There's a lot of information about my 9x great grandfather Rev. Francis Dane, most of it centering around the Salem Witch Trials. I hope to write a lot in 2018 about those in the coming year. So for this post I'll use this from Sarah Loring Bailey's History of Andover:
The Rev. Franc1s Dane, the second minister of Andover, is also named by Cotton Mather among the young men who finished their studies in the colony before the college conferred degrees. His name is found among the early residents of Ipswich, 1641. "He removed to Andover, 1648," says Felt's "History of Ipswich." He was son of John Dane, settler in Ipswich and Roxbury. No contemporary biography of him has been found. His name does not occur in Sprague's "Annals of the American Pulpit," although he had an important part in the colonial history. He was pastor at Andover over forty-eight years (1649 to 1697). No church records of his ministry are preserved. The history of his pastorate is chiefly gathered from the town, county, and colony records, and, therefore, pertains rather to his secular than to his spiritual influence and interests, but his notebook recently brought to light has some fragments of interest, among them a creed evidently of his own composition, or rather compilation. It is, though moderate in doctrine, in substantial agreement with the creeds accepted in New England. One clause is as follows : —
"I believe y' y* Catholic or universall church consists of all those throughout the world that doe profess ye trew Religion, together with their children, and in ye Kingdom of yc Lord Jesus, and ye house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of obtaining Salvation."
-pp 420-421
Historical Sketches of Andover: (comprising the Present Towns of North Andover and Andover)
Houghton Mifflin And Company, Boston, Ma. 1880 -
Ms. Loring gives this information about his family:
Mr. Dane died February 17, 1697, aged eighty-one years. He was married three times: to Elizabeth Ingals, before 1645, who died 1676; to Mary Thomas, 1677,J who died 1689; to Hannah Abbot, widow of George Abbot, 1690; she died 1711. He had two sons, Nathaniel and Francis, and four daughters, Elizabeth (Johnson), Hannah (Goodhue), Phebe (Robinson), Abigail (Faulkner). He willed his house to his son Nathaniel, and also gave him a silver cup. His son, Lieut. Francis Dane, was one of the original members of the South Church. He died 1738, aged eighty-two. -pp423-424
There's more about Francis Dane's ministry and the witchcraft controvery which I will discuss at another time. But is something else that gives an insight into his life, and I'll post about that next.
To be continued.
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