In
1644 seven men and their families left Plymouth for Cape Cod. They
arrived in an area known as Nauset for the tribe of Native Americans
that lived there. The town they founded was called Eastham and at
the time included present-day Orleans and Wellfleet. The men who
became the town’s founders included: Thomas Prence, Nicholas Snow,
Edward Bangs, Richard Higgins, Josiah Cook, and John Smalley. The
final founder was Deacon John Doane, my 9th-great grandfather, and
this his story and legacy on Cape Cod and in America.
The
man who would be Deacon has beginnings shrouded in mystery and
obscured by time. The Doane Family Association of America has been
working for decades to discover John Doane’s English roots. The
story of his beginnings with the highest probability is as follows.
John
Doane (spelled Done by the man himself) was possibly born in the
small village of Alvechurch in the Bromsgrove district of
Worcestershire, England, on May 28, 1592. He was the son of Nicholas
Done, and cousin to another John Done, this one a ‘whitebaker’ (baker of bread) from London.
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| Alvechurch, Worcestershire, England where John Doane was likely born. (Lee J. Andrews/Creative Commons) |
The
young John Doane likely found work as a cordwainer, a shoemaker that
crafted footwear out of new leather. He likely moved to London in
the time leading up to his departure for America.
In
1628 a Bill of Complaint was brought against John Doane and others by
Agnes Done, the widow of his cousin John the whitebaker, in the Court
of Chancery. The complaint claimed that those named were trying to
defraud Agnes Done out of her inheritance from her husband’s will.
John
Doane appeared in court on April 30, 1630 requesting that the estate
of his cousin John the whitebaker be awarded to him. He was granted
his request on May 6th after Agnes was excommunicated for
failure to respond to a summons to attend the court.
On
August 10, 1630 the ship ‘Handmaid’ set sail for America likely
with John Doane, his wife Ann, and eldest daughter Lydia aboard.
This was the last of the Pilgrim ships to leave for America during
the time of the Puritan Great Migration from 1620-1640. The ship
arrived in Plymouth in October after 12 weeks at sea.
Upon
his arrival in the new world it was apparent that John Doane was seen
as an important man. He was one of the few who bore the title of
‘Mr.’ which was a rarity the Pilgrims did not bestow upon those
deemed unworthy. In Plymouth the General Court, comprised of all the
freemen in the colony, was in charge of the laws and government. The
men of highest rank were elected to the Council of Assistants to the
Governor. The first records of the General Court appear from 1633.
Governor was Edward Winslow and the Council was made up of seven men:
Capt. Myles Standish, William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, William
Gilson, John Alden, John Howland, and John Doane. Doane was also
made a Deacon of the Plymouth church in 1634. As he preferred that
role to the role of government council his change in title began the
Plymouth policy of separating Church and State.
During
his early years in Plymouth John Doane and Ann had four more
children: Abigail, John, Daniel, and Ephraim. As the 1630’s ended
there was a weariness by some families of life in Plymouth. A few
families even wished to move the entirety of the church to Cape Cod,
specifically the Nauset area where the Pilgrims had originally landed
in 1620.
A scouting mission was held to find out about the potential
sustainability of a colony at Nauset. It was determined that it
would not be possible for a large population to move there. In the
end seven families, mentioned earlier, chose to leave Plymouth for
the relative unknown of a new, smaller settlement. Deacon John
Doane, who had only recently built a house on present-day Wapping
Road in Kingston, was among those who departed Plymouth in the spring
of 1644. The highly influential Doane was more than 50 years old
when he left Plymouth.
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| John Doane's house on Wapping Rd., Kingston c.1644 (Public Domain) |
Nearly
50 settlers, more than 30 of them children, sailed across Cape Cod
Bay. They purchased a large tract of land from the Native Americans
upon which to begin. The small number of adults at first made it
wise to begin the settlement as one large unit. Deacon John Doane
and his family lived in a small home on 200-acres of farmland around
Salt Pond extending to present-day Pinecrest Drive in Eastham. The
home was located a few hundred feet east of what is known today as
Doane Rock.
 |
| The site of the Doane Family homestead in Eastham. (Christopher Setterlund) |
Nauset
was incorporated as a town in 1646. It officially became known as
Eastham in 1651. The following year land in the town was made
available to individuals after being one large lot for eight years.
During the formative years of Eastham Doane’s duties were similar
to those he held in Plymouth. He was Deacon of the Church, Deputy to
the Court, as well as Selectman. Doane was also part of committees
which lay out land boundaries and settled land disputes.
In
the mid-1660’s Deacon John Doane seemingly retired from
town-related duties as he was by then in his mid-70’s. The
Deacon’s children had all grown and began cultivating their own
lives. Daughter Lydia married Samuel Hicks in 1645 and would end up
living in Dartmouth by the 1660’s. Son John married Hannah Bangs
and remained close to his father. Daniel married and moved south of
Town Cove, succeeding his father as Deacon of the Eastham Church.
Ephraim married Mercy Knowles and moved north to what would become
Wellfleet. Daughter Abigail remained with her parents, likely
becoming caretaker of her elderly father after her mother’s death.
Deacon
John Doane crafted his will in May 1678 among other things he deeded
his home and the surrounding 12 acres to daughter Abigail. He died
February 21, 1685 just shy of his 93rd birthday. A few
years after his passing Abigail married Samuel Lothrop and moved to
Norwich, Connecticut. John Doane was laid to rest in the Cove
Burying Ground in Eastham. His exact resting place is unknown though
so in 1907 his descendants placed a six-ton boulder adorned with a
commemorative plaque close by to the grave of his son Daniel.
 |
| The boulder at Cove Burying Ground in Eastham (Christopher Setterlund) |
The
legacy of Deacon John Doane is immense in terms of Cape Cod,
Massachusetts, and New England history. His fingerprints were all
over the early years of Plymouth and more so the early years of
Eastham. The homestead where he first lived on Cape Cod is marked
with signs and monuments. Many Cape Codders with long ties to the
peninsula can trace their history back to Deacon John Doane one of
early Cape Cod’s most influential people.
References:
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1 comment:
The Norman ruling family Done of Utkinton, Cheshire is not the same as those who used the Donne/Doane name which came from inhabitants of Cheshire origin when surnames were required. Many villagers took their name from the village and sometimes the ruling class which, may be the same. The last of the Done ruling class was Ralph and John who had no heirs. The predecessors of Deacon John Doane most likely originated in Cheshire. It is unknown why the Deacon wrote “Done” on occasion, or why the Normans given lordship in Cheshire, adopted this particular spelling. Other names used by them were Le Donne and Dunn from this early Norman/English period.
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