Henry Hancock

Lawyer
BIRTHDAY
April 11,1822
Birthplace
New Hampshire
Age
Jan 9,1883,age 60
Birth Sign
Aries
BIRTHDAY
April 11,1822 (age Jan 9,1883,age 60)
Birthplace
New Hampshire

About

Attorney and California land surveyor who became the owner of the Mexican land grant, Rancho La Brea, in 1860.

Before Fame

He obtained Rancho La Brea, a strip of land that includes important districts and landmarks of modern-day Los Angeles (notably, the La Brea Tar Pits and the Miracle Mile museum district), as an estate gift from members of the Rocha family whom he had earlier served as an attorney.

Trivia

He was a Union sympathizer during the American Civil War; for a time, he even commanded the Los Angeles Confederate watch dog site, Camp Drum.

Family Life

He married Ida Haraszthy in 1863, and the couple had two sons.

Associated With

He and Delaware-born U.S. Senator, Anthony Higgins, both attended Harvard Law School during the mid-19th Century.