Lot 256

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Description:

John Hancock Endorses Deed for Beacon Hill Lot He Purchased in 1771 and Sold in 1785

This 1771 deed conveys a lot on Southack Street (now Phillips Street) in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston from Edward Green to John Hancock for £800. Fourteen years later, Hancock wrote a note on the document indicating that he had sold it to Mrs. Sarah Barrett.

JOHN HANCOCK, Autograph Endorsement Initialed, May 25, 1785, on Deed from Edward Green to John Hancock, January 11, 1771, Boston, Massachusetts. 3 pp., 8.25" x 13" and 3.25" x 8.125". With flattened folds, light toning, and minor foxing. The deed has been expertly repaired where separations at folds occurred. Boldly signed by Hancock.

Excerpts
"I Edward Greene for and in consideration of the sum of Eight hundred pounds lawful money to me in hand paid before the seating hereof by John Hancock of Boston aforesaid Esquire the Receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge Have Granted Bargained Sold Conveyed and Confirmed and by these presents Do fully & absolutely Grant Bargain Sell Convey and Confirm unto the said John Hancock All that certain piece or parcel of land situate lying and being in Southack street so called in Boston.... Together with the dwelling house barn and all other edifices & buildings thereon...."

"In witness whereof I the said Edward Greene and Mary my wife in testimony that she releases all her right of dower in the premises have hereunto set our hands and seals this tenth day of January Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and seventy one, the eleventh year of his Majestys Reign.
"Edward Green
"Mary Green
"Signed sealed & delivered in presence of us.
"Belcher Noyes
"Elizabeth Badger"

"Memo altho' the above deed is acknowleged the 11th of Jany 1771, it was not delivered to Mr Hancock untill the 28th of the same month, previous to which the Mortgage that was on the Estate conveyed by this deed, was discharged by Mr Gray."

[Endorsement in Hancock's hand:]
"Sold the within mention'd House & Land to Mrs Sarah Barrett by Deed dated May 25th 1785 — JH"

John Hancock (1737-1793) was a Boston merchant and leader of the colonial resistance movement. He was born in Braintree, and his paternal uncle, Thomas Hancock, adopted John after his father died in 1742. John Hancock graduated from Harvard College in 1754 and went to work for his uncle, from whom he learned the mercantile trade. The Hancock family engaged in smuggling with the French West Indies in defiance of the Molasses Act. When his uncle died childless in 1764, John Hancock inherited the lucrative mercantile business and became one of the wealthiest men in New England. Named a Boston selectman in 1765, Hancock opposed the Stamp Act, and upon passage of the Townshend Duties in 1767, he resolved to prohibit British customs officials from setting foot on his ships. Hancock served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and, in 1774, he was elected president of the revolutionary Provincial Congress. He and Samuel Adams were the targets of British General Thomas Gage's projected campaign against Lexington and Concord in April 1775. During the war, Hancock served as President of the Continental Congress, 1775-1777, and in that capacity signed the Declaration of Independence in bold script on July 4, 1776. After Shays' Rebellion embroiled Massachusetts in civil unrest in 1786 and 1787, Hancock's support of the new Constitution was probably responsible for its ratification, by a narrow margin, by Massachusetts. Under a new Massachusetts constitution, Hancock was overwhelmingly elected governor in 1780 and served until his resignation in January 1785. After Shays' Rebellion confounded his successor James Bowdoin, Hancock returned to office as governor in 1787 and pardoned the rebels. He won reelection annually for the rest of his life.

Edward "Ned" Green (1733-1790) was born in Boston. He married Mary Storer (1736-1829) in 1757, but they had no children. In 1780, he was an enlisting officer for Suffolk County. After he died in 1790, Mary Storer Green married Benjamin Hall (1731-1817) in 1791 but had no children with him. Artist John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) painted a portrait of Mary Storer Green ca. 1765 (currently owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). In July 1774, Henry Pelham wrote to his half-brother John Singleton Copley, then in England, about the difficulties of settling Green's account.

Sarah Gerrish Barrett (1713-1798) married Boston merchant John Barrett (1708-1786) in 1731, and they had eleven children. By the 1750s, the Barretts were wealthy enough to commission artist John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) to paint three-quarter-length portraits of each of them (currently owned by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri). For many years, John Barrett was a deacon of the New North Church and an "overseer of the poor."

Belcher Noyes (1709-1785) was born in Boston and graduated from Harvard College in 1727. He was a nephew of Jonathan Belcher (1681-1757), who served as Governor of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire (1730-1741) and governor of New Jersey (1747-1757) under King George II. Noyes became a physician and practiced in Boston for many years. In 1736, he married Anne Williams, and they had at least four children. He also served as a justice of the peace in Suffolk County in the 1770s.

Elizabeth Badger (b. 1745) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and married Victor Blair (1750-1804) on November 7, 1771, in Boston.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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February 1, 2023 11:00 AM EST
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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $299 $20
$300 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $2,999 $200
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 + $5,000