Hancock
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Hancock Surname Genealogy
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England. Although there were early records of the name in Yorkshire, Hancock definitely has had a westward name distribution, in a line stretching from the southwest counties of Devon and Cornwall northwards into Staffordshire.
There was a cluster of Hancocks in the South Molton area of north Devon. Many left for Canada in the 19th century, including Thomas Hancock, an itinerant preacher who took his family there in the 1870's. A Hancock family that remained brews Devon cider.
The Hancock name also crops up in Cornish tin mining towns - St. Agnes (where the Coulter Hancocks were landowners) and St. Austell (where Peter Hancock has written a nostalgic book of his home town, St. Austell: The Golden Years). However, when the mining boom ended in the late 19th century, many Hancocks from these parts emigrated. Henry Hancock became a superintendent of the Moonta mine in South Australia.
A Hancock family from Somerset were well-known fair operators in the west country in the latter part of the 19th century. Their lives are recounted in Kevin Scrivens and Stephen Smith's book, Hancocks of the West. Another Hancock family were brewers in Wiveliscombe. These Hancocks were fanatical about the game of rugby. Seven of them played rugby for Somerset, one represented Wales, and another England.
Meanwhile, an earlier Hancock family from Marlborough in Wiltshire, furniture makers on the High Street, produced two remarkable sons, Thomas and Walter. Thomas's invention of the masticator machine for rubber scraps helped found the British rubber industry. Walter pioneered steam-powered road vehicles.
Staffordshire Hancocks included the celebrated 18th century engraver Robert Hancock and the 19th century Wesleyan Sampson Hancock who founded a pottery company in Stoke. It continued until 1937. The present day comedian Nick Hancock hails from Stoke.
America. Thomas Hancock was an early settler in Farmington, Connecticut. From this line came the merchant Hancocks of Boston. They built the first house (Hancock Manor) on Beacon Hill and adopted John Hancock who was the first Governor of Massachusetts and produced that famous signature on the Declaration of Independence. Some of these Hancocks ended up in New Hampshire, including in recent times Mary Louise Hancock, the so-called "Grand Dame" of New Hampshire politics. The Hancock lumber company in Casco, Maine dates from 1848 and has remained family-run through six generations.
Around 1630, three Hancock brothers from London came to America and became prominent planters in Virginia. They established a family line that today includes many thousands of their descendants in the south and the midwest. Another line descends from Stephen Hancock who arrived in Maryland in 1663 as an indentured servant. Their stone farmhouse, built in 1785 at Hancock's Resolution on Chesapeake Bay, stayed with the family until the 1960's.
Hancocks were to be found in numbers in Georgia and Texas as the 19th century proceeded. James and Jestern Hancock from North Carolina moved to Tattnall county, Georgia in the early 1800's where they ran a tavern. Their descendants were later to be found in Worth county. Another Hancock family homesteaded at what is now called Hancock Lake. A notice in the Sunland Tribune in 1881 read:
The Texas influx included a pioneer African American family in the years after the Civil War. These Hancocks were sharecroppers for Judge John Hancock until 1880 and then became successful farmers in their own right in Travis county.
The gold rush attracted Hancocks to California from all over, overland from Missouri and Virginia (Hancocks who bought up land in Placerville) and by sea from as far away as New Zealand. But the most successful Hancock was one who did not stay but headed south to what was to become Los Angeles.
Henry Hancock grew up in New Hampshire, but ran away at the age of 12. He shipped out on a mackerel schooner from Boston and eventually headed west. The land he acquired in Los Angeles is now Hollywood and the Wilshire district. It also contained valuable oil rights which made the family wealthy. Allan Hancock built Hancock Park in the 1920's and also started the Hancock College of Aeronautics where thousands of pilots were trained for service during World War Two.
South Africa. Hancock's Drift, published in 1960, is a narrative account of the 1820 settlers who left England to seek a better life for themselves and their children on the wild untamed frontier of the eastern Cape Colony. It is written from the perspective of Joseph Hancock, the eldest surviving son of James and Ann Hancock, and relies extensively on his notebooks of the journey which have survived.
Australia. Most Hancock arrivals into Australia, such as Thomas and Emma Hancock in the 1860's, came from the west country. A Hancock family became one of the oldest landowning families in Western Australia. This family produced Lang Hancock who discovered one of the richest iron ore deposits in the world in 1952 and was at that time Australia's richest man. Today the Hancock name is known for the custom guitars made by Kim Hancock and his two sons at their Tamborine Mountain workshop in Queensland.
Australia was tragically the location where the comedian Tony Hancock made his last TV appearance in 1968 before committing suicide.
Select Hancock Miscellany
Select Hancock Names
John Hancock was a Massachusetts merchant and prominent patriot of the American revolution. He is best remembered for his large flamboyant signsture on the Declaration of Independence, so much so that his name has become an informal synonym in America for signature.
Thomas and Walter Hancock were brothers from Wiltshire in the early 19th century. Thomas was the founder of the British rubber industry, Walter the inventor of the first steam-powered road vehicle.
Winfield Scott Hancock was the Union general who was the victor at Gettysburg and later was a Democratic candidate for President.
Lang Hancock was a controversial 20th century iron ore magnate from Western Australia.
Tony Hancock was a very popular British radio and TV comedian of the 1950's and 1960's.
Sheila Hancock is a popular English actress.
Herbie Hancock is a well-known jazz pianist and composer.
Select Hancocks Today
Select Index of Names
The Origin/Spread of Surnames
For other surnames check the companion selectsurname.com site where there are to be found the history and genealogy for more than 500 surnames.
Hancock derived from the personal
name "Hann," itself a form of the early Johan or John. The suffix
"cock," a nickname for a young lad, was an affectionate ending of
French origin which began to appear in England in the 13th century.
Select Hancock Resources on The Internet
- Hancock Family History. Hancocks from Dorset to Canada.
- Hancock's Resolution. Hancocks in Maryland.
- Hancock Family History. Hancocks in Georgia.
- Hancock DNA Project. Hancock DNA.
England. Although there were early records of the name in Yorkshire, Hancock definitely has had a westward name distribution, in a line stretching from the southwest counties of Devon and Cornwall northwards into Staffordshire.
There was a cluster of Hancocks in the South Molton area of north Devon. Many left for Canada in the 19th century, including Thomas Hancock, an itinerant preacher who took his family there in the 1870's. A Hancock family that remained brews Devon cider.
The Hancock name also crops up in Cornish tin mining towns - St. Agnes (where the Coulter Hancocks were landowners) and St. Austell (where Peter Hancock has written a nostalgic book of his home town, St. Austell: The Golden Years). However, when the mining boom ended in the late 19th century, many Hancocks from these parts emigrated. Henry Hancock became a superintendent of the Moonta mine in South Australia.
A Hancock family from Somerset were well-known fair operators in the west country in the latter part of the 19th century. Their lives are recounted in Kevin Scrivens and Stephen Smith's book, Hancocks of the West. Another Hancock family were brewers in Wiveliscombe. These Hancocks were fanatical about the game of rugby. Seven of them played rugby for Somerset, one represented Wales, and another England.
Meanwhile, an earlier Hancock family from Marlborough in Wiltshire, furniture makers on the High Street, produced two remarkable sons, Thomas and Walter. Thomas's invention of the masticator machine for rubber scraps helped found the British rubber industry. Walter pioneered steam-powered road vehicles.
Staffordshire Hancocks included the celebrated 18th century engraver Robert Hancock and the 19th century Wesleyan Sampson Hancock who founded a pottery company in Stoke. It continued until 1937. The present day comedian Nick Hancock hails from Stoke.
America. Thomas Hancock was an early settler in Farmington, Connecticut. From this line came the merchant Hancocks of Boston. They built the first house (Hancock Manor) on Beacon Hill and adopted John Hancock who was the first Governor of Massachusetts and produced that famous signature on the Declaration of Independence. Some of these Hancocks ended up in New Hampshire, including in recent times Mary Louise Hancock, the so-called "Grand Dame" of New Hampshire politics. The Hancock lumber company in Casco, Maine dates from 1848 and has remained family-run through six generations.
Around 1630, three Hancock brothers from London came to America and became prominent planters in Virginia. They established a family line that today includes many thousands of their descendants in the south and the midwest. Another line descends from Stephen Hancock who arrived in Maryland in 1663 as an indentured servant. Their stone farmhouse, built in 1785 at Hancock's Resolution on Chesapeake Bay, stayed with the family until the 1960's.
Hancocks were to be found in numbers in Georgia and Texas as the 19th century proceeded. James and Jestern Hancock from North Carolina moved to Tattnall county, Georgia in the early 1800's where they ran a tavern. Their descendants were later to be found in Worth county. Another Hancock family homesteaded at what is now called Hancock Lake. A notice in the Sunland Tribune in 1881 read:
"Mr. Henry Hancock, resident of
Hernando County for 30
years, has eleven children and eighteen grandchildren. He
possesses one of the finest places in the county."
The Texas influx included a pioneer African American family in the years after the Civil War. These Hancocks were sharecroppers for Judge John Hancock until 1880 and then became successful farmers in their own right in Travis county.
The gold rush attracted Hancocks to California from all over, overland from Missouri and Virginia (Hancocks who bought up land in Placerville) and by sea from as far away as New Zealand. But the most successful Hancock was one who did not stay but headed south to what was to become Los Angeles.
Henry Hancock grew up in New Hampshire, but ran away at the age of 12. He shipped out on a mackerel schooner from Boston and eventually headed west. The land he acquired in Los Angeles is now Hollywood and the Wilshire district. It also contained valuable oil rights which made the family wealthy. Allan Hancock built Hancock Park in the 1920's and also started the Hancock College of Aeronautics where thousands of pilots were trained for service during World War Two.
South Africa. Hancock's Drift, published in 1960, is a narrative account of the 1820 settlers who left England to seek a better life for themselves and their children on the wild untamed frontier of the eastern Cape Colony. It is written from the perspective of Joseph Hancock, the eldest surviving son of James and Ann Hancock, and relies extensively on his notebooks of the journey which have survived.
Australia. Most Hancock arrivals into Australia, such as Thomas and Emma Hancock in the 1860's, came from the west country. A Hancock family became one of the oldest landowning families in Western Australia. This family produced Lang Hancock who discovered one of the richest iron ore deposits in the world in 1952 and was at that time Australia's richest man. Today the Hancock name is known for the custom guitars made by Kim Hancock and his two sons at their Tamborine Mountain workshop in Queensland.
Australia was tragically the location where the comedian Tony Hancock made his last TV appearance in 1968 before committing suicide.
Select Hancock Miscellany
If you would like to read more, click on the miscellany page for
further stories and accounts:
Select Hancock Names
John Hancock was a Massachusetts merchant and prominent patriot of the American revolution. He is best remembered for his large flamboyant signsture on the Declaration of Independence, so much so that his name has become an informal synonym in America for signature.
Thomas and Walter Hancock were brothers from Wiltshire in the early 19th century. Thomas was the founder of the British rubber industry, Walter the inventor of the first steam-powered road vehicle.
Winfield Scott Hancock was the Union general who was the victor at Gettysburg and later was a Democratic candidate for President.
Lang Hancock was a controversial 20th century iron ore magnate from Western Australia.
Tony Hancock was a very popular British radio and TV comedian of the 1950's and 1960's.
Sheila Hancock is a popular English actress.
Herbie Hancock is a well-known jazz pianist and composer.
Select Hancocks Today
- 24,000 in the UK (most numerous in Lincolnshire)
- 17,000 in America (most numerous in Texas)
- 17,000 elsewhere (most numerous in Australia)
Select Index of Names
The Origin/Spread of Surnames
For other surnames check the companion selectsurname.com site where there are to be found the history and genealogy for more than 500 surnames.