you probably know the name John Hancock but do you know anything about the man behind the famous name
on today's episode of the ancestral finings podcast I'll talk about this American patriot
the American Revolution was a famous war between the American colonies and their parent country
Great Britain after establishing their own culture and way of life that was mostly separate and
unique from Great Britain and having it that way for more than a century the people of the colonies
felt it was unfair to be taxed and ruled by their mother nation they wanted to be independent a war
ensued from 1775 to 1783 which finally ended with an American victory with the signing by
both countries of the Treaty of Paris America was now the United States of America and its
own independent nation beginning an experiment in deliberately starting a nation from scratch
such as history had never witnessed during most of the war a victory for the Americans was far from
shore and those who were leading the revolution faced hanging or worse if they were captured by
the British or if the British won they all knew the risk they were taking and went forward with
their war anyway it was something everyone participating believed in very much while
hundreds of thousands of people took part in the war on the American side a handful of majority
players pushed it forward made it happen and ultimately came up with the strategies that led
the Americans to victory this is the story of the movers and shakers the big players of the American
Revolution John Hancock was one of those powerful players who was instrumental in the beginning and
success of the American Revolution he was born January 23rd 17:37 and lived to October 8th 1793
he was a merchant and statesman and served as the president of the Second Continental Congress where
the Declaration of Independence was written and ratified he also served as 1st and 3rd governor
of Massachusetts while he is best remembered for his large elaborate signature with a lura Shan
the Declaration of Independence John Hancock was so much more than just a stylish Li written name
on a page before the Revolution began Hancock was one of the wealthiest men in the colonies
mostly from inheriting an already profitable mercantile business from his uncle he began taking
an interest in politics when fellow Bostonian and future fellow revolutionary Samuel Adams took him
under his wing and introduced him to the good that could be done through public service when
tensions began to arise between the colonies and Great Britain in the 1760s Hancock gave of his
wealth to the cause of the colonists he became adamantly against Great Britain for good when
British officials took his sloop ship Liberty from him in 1768 and charged him with smuggling though
those charges were eventually dropped Hancock was firmly a colonist after that supporting the idea
of American independence almost from the beginning Hancock grew up in Braintree Massachusetts the son
of the Reverend John Hancock and Mary Hawke Thaxter Hancock he was childhood friends with
future fellow revolutionary John Adams a cousin of Samuel Adams who his father had baptized as
a child his family lived a comfortable life on a reverend salary and owned one household slave
to help with the housework at a time when most families of Massachusetts were already beginning
to view slavery as evil and embrace the burgeoning abolitionist movement John Adams and his wife for
example were always firm abolitionists after John's father died when he was seven years old
he was sent to live with an aunt and uncle Thomas Hancock and Lydia henchmen Hancock it was this
uncle who owned the mercantile business that later made John wealthy the business called the house
of Hancock imported goods from Great Britain and exported goods like rum whale oil and fish Thomas
and his wife were prominent citizens of Boston and lived in Hancock Manor on Beacon Hill as
they had no children of their own they raised John as their son and to be their heir Thomas
Hancock died in 1764 and John inherited everything he had including the business the manor thousands
of acres of land and three household slaves the slaves continue to work for John in his aunt for a
while but the terms of his uncle's will eventually free them John Hancock himself never personally
bought or sold any slaves John became one of the five select men of Boston in 1765 an office
once held by his uncle when the colonists rioted over the British Stamp Act John took a moderate
position at first but eventually began to boycott British goods which made him extremely popular in
Boston he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1766 because of it Samuel
Adams was the Clerk of the House at the time 15 years older than John and very stark empirical
and demeanor in comparison to John's taste for luxury and extravagance they made unlikely friends
however Samuel became John's political mentor and encouraged his support of and participation
in the American Revolution when it officially began Hancock negotiated with the British after
the Boston Massacre and was successful in getting them to remove their troops from the town an act
which got him re-elected to the Massachusetts House quite easily he was elected moderator of
the town meeting that led to the Boston Tea Party he eventually told the attendees that every man
must do what was right in his own eyes therefore while he did not participate in the Boston Tea
Party he gave it his unspoken approval he gave a speech at the fourth annual remembrance ceremony
of the Boston Massacre which also enhanced his reputation as an American patriot when Britain
dissolved the Massachusetts House members formed the Massachusetts Provincial Congress an elected
Hancock president of it the next year he was elected as a delegate from Massachusetts to
the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia replacing a delegate to the first one who had been
unable to attend it Samuel Adams was also elected and the two went together stopping to stay at
Hancock's childhood home in Lexington along the way they were there when the first shots of the
American Revolution were fired and Paul Revere was sent to warn them that British troops were coming
as the colonists believed the British wanted to arrest them at the time there actually was
no order to arrest Hancock and Adams and Hancock actually wanted to take to the field to help the
colonial soldiers fight but Adams convinced him he was more valuable as a political leader after
Lexington and Concord though Adams and Hancock had not fought the British offered a general pardon
to anyone who put down their arms and went back to living peaceably as British subjects
with the exceptions of Adams and Hancock this singling out of them this way solidified their
reputations as American patriots and leaders of the revolution Adams and Hancock made their way
to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia where Hancock was quickly and unanimously elected its
president Hancock Wed his fiancee Dorothea Dali Quincy later that year when the Congress was in
recess they had two children together neither of whom live to adulthood a daughter died as
a baby and a son died at nine years old in an ice skating accident when the Declaration of
Independence was approved on July 4th 1776 it was sent to a printer to be copied and distributed at
the time Hancock's name was the only one on it and it was printed not signed these copies were
widely distributed in George Washington read one to his troops the document that is on display at
the National Archives was handwritten as a copy of the printed version six months later
and signed by all the congressional delegates as a ceremonial copy this is the one Hancock's famous
large stylish signature appears on Hancock took a leave of absence from the Congress in 1777 and
served in local offices back home he did come back to the Congress briefly but left because
he missed his wife and newborn son he briefly commanded a regiment of six thousand troops
in the war at his own request which Washington granted but soon went back home where he engaged
in many charitable pursuits which continued his popularity with the people of Boston to
no one's surprise after the Revolution was over he was elected the first governor of the new
state of Massachusetts no longer a colony but part of the United States of America
World War 1 was a century ago now more people are starting to become interested in tracing
the military histories of their World War one ancestors records are located in a variety of
places on the next episode of the ancestral findings podcast I'll show you how to find
them and piece them together copyright by ancestral findings all rights reserved
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