Born: 1538 in Bayford
near Little Berkhampstead, Herts,
England. (A number of sources are saying 1561.)
Died: after March 22, 1593, as this is the last mention in St. Michael’s
Parish Records, Bishop’s Stortford, Hertsfordshire, England, when “old Dane” receives a
disbursement from monies for the poor.
Spouse: Alicia
(Pennifather) Dane married on November 25, 1562
Children: Frances Dane
Margaret Dane
Mary Dane
William
Dane
Walebridg Dane
Annes Dane
Thomas Dane
Margeria Dane
Elizabeth Dane
Father’s name: Richard
Dane of Bayford
near Little Berkhampstead, Herts,
England.
Mother’s name: Mary (Josselyn or Joseline) Dane of
Fyfield or Roxwell, Essex,
England.
Siblings: Richard Dane
Mary Dane
Sarah Dane
Robert Dane
Unknown Dane
The suggestion of William
Dane being the father of our John Dane comes
from three sources, The
Genealogy of John O. Dane website, contributors to LDS, and,
though loaded with big question marks, the Daynes Family Tree website. These aren’t primary sources, so off I
trundled to see what I could find.
I’m not clear on the place
names of this area of England, but it seems like our various sources are using
Little Berkhampstead, Berkhampstead,
Bishop’s Stortford, and Herts,
Hereford, and Hertfordshire rather interchangeably. My take is that Berkhampstead
is a larger village and Little Berkhampstead is an
adjacent smaller manor area. Bishop’s Stortford is a more ancient name for a market town in the
same general area and it is still in use today.
Hertfordshire, aka Herts, is the name of the
county containing the villages of interest, Hereford being a variation of
spelling. I found a Bishop’s Stortford traveler’s guide that tells about Dane
Street. It plainly states that the
street is named after our John Dane; born about 1587, married Francis Bowyer,
moved to Roxbury, MA, USA, etc. So we
definitely establish the family’s presence.
Here are a couple websites that can help:
Welcome to Town of
Bishops Stortfort, Town History.
The Project
Gutenberg EBook of Hertfordshire, by Herbert W Tompkins
Photo essay from a walk through the
area by Tim Bertuchi.
William Dane the Ironmonger Alderman:
He is related, but is not
the father of our John Dane. We have to
go back a couple generations to another John Dane,
click there for more info.
William Denne, descended
from Robert de Dene, Butler to Edward the Confessor
There is an elaborate
genealogy from Combes & Co. Families. It is rather difficult to follow. There is a William Denne
mentioned that is exactly in the right time period and he appears to have a son
named John. But the places are not
sitting well with me. These families are
from Kent County, south of London. We’re
looking for the county referred to as Herefordshire located north of
London. Anyone that works their way
through this should share their thoughts with me. My gut says this isn’t my Dane family, more
likely is related to the Denny surname.
Or William Dane of Bayford
I found a Kyle Dane family History blog
that cites Rootswebs World Connect Project. It suggests that John Dane’s parents are
William and Alicia (Penifather) Dane. William was born in 1538 in Bayford near Little Berkhampstead. There is no information regarding
Alicia. It says they had 11
children. They go back for two more
generations:
Richard Dane, born 1510, having 6
children. No mention of who the
wife may be.
John Dane, born 1480, and wife Alice
Peppercorn.
Then it adds the suggestion
that there is a William Dane born in 1517.
(Shall we deduce that son Richard had a brother?)
Danielle
Landers adds these details from her research:
William and Alicia were
married on November 25, 1562 and had ten children: Frances, John, Margaret,
Mary, William, Walebridg, Annes,
Thomas, Margeria, and Elizabeth.
St. Michael’s parish records
offer nothing to help us find William.
There is a record of the church receiving a payment of rent from land
and tenement in 1582 from Mrs. Dane.
Next I searched on Richard
Dane and I discovered a reference in The
New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol
LXXI, publ 1917 and had a
Eureka! moment.
Richard Dane is mentioned as being the brother-in-law in the will of
Henry Josline.
Also mentioned in his will are other siblings. Aha!
These Joslin’s (Joseline
or Josselyn) are the brothers and sisters of Ralph Josselyn,
also my relatives! Ralph Josselyn’s son Thomas immigrated to New England in
1635. Descendents of these same two
families, the Joslin’s and the Dane’s, found and
married each other about 250 years later.
Mary Joseline
married Richard Dane. Their children are
William, Richard, Mary, Sarah, and 2 others, one probably being Robert. They are mentioned in the Will of Henry Joseline, dated July 16, 1611.
Back to the Genealogy Main Page.