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.

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2017 WEEK 51: REV. FRANCIS DANE OF ANDOVER, MA. PT1

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.