Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/573

HANAU. 519 HANCOCK. Hanau is believed to have had its origin in a Roman settlement. It was raised to the rank of a city early in the lourleentli ccnuiry. and was fortified in 152S. Dnring the Thiny Vears' War it was occupied repeatedly by the Swedes and the Imperial troops, and it was the scene of the last battle fought by Napoleon on German soil. This conflict, which took place on the ;!Oth and 31.st of October. 181.'!. resulted in the .severe defeat of the allied armies under Wrede. HAN'BURY, Benjamin (1778-1804). An English Nonconformist historian, born at Wolver- hampton. He was employed in the Bank of Eng- land from 1803 ti> ISo!). He devoted himself to collecting documents bearing on all Nonconform- ist matters, and took the most lively interest in the promotion of the cause. His works include: An Historical Research Concerning the Most Ancient Congrenational Church in. England . . . (1820) : Historical Memorials Relating to the In- (leiKndents . . . (.IS.Sil) ; and .1 Life of Calvin (18.31). HAN'COCK. A village in Houghton County, Jlich., opposite Houghton; on Lake Portage and on the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad (ilap: ilichigan. El). A ship canal to Lake Superior ati'ords transportation facilities also by water. Hancock is in the centre of the Lake Superior copper region, and besides several highly productive copper- mines has smelting- works, foundries and machine-shops, and other industrial estaltlishments. Montezuma Park and a Finnish college are among the features of the village. It was settled in 1859, and in 1863 was incorporated. Under a charter of 180.5 the gov- ernment is vested in a president, chosen annually, and a village council, elected on a general ticket. The water-works are owned and operated by the municipalitv. Population, in 1890. 1772; in 1900. 40.50.' HANCOCK. .John- (1737-93). An American patriot of the Revolutionary period, president of the Continental Congress, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the first Gov- ernor of the State of Massachusetts. He was born at Braintrce, Mass.. January 23, 1737, graduated at Harvard in 1754, and was adopted by an uncle, Tliomas Hancock, who in 1764 left him a fortune of about £80,000, and to whose large mercantile business he succeeded. After his graduation he spent some time in England. He was for .several years one of the selectmen of Boston, and after 1766 was repeatedly elected to the Massachusetts General Court, where he steadily resisted the encroachments of the Brit- ish Ministry. After the 'Boston Massacre' (q.v. ) in 1770. Hancock was a member of the com- mittee which was appointed by the people of Boston to demand of Governor Hutchinson the removal of the British troops from Boston, and on the fourth anniversary of the 'massacre' he delivered the customary commemorative oration, and by his boldness and eloquence attracted at- tention to himself anew as one of the leaders of the Patriot or Whig Party. In June. 1774, he was appointed by the General Coiirt. of which he was a member, one of the representa- tives of Massaehiisetts in the first Continental Congress, and in October he was appointed chair- man (later president) of the first Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, which adjoumed on December lOth. He was likewise president of the second Provincial Congress, which assembled at Cambridge in February of the following year, and by his activity in this and other extralegal proceedings incurred, with Samuel Adams, the bitter ho.slility of Governor Gage, whose ex- pedition to Lexington and Concord on April 18th-19th (see Lexington) was sent out in part to secure the ca])ture of these two leaders, and who, when issuing his proclamation of par- don on .June I2th, expressly excepted Hancock and Adams, "whose offenses," he said, "are of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other con- sideration than that of condign punishment." In defiance of the known hostility toward Hancock of the British Ministry, and partly, no doubt, whh a view to winning over nembers of the wealthier and more aristocratic families in New England, who as a class were inclined to con- servatism, and were disposed to remain loyal to the home Government, Hancock was elected president of the Continental Congress in May, 1775. Though he resigned this position in Octo- ber, 1777, he remained a member of the Congi'css until 1780, and served again in that body in 1785-86. In 1778, as major-general of Massa- chusetts militia, he commanded the State troops in the Rhode Island expedition. In 1780 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention of Massachusetts, and upon the adoption of the Constitution there framed was elected first Gov- ernor of the State, in which position he was re- tained by annual reelections until 1785. After an intermission of two years he was again Gov- ernor from 1787 until his death. Though at first thought to be opposed to the Federal Constitu- tion as drawn up by the convention at Philadel- phia in 1787, he presided over the Massachusetts convention which ratified that document in 1788, and used his influence to win over those who fa- vored rejection. Concerning Hancock's character and the extent of his influence there has been much difference of opinion among historical writ- ers; but he is now generally considered to have been a man of undoubted patriotism and of con- siderable ability, whose usefulness at times was impaired by his vanity and his jealous disposi- tion. There is no adequate biography of Han- cock, but considerable material bearing upon his life may be found in Abraham E. Brown, John Hancock, His Book (Boston, I89S). HANCOCK, WiNFiELD Scott (1824-86). A distinguished American soldier, born February 14. 1824, at Montgomery Square, Montgomery Coun- ty, Pa. He graduated at West Point, .June 30, 1844, number eighteen in a class of twenty-five, and was assigned, Tuly 1, 1844, as a brevet second lieutenant to the Sixth Infantry, with which he served for two years in the Indian country. He was appointed second lieutenant in the same regiment in June. 1846. In the Mexican War he commanded a company at the National Bridge (August 12. 1847), and subsequently earned the brevet of first lieutenant "for gallant and merito- rious conduct at Contreras and Churubusco." From 1848 to 1855 he served successively as regi- mental adjutant and quartermaster, and for a short time as assistant adjutant-general. Depart- ment of the West. Having shown great aptitude in all staff details, he was appointed captain and assistant quartermaster in Noveniher. 1855. and was assigned to duty in Florida. lie accompanied General Harney to Kansas, serving during the