John Hancock, Great American Patriot: Presented by John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company

14 pp. John Hancock, (born January 12, 1737, Braintree (now in Quincy), Massachusetts - died October 8, 1793, Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.), American statesman who was a leading figure during the Revolutionary War and the first signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. After graduating from Harvard (1754), Hancock entered a mercantile house in Boston owned by his uncle Thomas Hancock, who later left him a large fortune. In 1765 he became a selectman of Boston and from 1769 to 1774 was a member of the Massachusetts General Court. He was chairman of the Boston town committee formed immediately after the Boston Massacre in 1770 to demand the removal of British troops from the city.--Britannica