Sister - Mary Hancock Perkins (1735-1779)

This week I’m going to post a scan of an old tribute to an ancestor of mine, who was generally known as the sister of her famous brother, John Hancock. Mary Hancock was born on April 8^th 1735, to the Rev John Hancock and his wife Mary Hawke. She had two younger brothers, John and Ebenezer. Her father died when she was nine and the family was left without support. They relied on her wealthy uncle and aunt, Thomas Hancock and Lydia Henchman, who would one day make her brother John the wealthiest man in Boston. In 1751 Mary’s mother remarried to Rev Daniel Perkins of Bridgewater. Daniel’s son Richard would have been twenty one, likely studying for a career in medicine. There does not seem to have been any feeling against step siblings marrying at the time and nine years later Mary and Richard married.  They wasted no time, and starting 10 months after their marriage, had twelve children together. Her youngest son was born in December of 1778 and five months later Mary died at the age of forty-five. Below is a tribute to her found in the Hancock family letters.