John Hancock III (1736 - 1793)

Born 12 Jan 1736 in Braintree (now Quincy), Province of Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Dorothy (Quincy) Scott — married 28 Aug 1775 (to 1793) in Thaddeus Burr Mansion, Fairfield, Connecticut

Died 8 Oct 1793 in Hancock Manor, Boston, Massachusetts

Profile managers: Raymond Nichols [send private message] and American Revolution Project WikiTree [send private message]

Preceded by The Massachusetts Provincial Congress and new office created October 25, 1780 2nd Governor James Bowdoin

John Hancock 1st Governor of Massachusetts 1780—1785 3rd Governor 1787—1793

Succeeded by Acting Governor Thomas Cushing 4th Governor Samuel Adams

This person was a President of the US Continental Congress Join: 1776 Project Discuss: US_CONTINENTAL_CONGRESS_PRESIDENTS

Biography

Governor John Hancock III was a Founding Father in the American Revolution.

John Hancock III is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A050856.

John Hancock III is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: P-174340
Rank: Patriotic

John Hancock (1737-1793), orphaned as a boy, was adopted by a rich uncle who had no children of his own. He was educated at Boston Latin School and Harvard University. Just ten years after graduating from college, he inherited his uncle's very lucrative business and became the richest man in America at the time.

The influence of being a workingman, and then one of means may be what made Hancock so in touch with the people. He despised blind authority and those beliefs lead him to use his contacts and resources in the aid of the independence of the colonies. He spoke out strongly regarding British Rule and was often engaged revolutionary politics at first as a financier and later a outspoken public critic of British rule.

On March 5, 1774, the fourth anniversary of the Boston Massacre, he gave a speech strongly condemning the British. In the same year, he was elected president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress.

On May 24, 1775, he was elected President of the Second Continental Congress. In August of the same year, he married Dorothy Quincy.

Hancock is best remembered for his large, flamboyant signature on the Declaration of Independence, so much so that the word “John Hancock” is synonymous with “signature”.

Because of the popularity of the Hancock name, many people claim to be direct descendants. However, Mr. Hancock and his wife had two children neither of whom lived to see their teenage years. Lydia Henchman Hancock died an infant and John George Washington Hancock died at age 9, fell through the ice while skating in a pond in Massachusetts.

John Hancock was son of Rev. John Hancock of Braintree and Mary (Hawke )Thaxter of Hingham. After his father died in 1744 he lived with an uncle and aunt, Thomas Hancock and Lydia (Henchman) Hancock.'

Legacy

• Ten US states have counties named in John Hancock's honor. They are: Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Sources

• Find A Grave Memorial# 440
• John Hancock on wikipedia
• John Hancock and "The Declaration of Independence"
• The Family Magazine (Redfield & Lindsay, New York, 1834-5) Vol. 2, Page 112: "He died of the gout, which was hereditary in his family."
• Child, Frank Samuel. An Old New England Church, Established Religion in Connecticut (Fairfield Historical Society, Fairfield, Conn., 1910) Page 154
• Wikidata: Item Q272774

See Also:

• Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery: https://legacyofslavery.harvard.edu
• List of Human Beings Enslved by Prominent Harvard Affiliates: https://radcliffe-harvard-edu-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/3d37f30c-a266-4be8-bd4b-234dca08497f/AppendixI-ListofHumanBeingsEnslavedbyProminentHarvardAffiliates.pdf

John Hancock is recorded in the report as owning five individuals with documented dates of ownership. - Cato (1764-1777) Cato first appears in the 1764 will of Thomas Hancock, John’s uncle and guardian. Thomas Hancock was also a benefactor of Harvard College, leaving £1000 in his will to fund the Hancock Professorship of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages. Will of Thomas Hancock, Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers, AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2017–2019, (from records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, digitized images provided by FamilySearch. org), accessed April 2, 2021. The will stipulates that Cato should be manumitted when he turns 30. Cato also appeared in Lydia Hancock’s 1777 will in which she stipulates that he should receive 6 pounds, 13 shillings, and 4 pence from her estate “at the time he shall become free by my late husband’s will.” Will of Mrs. Lydia Hancock, Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers, AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2017–2019, (from records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org), accessed April 2, 2021. As John and Lydia Hancock shared a home, Cato and the other enslaved people named in Lydia Hancock’s will lived in John Hancock’s house up to the time of her death.

- Frank (1768-1771; Agnes (1777); Violet (1777); and Hannibal (1777). (see: The Manifesto Church: Records of the Church in Brattle Square, Boston, with Lists of Communicants, Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals, 1699–1872 (Boston, MA: The Benevolent Fraternity of Churches, 1902), 184, 185, 187, 189): https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Manifesto_Church/Iufi5eVXCGoC?hl=en&gbpv=1

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