John Hancock (Congressional Biographical Directory)

HANCOCK, John, a Representative from Texas; born near Bellefonte, Jackson County, Ala., October 24, 1824; attended the public schools and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1846; settled in Austin, Tex., in 1847 and practiced his profession there until August 1851; served as judge of the second judicial district of Texas from 1851 to 1855, when he resigned; resumed the practice of law and engaged in planting and stock raising; member of the State house of representatives in 1860 and 1861; refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States and was expelled from the legislature; took up his residence in the North until the conclusion of the war, when he returned to Texas; member of the State constitutional convention in 1866; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-second, Forty-third, and Forty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1871-March 3, 1877); unsuccessful candidate for renomination; elected to the Forty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1885); was not a candidate for renomination; resumed the practice of law; died in Austin, Tex., July 19, 1893; interment in Oakwood Cemetery.