Notes for Daniel II Doane: "Mr. Doane was of a self-reliant, independent, inquiring mind, and was led to study the teachings of the Friends who were then creating a sensation by their new doctrine. Charmed by their teachings he united with the Meeting at Sandwich, about forty miles from his father's home, the oldest Meeting in America. The precise date of his joining the Friends is not known, but in 1696 he applied for and received from the Sandwich Meeting the following certificate of removal for himself and wife:
"'At a meeting of Friends at Sandwich in New England ye 17^th of 3^rd mo. 1696. We here are to signify to all whom it may concern that our friend Daniel Doane and his wife Mehetabel, that as far as we know their lives and conversations hath been as becometh ye truth, and as for his testimonial that he hath borne amongst us for ye blessed truth, we have great unity with it as witness our hands. Wm. Allen, Israel Gaunt, Matthew Jones, John Ewing, John Jennens, James Stewart and Abiah Jenkins.'
"After an overland journey of nearly seven hundred miles Mr. Doane arrived in the Friends' colony in Pennsylvania with his wife and four small children, the youngest about two years old. at course of time, date unknown, he presented his credentials at the Meeting in Middletown, Bucks Co., and was duly accepted in membership.
"He settled in, or adjacent to the village of Newtown where he followed carpentering and farming, and prospered to an extent that gave him a competence in his declining years. On Apr. 4, 1702, he purchased of James Yates for seventy pounds sterling seventy-eight acres of land situated south of the present Newtown borough, and east of the Newtown creek. On Jan. 2, 1713, he bought twenty-two acres adjoining the former purchase.
"Although Daniel began well in Bucks Co. and was at first, it is thought, a religious teacher among Friends, only a few years after his arrival in Pennsylvania his investigating spirit led him to study the stars and the influence of the planets upon one another. But reports 'that Daniel Doane should meddle in predicting astrologie' brought him into conflict with his Meeting, which lasted almost continually until he was disowned in 1711. He had a way of assuming the defensive which involved the frequent sending of committees to parley with him; but Daniel, strong in his sense of the right of private judgment and of free toleration as to opinions, treated all charges and committees with 'unseemly expressions' and 'contemptuous flounts.' From time to time, however, he would send in written apologies and other papers, one of which was as follows:
"'In as much as many by their consulting the figures of conceptions, and with revolutions and perfections, presume to tell what is contingent to bear upon earth, either weal or woe, while they themselves are ye bitter source, and are shut up, under ye oxit of ye animated spirit and become fools to ye wisdom of Egypt; and inasmuch as it has much amused the minds of many concerning me because I have done some things of that nature as to prediction, and some have been inquisitus to see ye aphorisms and schemes by which I did work them and though I did never show it unto any, yet I do say ingeniously and without mental reservation, that I never was inclined, much less to study, any magick art or southing divination or negromantic trick.'
"At length tired of Daniel and his doings, the Middletown Meeting, after many expressions of sorrow 'that he is so wayward' and prayers 'that he may be brought back to ye truth' disowns 'the said Daniel Doane to be one of us,' and 'we being clear of him, his wickedness lies upon his own head.'
"He was bequeathed 'one pound in money' in his father's will dated Sept. 18, 1712. This small allowance may have been on account of his having joined the Friends, but it is more probable that the son received his share of the father's property before the removal to Pennsylvania.
"Daniel Doane was the first of the Doane family to migrate from Cape Cod. He was the first and only one of the early generations to forsake the church of his fathers. He was the founder of the largest and in some respects the most important branch of the family.
"His death is thus recorded on the records of the Middletown Meeting: 'Daniel Doan Senior deceased ye first day of ye ninth (or eighth) mo. Anno 1743 and on ye third day of ye week.'
"His will, dated Oct. 4, 1731, was probated Dec. 31, 1743. . The following
is an extract:
"To my beloved children, Daniel Doan, Elieser Doan, Elijah Doan, Joseph Doan, Israel Doan, Lydia Stradling, Rebecca Randall, and George Randall (my son in law) husband of my daughter Elizabeth deceased 5 shillings each. To my dear and loving wife Mary Doan the remaining all and singular of my whole estate, for ye maintaining, educating, and bringing up my children, born of my said wife Mary Doan, namely, Samuel, Mary, Thomas, Sarah, and Ebeneser Doan."
"On Sept 5, 1936, a marker was placed on the land once owned by Daniel Doan with the following inscription: "This tone marks the land of Daniel Doan purchased after his arrival in Newtown (Bucks Co., Pa.) in 1695. H e was a member of the first Quaker Meeting in America at Sandwich, Mass., son of Deacon Daniel Doane of Eastham, Mass., grandosn of Deacon John Doane, immigrant from England to Plymouth in 1628. He and Stephen Twining, his wife's brother were the first New Englanders in Newtown."
More About Daniel II Doane: Date born 2: 1666, Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA.42 Date born 3: 1666, Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA.42 Died 2: 01 Sep 1743, New Town, Bucks County, Pa.
More About Daniel II Doane and Mehetabel Twining: Marriage: 1686
Daniel II Doane (b. 1664, d. 01 Sep 1743)
Notes for Daniel II Doane: