1.
Old South Church
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Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, is a historic United Church of Christ congregation first organized in 1669. Its present building was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Charles Amos Cummings and Willard T. Sears, completed in 1873, the church, which was built on newly filled land in the Back Bay section of Boston, is located at 645 Boylston Street on Copley Square. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 for its significance as one of the finest High Victorian Gothic churches in New England. It is home to one of the religious communities in the United States. Established in 1669, Old South Church is one of the religious communities in the United States. It was organized by Congregationalist dissenters from Bostons First Church and was known as the Third Church, the Third Churchs congregation met first in their Cedar Meeting House, then at the Old South Meeting House at the corner of Washington and Milk Streets in Boston. Members of the congregation have included Samuel Adams, William Dawes, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Sewall, in 1773, Samuel Adams gave the signals from the Old South Meeting House for the war whoops that started the Boston Tea Party. During the Unitarian Movement of the early 19th century, Old South was the sole Congregational Church in Boston to adhere to the doctrine of Trinitarianism. In 1816 Old South Church joined with Park Street Church to form the City Mission Society, during the American Civil War, Old South became a recruiting center for the Union Army under minister Jacob Manning. Though the congregation was not entirely abolitionist, it supported the Union cause. The conclusion of the Civil War was followed by a time of increased inclusion for the congregation. Under minister George Angier Gordon the congregation moved from its house at Washington Street to its Back Bay location in 1875. Old Souths commitment to ministry and care continued on into the 20th century becoming a segue for the inclusion of new members increasingly diverse by race, class. The congregation has formally adopted a platform of equality, social justice, the church building was designed between 1870 and 1872 by the Boston architectural firm of Cummings and Sears in the Venetian Gothic style. The style follows the precepts of the British cultural theorist and architectural critic John Ruskin as outlined in his treatise The Stones of Venice, Old South Church in Boston remains one of the most significant examples of Ruskins influence on American architecture. The architects, Charles Amos Cummings and Willard T. Sears, the exterior of the church is primarily built of Roxbury Conglomerate commonly called puddingstone. Many arches, and several walls of stone are striped with alternating courses of yellow-beige, the porticos and large open arches in the campanile are decorated with simple plate tracery. The upper arches of the porticos are decorated with screens of wrought iron
2.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
3.
Washington Street (Boston)
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Washington Street is a street originating in downtown Boston, Massachusetts that extends southwestward to the Massachusetts–Rhode Island state line. The majority of it was built as the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike in the early 19th century and it is the longest street in Boston, and it remains one of the longest streets in the state of Massachusetts. Washington Street, as the first street that connected peninsular Boston to the mainland, the name was extended north to Adams Square on July 6,1824, and north on a new road to Haymarket Square on November 6,1872. The part north of Roxbury Street in Dudley Square, Roxbury was laid out as a way on January 19,1662. Additionally, the Washington Street name went west on Roxbury Street, Tremont Street and it ran from Dudley Square to the Rhode Island line and beyond to downtown Pawtucket. Coincidentally the only not built as a new road was the part through North Attleborough that US1 now bypasses. The southern half of the turnpike got little use as it avoided all the towns, where travelers wanted to stop, in fact, until the 1930s, when the current highway was built between Boston and Providence, the southern half remained a dirt road. The part of the turnpike in Roxbury was laid out as a road in June 1857. It was named Shawmut Avenue, as an extension of that road from Dudley Square, the portion in West Roxbury was named Shawmut Avenue February 3,1858. On July 2,1860, Tremont Street was extended west from its south end along former Washington Street to Brookline. South from downtown Dedham, the turnpike went not via the current Washington Street, the part of Washington Street north of Haymarket Square was known as Charlestown Street until around 1900. The first state highway in Boston was the part of Washington Street from Dedham to West Roxbury Parkway and it was taken over by the Massachusetts Department of Public Works in 1908. The short piece in West Roxbury Parkway, to just north of the road through the parkway, was taken over in 1921, Washington Street begins at Keany Square, the intersection with Causeway Street and Commercial Street, at the south end of the Charlestown Bridge. This section of the street is known as North Washington Street or Joe Tecces Way, Washington Street begins once again at State and Court Streets as a one-way thoroughfare. Through Downtown Crossing, from Milk Street south to Temple Place, South of Temple Place, Washington is, once again, one-way northbound, becoming two-way at Stuart Street and Kneeland Street. At Dudley Square in Roxbury, Washington Street is southbound-only for several blocks, northbound traffic bypasses this section to the east using those two streets. Southbound traffic must use short sections of South Street and Poplar Street at Roslindale Square, South of there, near the border between Roslindale and West Roxbury, Washington Street crosses West Roxbury Parkway and acquires a median strip. This median lasts until just before the Dedham city line, where the road continues as an undivided road, Washington Street continues southwestward, through the center of Dedham, the outskirts of Westwood, the centers of Norwood, and East Walpole and South Walpole
4.
Downtown Crossing
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Downtown Crossing is a shopping district that is a small part of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, located due east of Boston Common and west of the Financial District. It features large department stores as well as restaurants, souvenir sellers, general retail establishments, the section of Washington Street between Temple and Bromfield streets are closed to most vehicular traffic, pedestrians may walk freely in the street. Since the early 1900s, the area along Washington and Tremont Streets, the side streets between the two main thoroughfares look like the rungs of a ladder when viewed on a map, hence the name. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Summer Street was a neighborhood, with townhouses designed by Charles Bulfinch. The Great Boston Fire of 1872 destroyed much of the neighborhood, following the success of the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston decided to redevelop the Washington Street area into a pedestrian-only mall, which was unveiled in 1979. At first, foot traffic and business in the area declined, between 1895 and 1917, Downtown Crossing became the hub of department store shopping in Boston. In 1841, Eben Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh opened the first Jordan Marsh store as wholesalers, another major store, Filenes, was founded in 1881. Originally known as William Filenes Sons Co. the store expanded, gilchrist and Kennedys also opened in the neighborhood, though both are now defunct. These stores attracted more visitors, including those from the suburbs. Nationwide, downtown department stores faced challenges after World War II due to suburbanization and competition from big box stores, Filenes Basement would go on to become a major department store independent of Filenes. The flagship store of Filenes Basement was located underground, in the basement of the former Filenes department store, the two stores, formerly under the same ownership, were disassociated in 1988. The building housing the two stores was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, during the Winter Season Filenes would hold a Christmas tree lighting and Jordan Marsh would present a series festive Christmas window displays known as the Enchanted Village. The window display has since relocated to Bostons Hynes Convention Center, the area is experiencing more growth due to new luxury hotel and condominium additions. In 2001, Millennium Place was completed, the luxury towers rise to 38 stories and 36 stories. In 1996, the former Jordan Marsh store became Macys, in 2006, Vornado Realty Trust announced the purchase of the former Filenes site for $100m. The project is expected to cost around $620 million and the project would be filled with upscale shopping destinations, high-dollar business space, the plan calls for a 38-story tower that will rise to 495 feet. However, the left by Filenes has left the building to be redeveloped. Filenes Basement has been closed for the duration of construction, but has vowed to return upon the completion of construction, as of September 2011, Filenes Basement is still closed
5.
Boston
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Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Boston is also the seat of Suffolk County, although the county government was disbanded on July 1,1999. The city proper covers 48 square miles with a population of 667,137 in 2015, making it the largest city in New England. Alternately, as a Combined Statistical Area, this wider commuting region is home to some 8.1 million people, One of the oldest cities in the United States, Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. Upon U. S. independence from Great Britain, it continued to be an important port and manufacturing hub as well as a center for education, through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the original peninsula. Its rich history attracts many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone drawing over 20 million visitors per year, Bostons many firsts include the United States first public school, Boston Latin School, first subway system, the Tremont Street Subway, and first public park, Boston Common. Bostons economic base also includes finance, professional and business services, biotechnology, information technology, the city has one of the highest costs of living in the United States as it has undergone gentrification, though it remains high on world livability rankings. Bostons early European settlers had first called the area Trimountaine but later renamed it Boston after Boston, Lincolnshire, England, the renaming on September 7,1630 was by Puritan colonists from England who had moved over from Charlestown earlier that year in quest of fresh water. Their settlement was limited to the Shawmut Peninsula, at that time surrounded by the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River. The peninsula is thought to have been inhabited as early as 5000 BC, in 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Colonys first governor John Winthrop led the signing of the Cambridge Agreement, a key founding document of the city. Puritan ethics and their focus on education influenced its early history, over the next 130 years, the city participated in four French and Indian Wars, until the British defeated the French and their Indian allies in North America. Boston was the largest town in British America until Philadelphia grew larger in the mid-18th century, Bostons harbor activity was significantly curtailed by the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812. Foreign trade returned after these hostilities, but Bostons merchants had found alternatives for their investments in the interim. Manufacturing became an important component of the economy, and the citys industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance by the mid-19th century. Boston remained one of the nations largest manufacturing centers until the early 20th century, a network of small rivers bordering the city and connecting it to the surrounding region facilitated shipment of goods and led to a proliferation of mills and factories. Later, a network of railroads furthered the regions industry. Boston was a port of the Atlantic triangular slave trade in the New England colonies
6.
Boston Tea Party
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The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on December 16,1773. The demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, in defiance of the Tea Act of May 10,1773 and they boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into Boston Harbor. The British government responded harshly and the episode escalated into the American Revolution, the Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. Protesters had successfully prevented the unloading of taxed tea in three colonies, but in Boston, embattled Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain. The Boston Tea Party was a significant event in the growth of the American Revolution, Parliament responded in 1774 with the Coercive Acts, or Intolerable Acts, which, among other provisions, ended local self-government in Massachusetts and closed Bostons commerce. The crisis escalated, and the American Revolutionary War began near Boston in 1775, the North Ministrys attempt to resolve these issues produced a showdown that would eventually result in revolution. As Europeans developed a taste for tea in the 17th century, in England, Parliament gave the East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea in 1698. When tea became popular in the British colonies, Parliament sought to eliminate competition by passing an act in 1721 that required colonists to import their tea only from Great Britain. The East India Company did not export tea to the colonies, by law, British firms bought this tea and exported it to the colonies, where they resold it to merchants in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. Until 1767, the East India Company paid an ad valorem tax of about 25% on tea that it imported into Great Britain, Parliament laid additional taxes on tea sold for consumption in Britain. To help offset this loss of government revenue, Parliament also passed the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767, instead of solving the smuggling problem, however, the Townshend duties renewed a controversy about Parliaments right to tax the colonies. Controversy between Great Britain and the colonies arose in the 1760s when Parliament sought, for the first time, some colonists, known in the colonies as Whigs, objected to the new tax program, arguing that it was a violation of the British Constitution. Britons and British Americans agreed that, according to the constitution, in Great Britain, this meant that taxes could only be levied by Parliament. Colonists, however, did not elect members of Parliament, according to Whigs, colonists could only be taxed by their own colonial assemblies. When new taxes were levied in the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767, merchants organized a non-importation agreement, and many colonists pledged to abstain from drinking British tea, with activists in New England promoting alternatives, such as domestic Labrador tea. Smuggling continued apace, especially in New York and Philadelphia, where tea smuggling had always been more extensive than in Boston. Parliament finally responded to the protests by repealing the Townshend taxes in 1770, except for the tea duty and this partial repeal of the taxes was enough to bring an end to the non-importation movement by October 1770. From 1771 to 1773, British tea was once imported into the colonies in significant amounts
7.
First Church in Boston
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First Church in Boston is a Unitarian Universalist Church founded in 1630 by John Winthrops original Puritan settlement in Boston, Massachusetts. The current building is on 66 Marlborough Street in Boston, the church has long been associated with Harvard University. The church was created in 1630 when the settlers on the Arbella arrived in what is now Charlestown, John Wilson was the first minister, and the only minister while the church was in Charlestown. Two years later constructed a meeting house across the Charles River near what is now State Street in Boston. In 1633 John Cotton arrived from England, and was an elder at the church, helping to establish the foundation of the Congregationalist Church. Massachusetts state churches including First Church were officially disaffiliated with the government in 1833, in the 19th century, the First Church moved to Back Bay in Boston. The building at 66 Marlborough Street in Boston dated from 1867 and was designed by Boston architects William Robert Ware, after a fire in 1968, First Church and Second Church merged and built a new building at the same location. This building, by architect Paul Rudolph, incorporates part of the facade of the 1867 building, Second Churchs Back Bay location in the Fenway was sold just before the merger. This is our church, the seven societies of the First Church in Boston 1630-2005, Boston, Society of the First Church in Boston,2005. Google books Paul Rudolph & his architecture, a page from a website devoted to Rudolphs work, featuring photos of the church building. Paul Rudolph & his architecture First Church in Boston website 1630 Christian Covenant of First Church in Boston
8.
John Winthrop
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John Winthrop was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England, following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of immigrants from England in 1630 and his writings and vision of the colony as a Puritan city upon a hill dominated New England colonial development, influencing the governments and religions of neighboring colonies. Winthrop was born into a wealthy landowning and merchant family and he trained in the law and became Lord of the Manor at Groton in Suffolk. He was not involved in founding the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1628, Winthrop was a respected political figure, and his attitude toward governance seems authoritarian to modern sensibilities. Winthrops son John was one of the founders of the Connecticut Colony and his long list of descendants includes famous Americans, and his writings continue to influence politicians today. John Winthrop was born on 12 January 1587/8 to Adam and Anne Winthrop in Edwardstone, Suffolk and his birth was recorded in the parish register at Groton. His fathers family had been successful in the business, and his father was a lawyer. His mothers family was also well-to-do, with properties in Suffolk, when Winthrop was young, his father became a director at Trinity College, Cambridge. Winthrops uncle John emigrated to Ireland, and the Winthrop family took up residence at Groton Manor, Winthrop was first tutored at home by John Chaplin and was assumed to have attended grammar school at Bury St. Edmunds. He was also exposed to religious discussions between his father and clergymen, and thus came to a deep understanding of theology at an early age. He was admitted to Trinity College in December 1602, matriculating at the university a few months later, among the students with whom he would have interacted were John Cotton and John Wheelwright, two men who also had important roles in New England. He was a childhood and university friend of William Spring. The teenage Winthrop admitted in his diary of the time to lusts, so masterly as no good could fasten upon me. Biographer Francis Bremer suggests that Winthrops need to control his baser impulses may have prompted him to leave school early, in 1604, Winthrop journeyed to Great Stambridge in Essex with a friend. They stayed at the home of a friend, and Winthrop was favorably impressed with their daughter Mary Forth. He left Trinity College to marry her on 16 April 1605 at Great Stambridge, Mary bore him five children, of whom only three survived to adulthood. The oldest of their children was John Winthrop, the Younger and their last two children, two girls, died not long after birth, and Mary died in 1615 from complications of the last birth. The couple spent most of their time at Great Stambridge, living on the Forth estate, in 1613, Adam Winthrop transferred the family holdings in Groton to Winthrop, who then became Lord of the Manor at Groton
9.
Salisbury
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Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England, and the only city within the county. It is the third-largest settlement in the county, after Swindon and Chippenham, with a population of 40,302, the city is located in the southeast of Wiltshire, near the edge of Salisbury Plain. Its cathedral was located to the north at Old Sarum, following its relocation. The new town received its city charter in 1227 under the name New Sarum, which continued to be its name until 2009. It sits at the confluence of five rivers, the Nadder, Ebble, Wylye, and Bourne are tributary to the Hampshire Avon, which flows to the south coast and into the sea at Christchurch in Dorset. Salisbury railway station serves the city and is a regional interchange, Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is about 8 miles northwest of Salisbury and greatly aids the local economy. The city itself, Old Sarum, the present cathedral and the ruins of the one also attract visitors. The first part of the name is of obscure origin, the form Sarum is a Latinization of Sar, a medieval abbreviation for Sarisberie. Salisbury appeared in the Welsh Chronicle of the Britons as Caer-Caradog, Caer-Gradawc, cair-Caratauc, one of the 28 British cities listed in the History of the Britons, has also been identified with Salisbury. The hilltop at Old Sarum lies near the Neolithic sites of Stonehenge and Avebury and it commanded a salient between the River Bourne and the Hampshire Avon near a crossroads of several early trade routes. During the Iron Age, a hillfort was constructed around it sometime between 600 and 300 BC, the Romans may have occupied the site or left it in the hands of an allied tribe. Amid the Saxon invasions, Old Sarum fell to King Cynric of Wessex in 552, preferring settlements in bottomland like nearby Wilton, the Saxons largely ignored Old Sarum until the Viking invasions led King Alfred to restore its fortifications. Along with Wilton, however, it was abandoned by its residents to be sacked and burned by the Dano-Norwegian king Sweyn Forkbeard in 1003 and it subsequently became the site of Wiltons mint. Following the Norman invasion, a castle was constructed by 1070. The castle was directly by the Norman kings, its castellan was generally also the sheriff of Wiltshire. Hermann and his successor Saint Osmund began the construction of the first Salisbury cathedral, the cathedral was consecrated on 5 April 1092 but suffered extensive damage in a storm, traditionally said to have occurred only five days later. Bishop Roger was an ally of Henry I who served as his viceroy during the kings absence to Normandy and directed the royal administration. He refurbished and expanded Old Sarums cathedral in the 1110s and began work on a palace during the 1130s
10.
Boston Massacre
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The Boston Massacre, known as the Incident on King Street by the British, was an incident on March 5,1770, in which British Army soldiers shot and killed people while under attack by a mob. The incident was publicized by leading Patriots, such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. Amid ongoing tense relations between the population and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry, who was subjected to verbal abuse and he was eventually supported by eight additional soldiers, who were subjected to verbal threats and snowballs. Spontaneously they fired into the crowd, instantly killing three demonstrators, two died later. The crowd eventually dispersed after Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson promised an inquiry, eight soldiers, one officer, and four civilians were arrested and charged with murder. Defended by lawyer and future American president John Adams, six of the soldiers were acquitted, Boston, the capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and an important shipping town, was a major center of resistance to unpopular acts of taxation by the British Parliament in the 1760s. In 1768, the Townshend Acts were placed upon the colonists, by which a variety of items that were manufactured in Britain. Colonists objected that the Townshend Acts were a violation of the natural, charter, the Massachusetts House of Representatives began a campaign against the Townshend Acts by sending a petition to King George III asking for the repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act. In Great Britain, Lord Hillsborough, who had recently appointed to the newly created office of Colonial Secretary, was alarmed by the actions of the Massachusetts House. In April 1768 he sent a letter to the governors in America. He also ordered Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard to direct the Massachusetts House to rescind the letter. Bostons chief customs officer, Charles Paxton, wrote to Hillsborough, commodore Samuel Hood responded by sending the fifty-gun warship HMS Romney, which arrived in Boston Harbor in May 1768. On June 10,1768, customs officials seized Liberty, a sloop owned by leading Boston merchant John Hancock, Bostonians, already angry because the captain of Romney had been impressing local sailors, began to riot. Customs officials fled to Castle William for protection, given the unstable state of affairs in Massachusetts, Hillsborough instructed General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief, North America, to send such Force as You shall think necessary to Boston. On October 1,1768, the first of four British Army regiments began disembarking in Boston, two regiments were removed from Boston in 1769, but the 14th and the 29th Regiments of Foot remained. Tensions rose markedly after Christopher Seider, a lad about eleven Years of Age, was killed by a customs employee on February 22,1770. Seiders death was glorified in the Boston Gazette, and his funeral was described as one of the largest of the time in Boston, the killing and subsequent propaganda inflamed tensions, with gangs of colonists looking for soldiers to harass, and soldiers also on occasion looking for confrontation. On the evening of March 5, Private Hugh White, a British soldier, stood on duty outside the Custom house on King Street
11.
John Hancock
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John Hancock was an American merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first, before the American Revolution, Hancock was one of the wealthiest men in the Thirteen Colonies, having inherited a profitable mercantile business from his uncle. Hancock began his career in Boston as a protégé of Samuel Adams. As tensions between colonists and Great Britain increased in the 1760s, Hancock used his wealth to support the colonial cause and he became very popular in Massachusetts, especially after British officials seized his sloop Liberty in 1768 and charged him with smuggling. Although the charges against Hancock were eventually dropped, he has often described as a smuggler in historical accounts. Hancock was one of Bostons leaders during the crisis led to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775. He served more than two years in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, and as president of Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, Hancock returned to Massachusetts and was elected governor of the Commonwealth, serving in that role for most of his remaining years. He used his influence to ensure that Massachusetts ratified the United States Constitution in 1788, according to the Gregorian calendar, John Hancock was born on January 23,1737, according to the Julian calendar then in use, the date was January 12,1736. He was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, in a part of town eventually became the separate city of Quincy. He was the son of the Reverend John Hancock of Braintree and Mary Hawke Thaxter, as a child, Hancock became a casual acquaintance of young John Adams, whom the Reverend Hancock had baptized in 1735. The Hancocks lived a life, and owned one slave to help with household work. After Hancocks father died in 1744, John was sent to live with his uncle and aunt, Thomas Hancock, Thomas Hancock was the proprietor of a firm known as the House of Hancock, which imported manufactured goods from Britain and exported rum, whale oil, and fish. Thomas Hancocks highly successful business made him one of Bostons richest and he and Lydia, along with several servants and slaves, lived in Hancock Manor on Beacon Hill. The couple, who did not have any children of their own, after graduating from the Boston Latin School in 1750, Hancock enrolled in Harvard College and received a bachelors degree in 1754. Upon graduation, he began to work for his uncle, just as the French, Thomas Hancock had close relations with the royal governors of Massachusetts and secured profitable government contracts during the war. John Hancock learned much about his uncles business during these years and was trained for eventual partnership in the firm, Hancock worked hard, but he also enjoyed playing the role of a wealthy aristocrat and developed a fondness for expensive clothes. From 1760 to 1761, Hancock lived in England while building relationships with customers and suppliers, upon returning to Boston, Hancock gradually took over the House of Hancock as his uncles health failed, becoming a full partner in January 1763. He became a member of the Masonic Lodge of St. Andrew in October 1762, which connected him with many of Bostons most influential citizens
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