The Hancock Tavern is a distinct piece of property. Mr. McGlenen read from deeds which proved that the land was first owned by John Kenerick of Boston, yeoman, and was first sold to Robert Brecke of Dorchester, merchant, on January 8, 1652. It was again sold to Thomas Watkins of Boston, tobacco maker, in 1653; by him in 1679 to James Green of Boston, cooper; by him to Samuel Green of Boston, cooper, in 1712; and by him willed to his sons and daughter in 1750.
The eastern portion of the original lot (that situated east of the one on which the Hancock Tavern, just demolished, was located) was sold by Samuel Green’s heirs to Thomas Handasyd Peck in 1759. The Hancock Tavern lot itself was then sold to Thomas Bromfield, merchant, in February, 1760. The deed says: “A certain dwelling house, with the land whereon the same doth stand.” Bromfield in 1763 sold it to Joseph Jackson of Boston, who owned it at the time of the Revolution, and disposed of it on August 19, 1779, to Morris Keith, a Boston trader. Morris Keith, or Keefe, died in April, 1783, aged 62, leaving a widow and two children, Thomas and Mary. The son died in 1784, the widow in 1785, leaving the daughter Mary to inherit the property. The inventory describes Morris Keefe as a lemon dealer, and the house and land in Corn Court as worth £260.
Mary Keefe married John Duggan, May 24, 1789, and in 1790 John Duggan was granted a license to retail liquor at his house in Corn Court. This is the earliest record of a license being granted to the Hancock Tavern, so called. Mary Duggan deeded the property to her husband in January, 1795, a few weeks before her death. In 1796 John Duggan married Mary Hopkins. He died April 21, 1802, leaving three children—Michael, born 1797; William, born 1799, and John Adams, born 1802. Mary (Hopkins) Duggan then married William Brazier in 1803. He died ten years later.
The record commissioners’ reports, No. 22, page 290, show the following inventory for 1798:
| John Duggan, owner and occupier; wooden dwelling; west on Corn Court; south on Moses Gill; north on James Tisdale. Land 1024 square feet; house 448 square feet; 2 stories, 12 windows; value | $1200 |
Duggan’s advertisement in the Columbian Centinel of October 11, 1794, reads:
Latest imported lemons—In excellent order, for sale, by John Duggan, at his house, at the sign of Gov. Hancock outside the market.
His address in the Boston Directory for 1796 is: “John Duggan, lemon dealer, Corn court, S. side market.”
In 1795, Duggan, who is described as an innholder, and his wife deeded this property to Daniel English, who, on the same day, deeded it back to John, in order that he might have a clear title.
“From these investigations,” said Mr. McGlenen, “I think it is clear that as an old landmark the Hancock Tavern is a failure.”