Jacob Hancock (1749 - 1793)

Born 21 Aug 1749 in Lisburn, County Antrim, Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Phelps) Hancock — married 13 Oct 1771 in Dublin, Ireland

Descendants

Died 15 Jan 1793 at age 43 in Wicklow, County Wicklow, Ireland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Paul Hancock [send private message]

Biography

Jacob was a Friend (Quaker)

Jacob was born August 21, 1749 (August 8 in the old style). He inherited an interest in the family linen manufacturing concern on Gregg Street, Lisburn, as well as various buildings and farms – worth £2,000, which was a tidy sum at the time. We still have his magnificent love letters to his future wife Elizabeth Phelps. An example:

Lisburn June 11th 1771

My Dear Betty,

Where shall I find words suitable to express the feelings of my Heart, or Terms adequate to convey the unabated Glow & Warmth of my Affections? Were I to turn Plagiary & rob the studied Labours of Antiquity of their most dignified & exalted Sentiments, or were I assisted with all the boasted Expressions of modern Literature, yet after all, when Language had done its utmost, there would be something left behind, there would be a Chasm or a Vacancy still remaining, which could only be supplied by the Conception of Thought or by the secret Contemplations of an abstracted Silence. ....

And so on. Elizabeth married him four months later, and was to bear him 11 children.

Jacob seems to have done well in the linen business, and at his death -- at the relatively young age of 44 -- he left a considerable fortune (to his dear Betty went a life interest in their house, as well as “all the cows, Horses, Carriage or Carriages that I may die possessed of.”)

Despite Jacob’s wishes, his surviving sons did not succeed him in the linen business. They were still in their minority when their father died, and it is possible that the business failed before they reached adulthood. In any case, all of them chose to leave Ireland. The eldest, John, was “a general favourite -- a splendid fellow, with a magnificent voice”. He emigrated to America (taking the family Bible) and was never heard from again. The middle son, Thomas, went on to become a successful doctor in England. The youngest, Jacob Bradshaw, also went to America, settled in Cincinnati, married and fathered five children, and then (according to family lore) drowned in the Ohio River after saving a boy’s life.

Of Jacob’s surviving daughters, Sarah, the eldest, married Samuel Greer of the nearby town of Lurgan. She had eleven children, one of whom rejoiced in the name of Hancock Greer (perhaps the only time in history when Hancock has been used as a Christian name). Mary married James Hogg, whose nephew, Brigadier General John Nicholson, is Lisburn’s most famous son.

Other members of the Hancock family continued to prosper in the linen business, notably his nephew John Hancock (1760-1823).

Sources

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=grantp99&id=I15224
• “Ireland, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Marriages,” database with images, FindMyPast (https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FMARR%2F2348G : accessed 21 June 2021), marriage of Jacob Hancock and Elizabeth Phelps daughter of Thomas Phelps in Dublin on 13d 10mo (Oct) 1771; citing Register of marriages, LISBURN, 1859, Religious Society Of Friends In Ireland Archives.
• Letters of Jacob Hancock, in family papers of Paul Hancock.
• "Betham Genealogical Abstracts," image, FindMyPast (https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=S2%2FIRE%2FNAI%2F007634324%2F00763&parentid=IRE%2FNAI%2FGENABS%2F00281591%2F1 : accessed 7 Aug 2020), will of Jacob Hancock the younger, dated 5 Jan 1793, proved 23 Feb 1793, sons John, Thomas and Jacob, brother in law Thomas Phelps, nephew John H, brothers-in-law Willcocks and John Phelps; citing Genealogical abstracts of records of the Prerogative Court of Armagh, Betham's Genealogical Abstracts Prerogative Wills. (Phillips Mss) ( & Misc) C. 1681-1699 D. 1550-1694, National Archives of Ireland.
• Copy of will of Jacob Hancock, from collection of Paul Hancock.

See also:

• ThePeerage.com: Jacob Hancock