Ancestry of John Hancock (American patriot)? English? Irish? What?

Question

I had always assumed that Hancock was of English ancestry, until I found out that I happen to be related to him.. My family is largely of Irish descent and I was told previously that we "weren't English at all!".

So, if Hancock's lineage was from England, then apparently I'm just dealing with politics in the family(?)!. LOL.

Thank you :>

Yes, his signature on the Declaration was the largest signature of all ;>

I'll have to do some genealogical research myself now, because it seems that there is more to my ancestry than has been told.

I love the English and this is a pleasant surprise.

Interesting, Suzanne. The other known parts of my ancestry included Scottish (my last name is Scottish), German-speaking Dutch and two Native American tribes (Shawnee & Blackfoot).

Answer 1

John Hancock is alternately listed as "Irish" or as "Scottish", which can be extremely confusing. The group he descended from is actually SCOTTISH, but they have been called "Scotch-Irish" and "Ulster Irish", as well as --what is probably the most accurate or helpful name-- "Ulster Scot".

This group of Border Scots (Presbyterians) emigrated to the American colonies, mostly in the first part of the 18th century ("the Great Emigration") for both religious and economic reasons. Prior to this they had mostly been planted in Ulster by the British (though some were native to Ireland).

Note then the "Scotch Irish" or "Ulster Irish" --though they emigrated from Ireland-- are a VERY different group from the 19th century Irish Catholic immigrants. In fact, MOST of the "Irish" folks involved in the founding of the U.S. were Ulster Scots.

Hancock's family, more specifically, was from County Down (in Ulster).

http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/irish.html
http://www.aoh61.com/history/ir_american.htm
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/ulster_scots/ulster7.htm
http://www.ulsterscotssociety.com/about.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster-Scots

Answer 2

I thought he was English, too. I'm not sure, and I couldn't find anything definitive, but I pulled this quote from Wikipedia that seems to imply that he was of English descent:

"Upon graduation (from Harvard), he worked for his uncle. From 1760 – 1764, Hancock lived in England while building relationships with customers and suppliers of his uncle's shipbuilding business."

I'm interested in knowing, too, so if I find any other information, I'll amend my post. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Family rumor has it that we are related to John Hancock. I understand that side of my family is mostly (almost completely) Scottish. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

sure yet you gotta understand all nevertheless the pattern stumbled on approximately 60% of English dna to be the comparable of that of Wales Scotland and eire, The huge style improve to around seventy seven% for the scottish, 80 5 - ninety 3% of the irish and then around ninety 3% - ninety seven% of Welsh dna is celtic derived. So the huge style continues to be larger amongs the scots and heavily larger amongs the welsh and the Irish.

Answer 5

It is my understanding that John Hancock was one of the signers of the declaration of independance. Which means that he was probably of english origin. hope it helps.



Thanks for giving me a thumbs down you jerk off. I hope you find out your whole ancestry was a bunch of murdering homos

Answer 6

He's English.