. Colonel John Graves Simcoe. Painted by George Theodore Berthon. Courtesy of Government of Ontario Art collection, Archives of Ontario, Toronto. With local Tories (British Loyalists) and their slaves acting as guides, Major John Graves Simcoe and approximately 300 troops attacked the Hancock House where they knew the local militia was stationed. Everyone inside was bayoneted; not a shot was fired. Among the 10 killed and five wounded, was Judge William Hancock. He died several days later.

The eastern side of the Hancock House was built in 1728 and the western side in 1734 by William and Sarah Hancock. This 280 year old house is owned by the State of New Jersey and is a New Jersey State Historical Site. The house is architecturally and historically significant, reflecting the building traditions of English Quaker Colonists. The Hancock House was the scene of massacred patriots by a 300 man force of British troops who broke in the house at night and bayoneted everyone inside. This was done in retaliation of a battle the British lost at Quinton’s Bridge.

William Hancock was one of the investors in the Fenwick Colony. Shortly after the Colony became established in New Salem (1675) Hancock arrived and received his share of the land, 968 acres in Alloways Creek, just 5 miles from Salem. John Hancock (Williams’s nephew) inherited approximately half of the original 968 acres and built a log cabin on the corner of the property where the Hancock House was later built by his son William and William's wife Sarah. John built the first drawbridge over Alloways Creek now known as Hancocks Bridge creating the turnpike between Salem and Greenwich, 1708. John lived in the small cabin he constructed, raised 11 children and left his estate to his son William who is said was a shrewd businessman and later became a Judge for Salem County and served in the Colonial Assembly for 20 years.

Additional information available at The Hancock House, 3 Front Street, Hancocks Bridge, NJ

"John Handcock came from London into America by the way of Maryland in the shipp called the Willinge Mind about the 25 of the 10th month in the year 1679; Mary Champney daughter of Nathaniel Champney senior with her mother Elizabeth Champney came from London in the shipp called the Henry and Ann and landed in Delaware River the latter end of the seventh month in the year 1681; afterward the said John tooke to wife the said Mary Champney and inhabited at Allaways Creeke in the County of New Salem within the province of West New Jersey."^[1]

Parents Edward Hancock 1630 – and Isabella

Spouse & Children Mary Chambless 1668 – 1713

1. John Hancock 1690 – 1788
2. Mary Hancock 1691 –
3. William HANCOCK 1693 –
4. Elizabeth Hancock 1695 –
5. Mary Hancock 1698 –
6. Sarah Hancock 1701 – 1760
7. Edward Hancock 1703 – 1739
8. Nathaniel Hancock 1703 –
9. Joseph Hancock 1705 –
10. Hannah Hancock 1706 –  : m Thomas Anderson, son of Simon Anderson (Andrews?)^[2]
11. Jonathan Hancock 1708 –
12. Grace Hancock 1710 –

Sources

1. ↑ "U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935"
   New Jersey > Union > Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meetings > Births and Deaths, 1686-1798
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Image (accessed 30 March 2024)
2. ↑ Selected and Introduced by Joseph R. Klett, Genealogies of New Jersey Families From the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, (Genealogical Publishing Company, copyright 1996 Baltimore, Maryland), Volume 2, page 370.

• Calendar of New Jersey Wills, 1670-1760
• Documents relating to the colonial history of the state of New Jersey, vol. 23