John Hull

John Hull (December 18, 1624October 1, 1683) was an English-born merchant, silversmith, slave trader and politician who spent the majority of his life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. After arriving in North America, he worked as a silversmith in Boston before becoming the moneyer responsible for issuing the colony's pine tree shillings in the mid-17th century. Hull was also a successful merchant and engaged in slave-trading on multiple occasions. He was also an early benefactor of Harvard College and a co-founder of the Old South Church. Early life and family John Hull was born on December 18, 1624, in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England, the son of blacksmith Robert Hull and Elizabeth Storer. At age eleven, he immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony with his father, mother, and half-brother Richard Storer, departing Bristol on September 28, 1635, and arriving in Boston on November 7. The colony gave Robert Hull a 25-acre farming plot, though he primarily made his living as a smith. In England, Hull received an education at a grammar school. After immigrating, he attended Boston Latin School for two years, followed by a seven-year smithing apprenticeship, which could have lasted from 1639 to 1646, though Hermann F. Clarke speculates that Hull would have finished his apprenticeship around 1643 or 1644. In December 1646, his father deeded to him a house and garden, where he began practicing the silversmith trade.