Major James Brown Dane  1789-1873

 

 

Born:   June 15, 1789 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

Died:   July 18, 1873, buried with wife in Mountain Cemetery in Yarmouth. (Yarmouth Vital Records, book 1873, page 86, line 144)

 

          

 

    

 

 

Spouse:          Mary “Polly” (Cann) Dane, m. January 10, 1810 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

Children:

  • Mary Ann Brown (Dane) Butler (b. abt. 1811, d March 20, 1858, m. Robert Durkee Butler January 23, 1828.  They had 9 children: William Smith (d 13 years old), Albert James, Ralph Herbert, Sarah, Maria Ellen, Eliza Alice (d infant), Eliza Alice, Anna, and Hannah Durfee.)
  • Thomas Gilbert Dane
  • Harriet (Dane) Poole (b. abt 1814, d. September 20, 1894.  m. Capt John Poole and had 7 children: James Dane, John Edgar, Elizabeth Mary, Caroline Eliza, Stayley Dane, and twins Frank Augustus and Augustua Iola.)
  • Atilla (Dane) Porter (b. 1816, d. 1882, m. Capt. Norman Sherbrook Porter February 28, 1839.)
  • Capt. Stayley B. Dane (b. abt. 1821, m. Sara __?__, who was b abt 1836 and passed away December 21, 1862.) (More below)
  • Hugh Cann Dane (August 9, 1824.) (Possibly died young.)
  • Maria (Dane) Bath (b. abt. 1825. m. Augustus Willoughby Bath and had 6 children: Robert, Alma (d age 20), Alice (d age 9), Hugh Dane, Charles, and an unknown daughter.)
  • Eliza Alice (Dane) Gardner (b. 1833, d. February 13, 1901. m. James Nelson Gardner, December 2, 1852.  James d August 14, 1897.  They had 8 children: Annie, Frank, Ella, Thomas (d infant), Eudora, Emma, George S., James N. Jr.)
  • Norman J. Dane (b. 1834, d. 1906, m. Hannah M. Smith, daughter of Benjamin Smith, October 18, 1860.  They had 2 children: Margaret, who m. Joseph Henry Jeffery, and James.)

 

    

The markers for James Dane’s sons.  Capt. Stayley Dane’s marker is crusted with moss.

 

Occupation:   Officer in the British Army, performed duties as a Priest  

Architect

Carpenter

Sailor

Maritime Owner/Investor (Held Shipping Interests)

Vocal/Singing Instructor

Trustee for Wesleyan Methodist Chapel

 

Father’s name:          Thomas Dane                                               

Mother’s name:         Mary (Brown) Dane

Siblings:         Mary “Polly” Dane

                        Sophia Dane

                        Thomas B. Dane (1/2 brother)

 

                       

Hutchinson’s Nova Scotia Directory for 1864/65, page 472, states that James B. Dane  was a cabinetmaker and lived on Starrs Road near where it intersects with Main in Yarmouth.  At this time, he shared his home with his son Stayley.

 

James B. Dane’s obituary (Or it may be an historical piece about him), presumably from the Yarmouth Herald, reads:

“James Brown Dane, whose family came to Nova Scotia from Ipswich, Mass. Was President of the Yarmouth Book Society from 1848 to 1851.  He was a carpenter by trade.  For some years his home was on the site of the Joseph Burrill residence, Milton Highlands, now used as a Nurses’ Home.  In 1838 he moved to a house which was then the only one on Starr’s Road.  It was built by Jacob Killam and was a long structure, standing with its end to the road near the site of the Waterman house.  It was afterwards moved to Milton Highlands and accupied by Samuel Higby.  Beyond, on Starr’s road was an extensive growth of spruce trees and the Big Rock stood where Pleasant Street now intersects the road.  Fifty years ago the rock was still in evidence, but in 1888 when Mr. James Allen was Overseer of Highways, it was blasted away to straighten the street.

Mr. Dane, who possessed the musical talent which was transmitted to his descendants, was a vocal instructor for many years and conducted a singing school in the old Rialto, the building on Vancouver St. which was demolished some twelve years ago.  He was a Captain in the Militia in 1833.  His wife was Mary Cann, by whom he had eight children, of whom five were daughters.”

 

          

The site described as James B. Dane’s home on Starr’s road, and confirmed by one historian I talked to in Yarmouth, is now a funeral home. 

It has been substantially modified and added to, but the basic form of the home survives.

Other sources do not agree that this structure was once James Brown Dane’s.  I’m hoping to learn more and will update this info as needed.

 

Lawson’s Yarmouth Reminiscences of 1902 contains this reference to James Dane, “An old book was found among Major Dane’s papers, containing the minutes of the meeting relative to the building of the house now known as the Baptist Meeting House in the Town of Yarmouth.”  Lawson continues with extracts from this book which includes many details regarding the agreements and building of the Meeting House, known then as Cape Forchu Meeting House, later as the First Baptist Church.  Please e-mail me if you would like those details: jrkho5@sbcglobal.net

 

James was a Trustee for the Wesleyan Church in Yarmouth, beginning August 6, 1839.  He was a member of the Providence Temperance Society which first met in the Wesleyan Chapel on January 13, 1834.  Along with his son Thomas, he was a charter member and Worthy Patriarch of the Society’s Milton Division No. 4, which began December 24, 1847.  James became the Grand Treasurer on April 22, 1848.

 

James B. Dane is noted as owner of the Brig Grecian, built in Yarmouth in 1832 at 167 tons.  In a biography of Charles John Renouf, John Brannon notes the Jersey merchant seaman as working with the Grecian from 1837-1839, likely part of the last crew to serve aboard her before the ship was sold.  Closure date noted as 1839 in Waterford, Ireland.  The Grecian is then mentioned, probably with an American owner, in association with the American colonization efforts of Liberia, Africa.  June 21, 1842, arrived in Philadelphia with mail from Monrovia, Liberia.  In Jan 1843, she’s preparing to load sugar bound for Boston.

James B. Dane and John Cann together owned the Brig Britannia, built in Yarmouth and registered in Halifax in 1838, at 107 tons.  The Ships List Index has her departing Port of Sligo, Ireland with 35 passengers arriving at St. John, New Brunswick on August 14, 1838.  She played an important role in the early development of the UK port of Hartlepool being the first ship to carry a load of coal from their newly built pier.  In April, 1842 took immigrants from Westport, Ireland to Quebec.  (From the Journal of the Westport Historical Society.)  The ship was lost on the 19th of December in 1846 bound for Yarmouth from Barbados with a cargo of molasses and sugar.  It went ashore at Sunday Point, Yarmouth Sound and became a total wreck.  One seaman drowned and there was no insurance.  There were/are many ships with the name Britannia and weeding through them is a task and I may have confused some information.  Researchers should check the information carefully.

Other ships likely owned by this partnership with John Cann include:

  • Brigantine Maitland, 104 tons, built in 1840.
  • Barque Sirion, 271 tons, built in 1841.
  • Schooner John and Mary, 150 tons, built in 1854.
  • Schooner Antelope, 47 tons, built in 1854.
  • Barque Tubal Cain, 221 tons, built in 1862.
  • They may also have possessed an older 36 ton ship built in 1807, the Schooner Queen.

Details from Record of the Shipping of Yarmouth, N. S., compiled by J. Murray Lawson, Yarmouth, N. S., 1876.

 

Son Norman J. formed a partnership with Albert Butler to build boats and dories on November 19, 1872.  This was shortly after Norman dissolved a partnership a Thomas Kirk in August of the same year.  In the Yarmouth Vital Records I’ve found 3 children for Norman and Hannah: Albert Ernest, Lucy Antoinette, and Herbert who died an infant.

 

Another one of the Dane boys (Not sure which one.) had a painting business in partnership with a Lewis Burns starting October 22, 1887. 

 

Many of these details came from Lawson’s Yarmouth Reminiscences of 1902.

 

James Dane’s son, maritime Capt. Stayley B. Dane, was Master of the Schooner Loyal, 46 tons, when it was sailing from Halifax for Yarmouth with a cargo of general merchandise when it struck on the south end of Big Tusket Island on the 20th of April, 1865, during a thick fog and gale.  The ship sank, but the crew was saved.  Later that same year, on September 19th, Capt Stayley Dane was Master of the Schooner Howard Putnam which ran ashore at St. Modeste, Labrador and became a total wreck.  Crew and cargo were all saved.  Details from Record of the Shipping of Yarmouth, N. S., compiled by J. Murray Lawson, Yarmouth, N. S., 1876.  As noted above regarding dad James B., Stayley lived with his father in Yarmouth on Starrs Road near Main as of 1864/65.

 

 

I have a copy of a church document from 1839 for the rental of a Pew to a Thomas Killam from the Trustees of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, of which James B. Dane is one of the Trustees who signed.  Amount is a one time sum of 15 Pounds, then 5 Shillings annual rent.

 

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