Thomas Hancock (July 17, 1703 – August 1, 1764) was a merchant in colonial Boston. Born to Reverend John Hancock and Elizabeth (Clark), he got his start in the book trade and expanded into importing and exporting throughout the Thirteen Colonies. He was also a smuggler, evading the Navigation Acts by trading with the Dutch Republic, which was forbidden. Thanks to lucrative contracts with the Colonial government during King George's War and the Seven Years' War, Hancock became one of Boston's wealthiest men. When his health failed, he passed his business and fortune to his nephew, future Founding Father John Hancock, whom he had raised since John was eight.