Reed Gaddie

In Search of the Father of Thomas Hancock of Farmington, Connecticut, 1645-1734 Reed Gaddie

Inspired by his genealogist grandmother's insistence concerning inaccuracies in their ancestral records, Reed Hancock Gaddie became consumed by his search for the truth about his family's past-a search that would call into question three centuries of accepted history as well as the ancestry of one of America's Founding Fathers. Gaddie details his visits to Boston and Farmington, as well as his travels to Exeter and Plymouth, England, to sift through historical records and documents and learn the real identity of Thomas Hancock (1645?1734). As it becomes evident that Thomas was not the son of Nathaniel Hancock of Cambridge, Massachusetts, it also becomes clear that John Hancock, leader of the American Revolution and first signer of the Declaration of Independence, may not have been who historians thought. In his painstaking efforts to correct the Hancock ancestral records, Gaddie pieces together Thomas Hancock's fascinating life, including his role in King Philip's war, and reveals the identity and history of Thomas's actual father. Whether you are an armchair historian or one of the sixty-thousand descendants of the Hancock ancestry, you will appreciate this well-documented, compelling account of an immigrant family's sacrifices to escape the tyranny of England and seek religious freedom and a better life in America.