52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2017 WEEK 51: REV. FRANCIS DANE OF ANDOVER, MA. PT 2

The following story about my 9x great grandfather Rev. Francis Dane from Sarah Loring Bailey's Historical Sketches of Andover is the only piece of writing  we have from him, and it is a touching one:

There is no trace of the minister's grave, nor any sermon or memorial of his ministry, except a manuscript record book, and an autograph letter or petition regarding the witchcraft.

The record book contains a rhymed account of his difficulties and perplexities in search of a second wife : —
". . . . Long have I looked about
 But could not I ye Matron yet find out
 But some objections crosst my purpose so
 As yet I sayd I know not vvt to doe ....
  I sometimes heere and sometimes there have sought
 To see if I the thing could bring about
 That might best suite mee in my pilgrimage,
 And match to one who's sober, chaste, and sage,
 That's Loving, meeke, no Tatler, not unruly
 That loveth goodness & yt hath a mind
 To Conjugal subjection inclined;
 In such a blessing may I have a share
 For other things I need not much a whit to care.
 A vertuous wife's her husband's crowne & shee

                                                  I crowned )
With immortality shall I cloathed J bee.
Who doth her find hath gret cause to confesse
The Ld's free favour & his name to bless.
Let every Xhian ply ye throne of Grace
That with a meete help hee may run his Race.
I bow my knee & humbly do implore
God's tenderness towards mee therefore." 
-p424
Historical Sketches of Andover: (comprising the Present Towns of North Andover and Andover)
Houghton Mifflin  And Company, Boston, Ma. 1880 -


Francis' first wife,  had died in June 1676. Considering he had children of various ages, and he had a limited income as a minister (more on that in a future post), he must have thought his prospects for finding a second wife were dim. But he did wed a second wife, a Mary Thomas, sometime in 1677.
And when she died in 1689. he wed for a third time, this time to  widow Hannah (Chandler) Abbott, my 9x great grandmother through her marriage to my ancestor George Abbott Jr. This last marriage lasted until Francis' death in 1697.