Talk:John Hancock

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We should mention the reasons Hancock wanted the king to be able to see his signature.

• What he and his compatriots was proposing was treason, according to British law.
• Hancock had already attracted the attention of colonial authorities loyal to the crown; I think he was risking immediate imprisonment (or even hanging) for the mere signing of such a document.

Does anyone know more about this? Ed Poor

---

To answer my own question, Governor Gage was already seeking his arrest (along with Samuel Adams) because of an inflammatory speech he made after the Boston Massacre. After the Battle of Lexington, "Governor Gage issued his proclamation, offering a general pardon to all who should manifest a proper penitence for their opposition to the royal authority, excepting the above two gentlemen, whose guilt placed them beyond the reach of the royal clemency." (source) "

And as the article states, the notion that Hancock wrote his signature particularly large on the Declaration is disputed. Whether the quote often attributed to him on this is also apocryphal remains an open question for now (he might actually have claimed to be writing for the benefit of the king to fend off accusations of selfishly making his signature more prominent than those of the others, knowing full well that his signature was unusually large). JRM 21:51, 2004 Nov 12 (UTC)

Contents 1 November 12, 2004 rewrite 2 John Hancock's date of birth 3 Hold the phone 4 John Hancock's Children 5 Hobag? 6 Vandal magnet 7 Shipping v/s Shipbuilding or both? 8 More Information On What He Did Young

[edit] November 12, 2004 rewrite

Major rewrite of the original merged with the contributions of 68.192.114.0, the latter kindly weeded for us by Prog. The article is once again a respectable member of the community, and has, IMO, gained in depth and style. Thanks to all involved. JRM 21:51, 2004 Nov 12 (UTC)

[edit] John Hancock's date of birth

Everyone is advised to read the relevant section in the Manual of Style first.

Before an edit by 207.171.180.101, the article stated Hancock's date of birth was January 23, 1737. Afterwards, it was January 12, 1737. Encarta gives his birthday as January 23, 1737 [1], the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress gives January 12, 1737 [2].

This is the difference between the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar, with one important caveat: Encarta does not adjust the year for Gregorian; the correct date in Gregorian would be January 23, 1738 if the Julian date is January 12, 1737.

Under the tacit assumption that the Biographical Directory is correct and Encarta has just forgotten to adjust the year for Gregorian, I've added the calendar qualifications to the article. However, if anyone has reliable sources that say otherwise, do chip in. JRM 22:24, 2004 Dec 30 (UTC)

[edit] Hold the phone

When I saw DanteAlighieri add "some categories", I was sure they had already been in the article. I was right. 206.223.207.102 has removed a great deal of material without explanation, including the references. I've reverted it and incorporated the things added since then, but let's be careful out there.

I hope nobody thinks badly of me for reinstating the original disambig header while I'm at it, instead of the bland and imprecise {{otheruses}}. I'm probably firing a blank at the Consistency Brigade with this (who are having long and pointless discussions over the most apt wording and style for a one-size-fits-all disambig header), but at least I want to have fired it. JRM · Talk 23:42, 2005 May 4 (UTC)

Nice catch. I feel sort of stupid for not having realized that someone else must have probably thought of giving JH categories before. ;) I should've checked the history. Oh well. :) --Dante Alighieri | Talk 20:45, May 5, 2005 (UTC)

Hey, if you hadn't added those categories, who knows how many edits we would have had to remerge... Collaborative editing at work. :-) JRM · Talk 21:13, 2005 May 5 (UTC)

[edit] John Hancock's Children

Recently one of my co-workers took a tour and now we are trying to confirm the names of John and Dorothy Hancock's children. The most I've managed to find is that the couple had two children Lydia Hancock who died at only 10 months old, John George Washington Hancock who died at only 8 years old. --Brons 18:50, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

There was a section on his children until it was deleted by User:Imacg3; I have restored it. (It seems semiprotection is not enough to preserve this article from continuous vandalism.) --Ziusudra 14:58, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

In addition, was the former Miss Quincy connected to others such as John Quincy Adams and Colonel John Quincy? Ubermonkey 13:53, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

Dolly was a cousin of the presidential Quincy family. Her father was Judge Edmond Quincy. I don't have the full tree to hand but I think she was John Quincy's 2nd cousin, maybe 3rd. --Brons 18:50, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hobag?

A cursory search on Google failed to show me any information about a Hobag, Massachusetts. Does/did this place really exist, or is it an unfortunately subtle vandalism? Of course, I acknowledge that the Google search was cluttered with other, ahem, creative uses of the word 'hobag.' But even in a search for some Quincy history sites, I failed to find the name. Anyone have more info?  :: Salvo (talk) 18:02, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vandal magnet

I think that most of the folks who watch this article would agree that it is a magnet for vandals (for obvious reasons). Significant energy is expended in continually reverting the vandalism. And even so, we don't catch all of it. I just replaced an entire section that was deleted by a vandal over three months ago, which no one had noticed. I fixed another minor nonsensical defacement that had been in place unnoticed some seven weeks. A sort of slow erosion?

I suppose one could regard this article as a sort of honey pot, where we always know where to find vandals. But, has anyone ever thought of asking for the article to be semi-protected? After all, the late respected gentleman deserves a little dignity. --Ziusudra 03:59, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Shipping v/s Shipbuilding or both?

While my son was researching John Hancock for a school paper he came upon the following descrepancy. Per A&D Biographies, Founding Fathers, by Stuart A. Kallen, ABDO Publishing Co., his business was a mercantile (shipping) not shipbuilding (pg 10 ref). Does anyone know if which is correct or did he do both?MmkN 04:13, 13 February 2007 (UTC)MmkN

[edit] More Information On What He Did Young

  The page should have more information on what [john hancock] did young. For example maybe 

  he cleaned houses for a living.(which he didn't.)--Vampy233 21:53, 6 March 2007 (UTC)