The
Reverend John Hancock, grandfather of the American revolutionary leader of the same name, purchased this site in 1699. In 1738 he built this two-story timber-frame house. Rev. Hancock's son,
Thomas, a wealthy
Boston merchant, is said to have financed the construction. The front or main portion of the house consists of the -story structure with central chimney, a short center hall, two rooms on each of the two floors, and an attic. The small rear ell, stories high with gambrel roof, contains a kitchen and tiny study downstairs and two low-studded chambers upstairs. As confirmed by
dendrochronolgy, both portions of the house were built from trees felled in the same year, refuting a commonly held belief that the ell was built in 1698. Succeeding Hancock as minister in 1752, the Reverend
Jonas Clarke, who reared 12 children in the parsonage, was an eloquent supporter of the colonial cause. This house is one of two surviving residences associated with John Hancock, famous American patriot,
President of the Continental Congress, first signer of the
United States Declaration of Independence, and the first
Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It became his boyhood home in 1744 when, upon the death of his father at
Quincy, the seven-year-old boy came to live at this house with his grandfather. In 1750 John joined his childless uncle,
Thomas Hancock, a wealthy Boston merchant who adopted him. On the evening of April 18, 1775, John Hancock and
Samuel Adams, having attended the
Massachusetts Provincial Congress in
Concord and wary of returning to
Boston, were guests of Rev. Clarke. Fearing that they might be captured by the British, Dr.
Joseph Warren of Boston dispatched
William Dawes and
Paul Revere to Lexington with news of the advancing British troops. Arriving separately, they stopped to warn Hancock and Adams around midnight, then set off for Concord. Hancock and Adams made their way to
Burlington to avoid capture. ==Later history==