Database: Hancock-Clarke House

John Hancock’s grandfather (the Reverend John Hancock) had this parsonage built in 737. The “Clarke” in the name is Reverend Jonas Clarke, who lived here at the time the Revolution started. I’d have just called it the Hanclarke House, myself, but that’s just because I’m a great thinker.

John Hancock (the famous politician, not his grandfather) and Samuel Adams were staying here as Clarke’s guest the night before the Battles of Lexington and Concord. William Dawes and Paul Revere arrived sometime after midnight with a warning that the regulars were on their way. Adams and Hancock moved to a safer location – Hancock, it seems, under protest, since he wanted to go down to the Green and fight.

Men who want to go down to greens and fight at midnight are of course dedicated men of passion.

That, or they’ve had a few beers.