John Hancock, Penmanship's Hero, Born On This Day 1737!

Oznell · ‎11-08-2014

He was born on January 23, 1737, statesman, philanthropist, first signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Frankly, I didn't know much about him other than his large, fanciful signature and the fact that things are named after him! Found out that he loved helping the poor, the abandoned, and others with his money, was known to be very generous, and was very much loved in Massachusetts because of it.

Another interesting thing-- if you go to his page in Wikipedia, there is a reproduction of the Copley portrait of him, which is immediately striking. Besides being uncommonly handsome, there is something very arresting about his face and his dark eyes with their direct gaze. Sometimes portraits of Founders seem remote or quaintly fussy, but this could be a modern man, minus the 18th century surroundings!

makena · ‎10-29-2016

Interesting .... thanks.

cherry · ‎03-09-2010

I wish my handwriting looked as good as his

just bee · ‎03-10-2010

And that is why January 23 is National Handwriting Day. (A tip o' the hat to Mr. Hancock.)

It's also a way to promote the consumption of pens, pencils and writing paper. (A good pen is hard to find.)

~My philosophy: Dogs are God's most perfect creatures. Angels, here on Earth, who teach us to be better human beings.~

occasionalrain · ‎03-10-2010

Thank you. I look forward to your postings and I'm never disappointed.

JaneMarple · ‎05-23-2011

@Oznell wrote:
He was born on January 23, 1737, statesman, philanthropist, first signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Frankly, I didn't know much about him other than his large, fanciful signature and the fact that things are named after him! Found out that he loved helping the poor, the abandoned, and others with his money, was known to be very generous, and was very much loved in Massachusetts because of it.

Another interesting thing-- if you go to his page in Wikipedia, there is a reproduction of the Copley portrait of him, which is immediately striking. Besides being uncommonly handsome, there is something very arresting about his face and his dark eyes with their direct gaze. Sometimes portraits of Founders seem remote or quaintly fussy, but this could be a modern man, minus the 18th century surroundings!

AWESOME!

You Don't Own Me- Leslie Gore
(You don't Know) How Glad I Am- Nancy Wilson

Annabellethecat66 · ‎03-12-2010

Well that's interesting. One of the dumbest things the schools (at least here in Va, don't know about anywhere else) have STOPPED teaching cursive writing.

My daughter has been pulling her hair out teaching her son (who is now 9 years old) how to write cursive. He's in the gifted program so he's so smart. Lots of times those are the hardest if you aren't trained to teach HOW to teach something to. Ha!

She said, "Mom, we went into DC a few weeks ago and he couldn't even read the cursive writing in the museums! Didn't the schools think of this? I will never be convinced that was a good idea. There are so many things in history that are cursive. No one can tell me how a person is supposed to write their freaking name? I've asked and no one seems to know the answer to that one.

So, she's been teaching him. She's putting the soon to be 5 year old in private school. She just found out the 9 year old is getting another new kid. That will make 34 children and ONE teacher, no aide, one teacher.