Title:  John Hancock His Book. By Abram English Brown, 1898, Boston, New England, 218-220
Date:  11 March 1777
Place:  Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA, 11th March, 1777.
9 o’clock Evening.

MY DEAREST DOLLY:   No Congress to-day, and I have been as busily employ’d as you can conceive; quite lonesome in a domestick scituation that ought to be Relieved as speedily as possible, this Relief depends upon you, and the greater Dispatch you make & the Sooner you arrive here, the more speedy will be my relief. I dispatched Harry, McClosky & Dennis this morning with Horses & a Waggon as winged Messengers to bring you along. God grant you a speedy and safe Journey to me. Mr. Pluckrose the Bearer of this going for Mrs. Morris, I have engaged him to proceed on to Baltimore to deliver you this; I wrote you this morning to bring all the things that came from Boston to this place, but should they be landed before you leave Baltimore, I could wish you would present One Quintal of the Salt Fish, & three or four Loaves of the Sugar to Mr. Sam’l Purviance, or in case they should not be landed, leave directions to have those articles taken out & presented to Mr. P. with our Compliments. I forget what other things there are, but if you choose to make presents of any of them, I pray you to do it. If in the prosecution of your Journey you can avoid lodging at the head of Elk, I wish you would, it is not so good as the other houses, but this must depend on Circumstances; I wish to make yor journey as agreeable as possible. Should any Gentlemen & Ladies accompany you out of Town do send McClosky forward to order a handsome Dinner and I beg you will pay every Expence, order McClosky to direct the Landlord not to Receive a single farthing from any one but by your Direction, & order a genteel Dinner; plenty —

If Mr. Thomson cannot be Ready with his Waggons as soon as you are, do not wait, but part of the Guard with an Officer must attend yours, & part be left to guard his, I only wish to have you here, and if you cannot readily attend to the Return of the things borrowed of Mr. Dugan, leave them in the Care of some trusty person to deliver them and pay him for his trouble. Am I not to have another letter from you, surely I must. I shall send off Mr. Rush a Tailor to-morrow or next day to meet you. I wish I could do better for you, but we must Ruff it; I am so harassed with applications, & have been sending off Expresses to Call all the Members here, that I have as much as I can Turn my hands to; I don’t get down to dinner, Catch a Bit, I write, & then at it again . . . [the writing is illegible here] . . . if it promotes the cause I am happy, do beg Mr. Hillegas to send some money by my Waggons, or I shall be worn out with applications, pray him to Take pity on me, I have lent my own Stock already to stop some mouths.

My respects to Mr. & Mrs. Hilligas, they must excuse my not writing now, I have not seen their son since he deliver’d me your Letter, I asked him to Call, but I suppose he is so engaged with his Connections, he has not had time, I could wish to have it in my power to do him any Service for the great regard I bear to his worthy Parents, I assure you I really love them, I wish they were Coming with you, I could then have a Family where I could with pleasure go, & ask them a hundred Questions, & take a thousand Liberties with them, that I cannot do in any Family now here, I shall Regret their absence, but I am Determin’d to make a point of having them up, for I cannot attend to the applications that are made to me in consequence of the Treasurer’s absence; he must come, I shall come if I have any Influence.

Lucy & Nancy call’d on me, I was busy over papers, we drank a glass together to our Baltimore Friends, I waited on them home, & return to my Cottage; Jo comes in with a plate of minc’d Veal, that I must stop, I shall take the plate in one hand, the knife in the other, without cloath, or any Comfort, & Eat a little then to writing, for I have not Room on the Table to put a plate, I am up to the eyes in papers. Adieu for the present.

The Inclosed Letter Lucy just sent me for you. Supper is over, no Relish, nor shall I till I have you here, & I wish Mr. & Mrs. Hilligas to join us at Supper on Tuesday Eveng , when I shall expect you. I shall have Fires made & everything ready for yor Reception, tho I don’t mean to hurry you beyond measure, do as you like, don’t fatigue yourself in Travelling too fast. I keep Josh on trial, he promises Reformation, he knows fully his fate. My best Regards to Mr. & Mrs. Purviance, to Mr. Lay & Family, Capt. Nicholson wife, Mr. Stewart & wife & all Friends. Tell Mr. Purviance Capt. Nicholson I shall write them fully in a day or two and Determine all matters to their satisfaction, I am so worried that I cannot even steal time to write them now. Tell Mr. Purviance I Rec’d his Letter by Post and will forward the Letters he Inclos’d me to Boston & Newbury to-morrow. Pray let Dr. Wisenhall know that I Rec’d his Letter, & am much obliged for his attention to the Child, & that I will do everything in my power for the Gentleman who he mentions in his Letter, you will Recompense him for Calling to see the Child.

Remember me to all in the Family. If Nancy inclines to come in the Waggon, you like it she may Come, do as you like in every instance, my love to Miss Katy, tell her if anything is left behind, I shall have at her, for she Ransack’d when we left Philad’a. & she must do the same now —

The Opinion of some seems to be that the Troops will leave New York, where bound none yet know; one thing I know that they can’t at present come here, perhaps they are going to Boston, or up North River. Time will discover. Never fear, we shall get the day finally with the smiles of heaven.

Do Take precious Care of our dear little Lydia.

Adieu. I long to see You; Take Care of Yourself; I am,

my Dear Girl

Yours most affectionately

JOHN HANCOCK.

Do let Harry Buy & bring I or 2 Bushells of Parsnips. Bring all the wine, none to be got here.

 

John Hancock was first President of the Continental Congress
and the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence.