John Hanson senior

Profile & Legacies Summary

1742 - 1812

Biography

Resident slave-owner in Jamaica, dying there in 1812 aged 70. John Hanson senior was mentioned several times by Lady Nugent in her Journal.

A memorial inscription in the Cathedral in St Catherine to John Hanson Esquire (died 1745 aged 27) and his wife Frances Hanson (died 1761 aged 43) included Elizabeth Hanson (died 1786 aged 40) and also this John Hanson (died 1812 aged 70). It is assumed that Elizabeth and this second John were the children of the first John Hanson and Frances.

Sources

Ed. Philip Wright, Lady Nugent's journal of her residence in Jamaica from 1801 to 1805, (Kingston, University of the West Indies Press, 2002), p. 39, 52-3, 115, 301.

James Lawrence-Archer, Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies (1875) p. 48.

Associated Estates (3)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

SD - Association Start Date
SY - Association Start Year
EA - Earliest Known Association
ED - Association End Date
EY - Association End Year
LA - Latest Known Association

1775 [EA] - 1793 [LA] → Owner

Clifton Hill [ Jamaica | St Thomas-in-the-East, Surrey ]

1775 [EA] - 1793 [LA] → Owner

Marlborough Mount [ Jamaica | St Thomas-in-the-East, Surrey ]

Probably in fact tenant-for-life under his uncle John Curtis's will, although he [Hanson] sold the estate c. 1793, implying he had destroyed the entail.

1801 [EA] - 1812 [EY] → Owner

Salt Pond Pen [ Jamaica | St Catherine ]

James Robertson's 1804 map had a reference to 'Hanson's' in St. Catherine. The map used both the names of plantations as well as the surnames of plantation owners to mark the various properties on the map. The property marked as 'Hanson's' was in close proximity to Great Salt Pond, the topographical feature which the property took its name from. There were a number of properties in the area which used the name Salt Pond making it more difficult to ascertain which property was Hanson's. In November of 1801 Lady Nugent's journal refers to John Hanson as 'of Salt Pen' and refers to an occasion when 'General N. rode to Mr. Hanson's Penn'.