John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, 23 January 1737, the son of John Hancock and Mary Hawkes. He married Dorothy Quincy (1747-1830), daughter of Edmund and Elizabeth Wendell Quincy, 28 August 1775. They had two children. Both died young. He died 8 October 1795.