Born: October 7 or 17, 1770, Chegoggin, Nova Scotia
Died: February 14, 1802.
Spouse: Thomas Dane, m. April 17, 1788 in
Children: James
Brown Dane
Mary “Polly” (Dane) Cann
Sophia (Dane) Patten
More about the children on
husband Thomas’ page.
Father’s name: James Brown
of Ipswich (or Hamlet), Massachusetts
Mother’s name: Mary (Potter) Brown of Ipswich (or Hamlet),
Massachusetts.
Siblings: James Brown, b
January 12, 1772 and d April 8, 1779
Elizabeth (Brown) Shaw,
b January 12, 1773, m Zebina Shaw, d September 14,
1850
Abigail
(Brown) Shaw, b October 19, 1774, m 1st Joseph Shaw (brother of Zebina) and 2nd Zachariah Chipman,
d September 22, 1853
Bethiah (Brown) Bain, b April 23,
1776, m Capt. Alexander Bain abt 1797 in Yarmouth.
Priscilla Brown, bp
September 10, 1780
Sarah (Brown) Jenkins, b
May 21, 1781, m James Jenkins, d July 26, 1851
Anne Brown, b November
9, 1783 and d March 20, 1784
(As
per Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Genealogies,
Transcribed from the Yarmouth Herald, by George S. Brown, Genealogical
Publ. Co., 1993.)
The family needs
further study, as you’ll see below, Polly mentions sisters named Mary, Susan,
Mercy, and N., presumably Nancy. We also
need to learn the identity of her maternal grandmother.
The following is the text of
a letter found in an artifact, a journal, at the Yarmouth County Museum &
Archives. This letter is only
initialed with “M. D.” The Journal
passed through the hands of many of the Dane family, and Mary “Polly” Dane is
specifically identified. Thus this
letter is attributed to her, though there is room for it to be someone else.
A Letter from a Niece to her Uncle 1788
Having
not heard from you for a considerable time, and doubting very much you are not
well, because in your last you seemed to intimate something like it, I could
not rest satisfied without troubling you with these few Lines to enquire after
Your health, which I shall be very glad to hear of. My Sisters are all indifferent well. and remember their
duty to you and would be glad to hear from you; especially my Sisters Mary and
Susan, whom you were pleased to promise a letter from you and which they
accordingly expect. My Cousin A.W. is
dead. To the great grief of her Father
and Mother; she dyed of a Consumption. My Sister N. and her two Sons were very well
lately; and I hope are so still. My
Sister Mercy is much better than she was.
Pray give my kind Love to all my Cousins. &C. [Etcetera, or “and company”]
Your dutiful
Cousin, M. D. [Mary “Polly” Dane]
I have not begun to try and discover who the possible
Uncle she is addressing may be.
I have found a suggestion for a cousin Abigail Brown,
who died in 1789, who had married Edward Walden, and thus Abigail Walden is
possibly cousin A.W.
The Potter
and Patch Families
Mary Potter married James Brown on April 16, 1769,
with intentions published on April 11, 1768.
Mary is the daughter of Nathaniel Jr. and Mary (Patch) Potter.
Nathaniel Potter Jr. was born December 17, 1721 and
died June 14, 1775. He is the son of
Nathaniel Potter (1686 – 1754) and Hannah Patch (1691 – 1722), she possibly
from Salem, Massachusetts, with an Essex County marriage of September 23,
1710. There were 4 children: twins Mary
and Elizabeth (b. 1717), Sussanna (b. October 18,
1719), and then Nathaniel Jr. Nathaniel
Sr. was the son of Edmund Potter (b 1654 and died April2, 1702) and mother
unknown. He had a sister Elizabeth (b.
April 14, 1681). Edmund Potter was the
son of Anthony and Elizabeth (Stone) Potter.
Anthony Potter was born about 1627 and died March 26, 1690. Elizabeth Stone was born March 6, 1628 and
died March 10, 1712. Their children are
John (b 1653), Edmund, Samuel (b 1657), twins Lydia and Elizabeth (b 1661),
Thomas (b 1664), and Anthony (b 1667).
All these individuals were born, lived, and died in Ipswich,
Massachusetts. However, Anthony and
Elizabeth show their place of marriage as Naylkand,
Suffolk, England in 1652. Anthony Potter
is the son of Robert Potter, born about 1600 in Coventry, Warwick,
England.
Mary Patch was born on January 12, 1723 of Ipswich
(or Hamlet), Massachusetts and died in November of 1803. She is the daughter of John Patch Jr. born in
Ipswich and baptized on 1723 or 1724.
She is the daughter of John Patch and Mercy Potter. (I do not know what the relationship is
between this Mercy and the rest of the potter family.) Nathaniel Potter Jr. and Mary Patch were
married in 1743, with intentions published on February 22, 1743 in Ipswich,
Massachusetts. Their children were Mary
(b abt 1756), Bethiah (b abt 1758), Sarah (b abt 1760),
Nathaniel (b 1753), William (1754 – Oct. 5, 1814), and Benjamin (b May 6,
1771). Son William married Elizabeth
Safford on May 11, 1780. Son Nathaniel
married twice, first to Rachel Adams and second to Elizabeth Quarles. I have also found a Susannah Potter born July
16, 1747 of Ipswich, but do not know if she is the daughter of Nathaniel and
Mary. This Susannah married Capt.
Benjamin Perry in 1763 in Hampstead, New Hampshire and she died August 21,
1789. Except where noted, all these
individuals also were born, lived, and died in Ipswich, Massachusetts.
Children of Nathaniel Jr. and Mary (Patch) Potter are
not found in the Ipswich Vitals.
However, other dates can be found there.
Some information came from other individual’s private websites. The remainder of the information came from
various LDS resources, with the majority of that submitted by Mr. Larry Handy.
In Descendents
of Henry Trent, found at: http://members.tripod.com/~scottzajac/trenth.txt
, a Nancy Potter of the appropriate age is mentioned as marrying a Virginian
named Williamson Trent about 1791 or 1792.
In 1818, the deed for what became known as the Old
Methodist Chapel was given to Thomas Dane and wife Mary, James Starr and wife
Ann, Waitstill Lewis and wife Chloe, and James
Brooks. The property was sold about 1870
to John B. Smith, then to Thomas B. Dane and heirs. (See below)
Charles Churchill was appointed minister in 1841 and served until
1844. I’m curious if Churchill was any
relation to Caroline Churchill who became Thomas and Mary’s grandson Thomas G. Dane’s 2nd wife.
I’m noting In Yarmouth
Genealogies that Mary’s mother and father both died on March 18, 1784 in
Yarmouth. However, I have not come up with
any notes regarding how they died. Was
there an accident? Add that the last
daughter, Anne passed 2 days later.
Many of the details
regarding Mary and the Brown family are from the George Stayley
Brown book Yarmouth, Nova Scotia,
Genealogies: Transcribed from the Yarmouth Herald; Genealogical Pub. Co., Baltimore, MD, 1993.
Many of the details regarding Thomas Dane and his
family were found in the book Yarmouth
Reminiscences, Lawson, 1902.
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