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Who was Deacon John Doane?

The early history of Deacon John Doane, including his parentage and birth place, continues to be researched. It is believed that he was born about 1590 in England and came to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1629.

The following facts are known:
* In 1633 he was on the list of Freemen
* By 1632 - 1633 he began serving on the General Court and preferred and to be a Deacon in the Church rather than an Assistant to the Governor.
* In 1644 he was among those leading the enterprise of a new settlement in the Nauset (now Eastham area of Cape Cod).
* In 1663 he was appointed by the Court to solemnize marriages and administer oaths of witnesses.
* He was a deacon of the First Church and served the town as Selectman for many years.
* He also served as a Deputy to the Colony Court for Eastham.
* In his will dated May 18, 1678, he declares his age eighty-eight or thereabouts.
* He died February 21, 1685. He, along with his wife, was undoubtedly interred in the old cemetery at Eastham, the first burial ground of the town.


According to The Doane Family Volume II, #540 : "John's wife in 1648 was Ann, who signed a deed with him in that year; She died before 1659 when he and his wife Lydia signed another deed. Ann was probably the mother of his children and came with him from England."

In 1869 the Doanes erected a memorial stone on the site of Deacon John's house in Eastham, MA. That site, overlooking Nauset Bay, is now a part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. In 1906, a perpetual lot in the Old Town Cove burial ground, including the grave site of Deacon Daniel Doane, a son, was set aside. The following year a memorial stone with a bronze tablet honoring Deacon John Doane was erected. In 1994 a granite stone and bronze marker commemorating the 350th anniversary of the founding of Nauset was dedicated at the homesite.
Click here for photos of memorials in Eastham