It is unknown when Dinah became enslaved in the household of Reverend John and Elizabeth Hancock. The first mention of her in family records states that a dress was purchased for her to wear at Reverend John Hancock’s funeral in 1752.

Reverend Jonas Clarke and his wife Lucy, the Hancocks’ granddaughter, lived in the parsonage with Elizabeth Hancock after Reverend Hancock’s death. Reverend Clarke baptized Dinah on September 9, 1759. Elizabeth, who died in 1760, freed Dinah in her will.
Reverend Clarke took responsibility for Dinah, which was required by the town of Lexington, and the Hancock and Clarke families paid for Dinah’s board with other members of the family. By 1775, when Dinah may have moved to Elizabeth (Hancock) Bowman’s house in Dorchester, Jonas and Lucy had nine children. If Dinah lived with the Clarkes at any time during the 1760s, it is reasonable to assume that she may have helped with childcare.
It is not believed that Dinah was in this house when the events of April 19, 1775, took place. John Hancock, who also assumed some financial responsibility for Dinah following the death of his grandmother, was asked to provide compensation to the Bowmans for six hundred twenty-three weeks of boarding for Dinah from March 30, 1775, to March 30, 1787. It is unclear why the boarding arrangement ends when it does. Perhaps Dinah had died by 1787, or perhaps she had left the Bowman home. It is clear, however, that Dinah spent much of her life deeply intertwined with the Hancock and Clarke families.
Read about more Black residents of Lexington here.
Information provided by Sean Osborne.