Hancock family papers, 1728-1815.

ArchivalResource

Hancock family papers, 1728-1815.

Manuscripts, business and family correspondence, receipts, contracts, inventories of bills, decedents' estates, deeds and letters to and from John Hancock while he served on the Massachusetts General Court and as President of the Continental Congress. Letters discuss equipment, supplies, commerce, the Massachusetts Militia, Continental Army, and other aspects relating to the American Revolution. Also, business correspondence discussing financial aspects, accounts, investments, shipping to and from Canada, and letters to Thomas Hancock related to his role as a prominent Boston merchant and as the supplier for the British/American troops in the French and Indian War related to shipping merchant Thomas Hancock and later John Hancock. Also includes a receipt book, 1747-55, and letter book, 1745-50, of Thomas Hancock, and letter book of John Hancock, 1780-82. Correspondents include Ebenezer Hancock, Thomas Hancock, William Donnison, James Murray, Thomas Cushing, Artemas Ward, William Livingston, William Heath, Robert Treat Paine, Dorothy Quincy, Henry Knox, Edmund Quincy, Edward Browne, and Mercy Scollay, among others.

5 boxes, 3 vols, 2 folders and 1 oversize

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7811643

Massachusetts Historical Society

Related Entities

There are 21 Entities related to this resource.

Ward, Artemas, 1727-1800

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k75978 (person)

Artemas Ward (November 26, 1727 – October 28, 1800) was an American major general in the American Revolutionary War and a Congressman from Massachusetts. He was considered an effective political leader, President John Adams describing him as "universally esteemed, beloved and confided in by his army and his country." Born in Shrewsbury in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, he attended the common schools before graduating from Harvard College, teaching there briefly after graduation. In 1751, ...

Livingston, William, 1723-1790

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r03301 (person)

William Livingston (November 30, 1723 – July 25, 1790) was an American politician who served as the first non-Colonial governor of New Jersey (1776–1790) during the American Revolutionary War. As a New Jersey representative in the Continental Congress, he signed the Continental Association and the United States Constitution. He is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Born in Albany, New York, Livingston received his early education from local schools and tutors. At age...

Cushing, Thomas, 1725-1788

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r8969b (person)

Thomas Cushing III (March 24, 1725 – February 28, 1788) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, merchant, and statesman from Boston, Massachusetts. Active in Boston politics, he represented the city in the provincial assembly from 1761 to its dissolution in 1774, serving as the lower house's speaker for most of those years. Because of his role as speaker, his signature was affixed to many documents protesting British policies, leading officials in London to consider him a dangerous radical. He ...

Paine, Robert Treat, 1731-1814

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6h23t24 (person)

Robert Treat Paine (March 11, 1731 – May 11, 1814) was an American lawyer, politician, and Founding Father of the United States who signed the Continental Association and the Declaration of Independence as a representative of Massachusetts. He served as the state's first attorney general, and served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court. Paine was also a founding member of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society and had always opposed slavery. ...

Hancock, John, 1737-1793

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61h1c98 (person)

John Hancock (January 23, 1737 [O.S. January 12, 1736] – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is remembered for his large and stylish signature on the United States Declaration of Independence, so much so that the term John Hancock or Hancock has become a nickname in the United S...

Scollay, Mercy.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65n3zrh (person)

Massachusetts. General Court

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wq3xqv (corporateBody)

The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, chartered by the English Crown in 1629, sat as a General Court, which after the 1630 emigration to America became the government of the Massachusetts Bay colony. It consisted of colony freemen (company stockholders); and the governor, deputy governor, and assistants (magistrates) chosen by them. The latter group met separately as a Court of Assistants, but in 1634 its legislative powers were ceded to the General Court as a whole (Ma...

Hancock, Dorothy Quincy, 1747-1830

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z89b6h (person)

Browne, Edward Everts, 1868-1945

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j96jjz (person)

Massachusetts. Governor (1780-1785 : Hancock)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64n3k4k (corporateBody)

First signer of the Declaration of Independence; governor of Massachusetts, 1780-1785, 1787-1793. From the description of Autograph and seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, [between 1780 and 1793]. (Buffalo History Museum). WorldCat record id: 57560695 ...

Massachusetts. Militia

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rn6zj7 (corporateBody)

Ten companies comprised the 12th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia: five from Boston, one from North Bridgewater, one from Abington, one from Weymouth, one from Stoughton, and one from Gloucester. After organization was completed, the regiment was ordered to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. Three months later it was sent to Harper's Ferry, Va., where it guarded the upper Potomac as part of Bank's division. From the description of Massachusetts Volunteer Militia records, 1861 [ma...

Murray, James, 1713-1781

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60p2z1h (person)

Hancock, Ebenezer, 1741-1819

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vq48pm (person)

Heath, William, 1737-1814

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68w3dnw (person)

American Major-General. From the description of Autograph letter signed : Boston, to Ebenezer Hancock, 1777 Apr. 3. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270864067 Army officer. From the description of Papers of William Heath, 1776-1782. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 71061920 Army officer in the Revolution, Massachusetts state senator, and jurist. From the description of Papers of William Heath, 1774-1777. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83784932 ...

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6h995df (person)

American revolutionary officer. From the description of Autograph letter signed : [n.p.], to Thomas Jefferson, 1793 Apr. 1. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270596665 From the description of Autograph letter signed : [n.p.], to General Henry Jackson, 1796 Oct. 26. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270596669 From the description of Autograph letter signed : Westpoint, to Colonel Pickering, Quartermaster General, 1782 Sept. 15. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270598200 ...

Hancock family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tc0k6s (family)

Massachusetts. Governor (1787-1793 : Hancock)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64n3rmx (corporateBody)

United States. Continental Congress

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64j43p9 (corporateBody)

The central governing body of the American colonies from 1774, continuing during the American Revolution; and also the first governing body of the U.S. until the establishment of the U.S. Constitution in 1789. From the description of Continental Congress minutes, 1778 Oct. 21. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 429918299 Noah Cooke, Jr. (1749-1829) earned his Harvard AB 1769. His early career was as a clergyman, but he later became a lawyer. He was admitted to the bar in Cheshir...

Donnison, William, 1757?-1834

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69c762f (person)

William Donnison, of Boston, fought in the Revolutionary War and was named aid to Massachusetts Governor Hancock in 1786. In 1788 he became adjutant general of the Massachusetts militia, and in 1797 Governor Samuel Adams appointed him judge of Common Pleas, a post he held for 25 years. From the description of Account book, 1810-1822. (Boston College, Law Library). WorldCat record id: 317553709 William Donnison was the adjutant general for the Massachusetts Militia for more t...

United States. Continental Army

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66m6x5k (corporateBody)

In response to the expansion of the Continental Army the number of staff was increased and reorganized in 1776. Changes included the creation of a new unit to supplement George Washington's personal staff. This special unit, the Commander in Chief's Guard, was formed on March 12, 1776 with Captain Caleb Gibbs (formerly adjutant of the 14th Continental Regiment and appointed Aid to Major General Greene) as commander. The unit protected Washington, the army's cash, and official papers. ...

Hancock, Thomas, 1703-1764

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rn3dgk (person)