Editing Edward Hand (section)

==After the Revolution==
[[File:Rock Ford Plantation Lancaster Rear 3008px.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Hand's estate, [[Rock Ford plantation|Rock Ford]], in [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]].]]
Hand returned to Lancaster and resumed the practice of medicine. A [[Federalist Party|Federalist]], Hand was active in civil affairs, holding posts that included:
* Chief Burgess of Lancaster
* Presidential elector
* Delegate to the convention for the 1790 Pennsylvania Constitution
* Member of the [[Congress of the Confederation]], 1784–1785
* Member of the [[Pennsylvania General Assembly|Pennsylvania Assembly]], 1785–1786

Beginning in 1785, he owned and operated [[Rock Ford Plantation|Rock Ford plantation]], a {{convert|177|acre|km2|adj=on}} farm on the banks of the [[Conestoga River]], one mile (1.6&nbsp;km) south of [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]]. The [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] brick mansion remains today; the farm is a historic site open to the public. Hand was also an [[Slavery in the United States|enslaver]], owning several enslaved people, one of whom, Frank, ran away in 1802.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://historicrockford.org/enslavement/ | title=Slavery & Servitude in Early Lancaster County &#124; Historic Rock Ford | date=25 June 2020 }}</ref> 

Hand is suspected to have died from typhoid, dysentery or pneumonia at Rock Ford in 1802. Medical records are unclear, but some sources state Hand died of cholera. There is no evidence Lancaster County suffered from a cholera epidemic in 1802. Hand is buried in St. James's Episcopal Cemetery in Lancaster, the same church where he had served as a deacon.