Encyclopedia Dubuque
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HANCOCK, John T.
Ancestry.com--https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/151853351/person/112012934484/facts
HANCOCK, John T. (Lebanon, IL, Nov. 12, 1824--Dubuque, IA, Aug. 14, 1894). As a child, Hancock moved with his family to Platteville, Wisconsin. In the same year, his father died and the family moved to a farm. The business was completely conducted by John Hancock, the oldest son, at the age of sixteen. (1)
For a time, Hancock work in Milwaukee in the dry goods business. The death of an uncle led him to return to Platteville where he assumed the grocery business of his deceased relative. (2) Hancock, who was now married, settled in Dubuque in 1855 and established in 1858 his grocery business that carried his name on Main Street between Second and Third STREETS. (3)
His business remained in this location for nine years and was then moved to the corner of Main and Fourth. For twelve years the company, located on Lower Main, operated from the building that today is prominent in the area for its notable corner spire. (4)
In January 1874, Hancock paid $4,500 in cash to the DUBUQUE SAVINGS INSTITUTION, the full extent of his liability to the depositors as a stockholder of the company. This allowed the receiver to pay off the 20% dividend declared on January 24, 1874. (5)
In 1875 Hancock was instrumental in the formation of the Linwood Cemetery Association. With his son John Samuel HANCOCK, he formed the DUBUQUE LAND AND CATTLE COMPANY and served as the company president. One of his daughters was an active organizer of the WORKING GIRLS' CLUB and served as its president in 1893. Governor Boies appointed her one of Iowa's alternate lady managers of the 1893 World's Fair. (6)
With the addition of his son Charles Thomas HANCOCK, the company was renamed JOHN T. HANCOCK & SON and then JOHN T. HANCOCK & SONS. Their trade reached throughout Iowa and into southern Minnesota and northern Illinois. (7) The business was strictly wholesale and according to an article in the Dubuque Sunday Herald in 1885 was only surpassed in size by two grocery houses in Chicago. (8)
The “Angel of Victory” Tiffany window on the north wall of the sanctuary at ST. LUKE'S UNITED METHODIST CHURCH was given in memory of John.
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Source:
1. "Prominent People," Dubuque Daily Herald March 19, 1893, p. 5
2. "A Magnificent Life Ended," Dubuque Daily Herald, August 14, 1894, p. 5. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=_OG5zn83XeQC&dat=18940814&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
3. Oldt, Franklin T. The History of Dubuque County, Iowa. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1880, p. 800
4. Ibid.
5. "Paid His Share," Dubuque Herald, January 24, 1874, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18740124&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
6. "Prominent People"
7. Oldt
8. "Biographical Sketches," Dubuque Sunday Herald, December 20, 1885, p. 14