Hancock Cemetery dates from the earliest days of European settlement and for many years was the town's only burial ground, remaining the main burial ground until the 1850s. Generations of the Adams, Quincy, and other prominent American families are buried here, along with veterans of the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. Its gravestones commemorate lives from the 1640s through the 1800s and present fine examples of stone carvers' art, ranging from early fieldstones to monuments of Quincy's granite industry. The cemetery was always a civic, not a religious, space, and its use rested on custom rather than formal dedication. In 1809, a group of leading citizens, including John Adams, purchased the property and formally donated it to the town. The wrought iron fence and gates date from the mid-19th century, and there are many more burial plots than markers. The earliest known gravesite is that of Henry Adams, dated 1646, ancestor of President John Adams, and the earliest surviving grave with a headstone is that of Ray William Tompson, dated 1666, the town's first minister. The last interment was in 1972.