William Hancock (judge)

William Hancock Sr.

• William H. Hancock was a Justice of the Peace for the County of Salem in 1727, and a member of the colonial legislature.
• He commissioned Hancock House in 1734.
• The house was erected in 1734 for William Hancock and his wife Sarah, whose initials are woven into the gable on the west end.

• Died 1762

  William Hancock Jr.

• When William Sr. died in 1762, the house passed to his son William, who also succeeded his father in the legislature and as a Judge of the County Court of Pleas in Salem County.
• He presided over the King's Court at the Salem County Courthouse.
• He died as a result of wounds received on the night of March 20, 1778, in the "Hancock's Bridge massacre".