Hancock Family.

Influential Boston family that included wealthy colonial merchant Thomas Hancock (1703-1764) and his nephew John Hancock (1737-1793), president of the Second Continental Congress, governor of Massachusetts, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Hancock founded the family fortune during the 1720s as he imported European manufactured goods and exported American rum, whale oil, and other products to Europe and Canada. John Hancock joined his uncle in business in 1754 at the outbreak of the French and Indian War. John inherited the family interests upon Thomas Hancock's death in 1764. By the 1770s, John Hancock was one of the richest men in New England. His heirs continued the Hancock family businesses into the 19th century, but they never attained a similar level of wealth and influence.

From the description of Hancock Family papers, 1712-1854 (inclusive). (Harvard Business School). WorldCat record id: 48623907