The son of an Anglican preacher, Thomas Hancock rose from obscurity to become one of the wealthiest businessmen in colonial Massachusetts, accumulating a 70,000 pound fortune over the course of his lifetime and becoming the proprietor of his own mercantile firm.

[3][7] Thomas Hancock soon expanded his business interests beyond bookselling and publishing and, according to historian William Pencak, into "a general trade that soon involved the entire British empire."

He became the proprietor of a firm known as the House of Hancock, which exported rum, whale oil and fish to Europe and the West Indies, engaged in building ships and imported European books and luxury goods to Massachusetts.

"[11] Despite their close contacts with the British Crown, Thomas Hancock also supplemented his regular businesses by smuggling goods such as tea, paper, and sailcloth from the Dutch Republic and molasses from the West Indies into New England.

[1] In British America, smuggling was largely perceived by the general public as being a victimless crime, and smugglers frequently enjoyed considerable community support from government crackdowns.

[14][15] Throughout his later years, Thomas Hancock started to suffer from gout and a nervous disorder, which led him to turn over control over the majority of his business affairs to his nephew, who had effectively been adopted.

His mercantile interests had led Thomas Hancock to acquire a wealth of over roughly 70,000 pounds, one of the largest fortunes in the New England Colonies; they had also made him one of the richest and best-known residents in Boston.

[16] Thomas Hancock was infuriated about the act, believing it was oppressive to American businessmen; he complained to a business colleague in England that "we are worth Saving in this part of the world."

Included with these inheritances were thousands of acres of real estate in Eastern Massachusetts, rapidly transforming John Hancock into one of the wealthiest men in the Thirteen Colonies.

[18] When the American Revolutionary War broke out, the mansion that Thomas Hancock had built for himself was pillaged by British Army soldiers during the battles of Lexington and Concord.

[19] However, the mansion was left largely intact by the British (Clinton having ensured that it was scrupulously cared for) and John Hancock subsequently moved back in after they departed, using it to entertain numerous socially prominent guests.