John Hancock
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas
In office
March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1885
Preceded bydistrict established
Succeeded byJoseph D. Sayers
Constituency10th district
In office
March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1877
Preceded byEdward Degener
Succeeded byDe Witt C. Giddings
Constituency4th district (1871–1875)
5th district (1875–1877)
Member of the Texas House of Representatives for the 57th district
In office
1860–1861
District Judge
Texas 2nd Judicial District
In office
1851–1855
Personal details
Born(1824-10-24)October 24, 1824
Jackson County, Alabama, U.S.
DiedJuly 19, 1893(1893-07-19) (aged 68)
Austin, Texas, U.S.
Resting placeOakwood Cemetery
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseSusan Richardson
Alma materEast Tennessee University
Military service
AllegianceUnion (American Civil War)
RankConscientious objector: fled to Mexico

John Hancock (October 24, 1824 – July 19, 1893) was an American judge and politician. As a member of the Texas Legislature he opposed the secession of Texas during the American Civil War. After the war he represented Texas in the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life

John Hancock was born in Jackson County, Alabama,[1] the seventh of ten children born to John Allen Hancock and Sarah Ryan Hancock.[2] His older brother George Duncan Hancock was a veteran of Battle of San Jacinto and represented Travis County in the Eleventh Texas Legislature.[3]

Hancock attended the East Tennessee University at Knoxville. He later worked on his father's farm in Alabama before beginning his study of law in Winchester, Tennessee. In 1846 he was admitted to the Alabama bar.[4] In January 1847 he moved to Austin, Texas, where he practiced law. In 1851 he was elected district judge of the Second Judicial District for a term of six years. After four years he resigned to resume his lucrative law practice, as well as to engage in farming.

Civil War

John Hancock during the postbellum period.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Hancock strongly believed that Texas should remain part of the Union. In 1860 he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Unionist. After the secession of Texas in March 1861, he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States of America and was expelled from the legislature. During the Civil War he practiced law in the state courts but refused to conduct business or recognize the authority in the Confederate courts. He refused to take part in military service during the war, and in 1864 he fled to Mexico to escape conscription for the Confederacy. After the end of the war he returned to Texas and took part in the restoration of order, including serving as a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1866.

Post war years

In 1870 he was elected to the United States Congress and served from 1871 to 1877. He served again from 1883 to 1885. He supported the Native American policy of Ulysses S. Grant, which called for placing Native Americans on reservations under supervision of the federal government. While in Congress he helped in the passage of acts related to Native American policy. These acts included changing the manner of issuing rations to Native Americans on the reservations, stipulating that they were to be given once a week, as well as prohibiting Native American hunting-parties unless accompanied by United States Army troops. This latter policy ended raids by Native Americans from the reservations. He also helped establish a military telegraph around the Texas frontier.

Death

He died in Austin in 1893 and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery.

Legacy

On the eighth season of Who Do You Think You Are?, actress and comedian Aisha Tyler learned that Congressman John Hancock was her great-great-great-grandfather. Hancock fathered two sons with one of his slaves. The older, surviving son, Hugh Hancock, is through whom Tyler is descended. Hugh Hancock would become a prominent leader of the Austin African-American community. Active in the local Republican Party, Hugh ran a bar called the Black Elephant. Hugh Berry Hancock died in Pocatello, Idaho

References

  1. ↑ John Hancock from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved 1 July 2010. Texas State Historical Association
  2. ↑ "John Allen Hancock". USGennet. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
  3. ↑ George Duncan Hancock from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved 1 July 2010. Texas State Historical Association
  4. ↑ Guttery, Ben (2008). Representing Texas: a Comprehensive History of U.S. and Confederate Senators and Representatives from Texas. BookSurge Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-4196-7884-4.
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