John Hancock - Boston,MA
N 42° 21.342 W 071° 03.740
19T E 330153 N 4691330
The signature of John Hancock on the Declaration of Independence is the most flamboyant and easily recognizable of all.
Waymark Code: WM5DMW
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 12/23/2008
Views: 47
"At first only a financier of the growing rebellion, John Hancock later became a 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 unanimously elected president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and presided over its Committee of Safety. Under Hancock, Massachusetts was able to raise bands of "minutemen"—soldiers who pledged to be ready for battle on short notice—and his boycott of tea imported by the British East India Company eventually led to the Boston Tea Party.
In April 1775 as the British intent became apparent, Hancock and Samuel Adams slipped away from Boston to elude capture and arrest, staying in the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington, Massachusetts (which can still be seen to this day). There Paul Revere supposedly roused them about midnight before the British troops arrived at dawn for the Battle of Lexington and Concord, but Prescott was the one who actually informed Hancock and Adams. At this time, General Thomas Gage ordered Hancock and Adams arrested for treason. Following the battle a proclamation was issued granting a general pardon to all who would demonstrate loyalty to the crown—with the exceptions of Hancock and Adams." (Source- Wikipedia)
Patriot Name: John Hancock
Type of Service Provided: Signer of Declaration of Independence
Cemetery Name: Granary Burying Ground
Text of the Grave Marker: This Memorial Erected
AD MDCCCXCV
by the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts
to Mark the Grave of
John Hancock
Grave Marker Type: Modern Granite Marker
Historical Background: Born: January 12, 1737
Birthplace: Braintree (Quincy), Mass.
Education: Graduated Harvard College (Merchant.)
Work: Elected to the Boston Assembly, 1766; Delegate to, and President of, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, circa 1773; Elected to Continental Congress, 1774; Elected President of the Continental Congress, 1775; Member of Massachusetts state Constitutional Convention, elected Governor of Massachusetts, through 1793.
Died: October 8, 1793
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