Hancock family papers, 1712-1854 (inclusive). Volume JH-6 John Hancock letterbook (business), 1762-1783. Mss:766 1712-1854 H234. Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School.

Correspondents include victualling agent Matthew Woodford, to whom Thomas Hancock wrote about provisions shipped to Annapolis Royal and Fort Cumberland in Chignecto, Nova Scotia,; difficulties settling accounts with the government due to changes in personnel and deaths of multiple commanding officers; the impact of peace on prices; and a list of numbers of soldiers and French victualled in 1762.

In 1763, he informed business associates he was taking on nephew John Hancock as a partner. After Thomas Hancock's death in 1764, John Hancock wrote letters announcing he would maintain the business on his own. Topics of letters to agents and associates, including Jonathan Barnard & Co., Barnard & Harrison, Harrison & Ansley, Hayley & Hopkins, George Hayley, Benjamin Gerrish, London bookseller Thomas Longman and James Scott reference trade and shipment of potash, whalebone and oil, shipbuilding, estate settlements, and bills drawn by Hancock on various merchants, among them Rufus Green, J. & J. Amory, and Samuel Abbot.

John Hancock frequently writes about the political climate and British policies in America, including passage of the Stamp Act, which he referred to repeatedly as a form of slavery. He outlines his opposition to the Stamp Act and determination not to submit to the tax on October 14, 1765, with a postscript: “This letter I propose to remain in my Letter Book as a standing monument to posterity & my children in particular, that I by no means consented to a submission to this cruel act, & that my best representations were not want'g in the matter.”

Hancock offers his thoughts about suspending importation from Britain after the passage of the Townshend Acts in 1767, and in April 1768 discusses the resolution by Boston merchants to enact a ban until the laws were repealed. He also writes about concerns of Boston citizens about the presence of British troops, and scaling back his business and selling his ships because of potential losses incurred as a result of British taxes. Letters to Thomas Longman reference Hancock's involvement in recovering debt due to Longman from Boston Chronicle publisher John Mein. Hancock writes to frequent correspondent Hayley & Hopkins in 1772 about the total loss of the brig Lydia in Nantucket and his participation in the General Assembly. In December 1773, he reports to the British firm about the Boston Tea Party and his ship captain James Scott's knowledge of the events that occurred: "We have been much agitated in consequence of the arrival of the tea shipt by the East India Compa. and after every effort was made to induce the consignees to return it from whence it came & all proving ineffectual in a very few hours the whole of the tea on board Bruce Coffin & Hall was thrown in the salt water the particulars I must refer you Capt. Scott for as indeed I am not acquainted with them myself so as to give a detail."

There are no letters between February 1774 and November 1783, when in correspondence to London merchant Mary Hayley (1728-1808) and James Scott, Hancock writes about his plans to retire as Massachusetts governor, reengage in trade with England, and rebuild his store on the docks, which had been burned down by British troops. To Scott, Hancock reflects on his part in the cause of American independence, writes he will only purchase one ship, of which Scott is to be master, and requests a number of items for his family from London, including a new carriage.