We have spent a long period of time trying to answer the question posed by Gilbert Done in 1973
(John Done – Who was he?). This research has involved an investigation into the background of a number of men with the name of John Done, living in England in the early 16th Century, all but one of whom has been eliminated from consideration for a variety of reasons (wrong date of birth, recorded death in England etc). The one remaining candidate is John Done, cordwainer. Although it is possible that there is another, so far unidentified, John Done who later went on to become Deacon John Doane, the cordwainer remains the most likely candidate, not only because all the other identified men of that name have been eliminated, but because of a considerable body of circumstantial evidence that supports that view.
Since 2005, we have been trying to confirm (or refute) this conclusion by establishing a link between known descendants of the Deacon in North America - i.e. male Doan(e)s - and men living today who bear the name Done (or variants such as Donne or Doune) who might be descended from a Done ancestor of the Deacon before he sailed to New England. The question to which we are seeking an answer is: ‘is there a present day Done who has a pedigree that leads back to an ancestor of the Deacon (whether the Cordwainer or someone else)?’ If we find such an individual we will have narrowed down our search for that ancestor.
To find such a link we began by obtaining Y-DNA samples from six DFA members. We then obtained samples from men with the name Done, mainly resident in England, but also including Dones resident in North America who are believed not to have descended from the Deacon. The objective was to find a Y-DNA match between these two groups: i.e. known descendants of the Deacon and one or more men who are descended from one of the Deacon’s ancestors.
Progress has been mixed since we last met at the 2006 Reunion in Davis. The main delay has been the reluctance of Dones and Donnes resident in the UK to sign up to the DNA testing programme. This is probably due to a suspicion that if they are being offered something for nothing, then there must be a catch. In an effort to persuade more people to join the project, a letter (See attached WORD file) has now been written that focuses on a possible desire on the part of prospective respondents to research their own ancestry (pointing out the benefits of sharing the results of research into their family tree) rather than on our objective of tracing the ancestry of Deacon John. For those UK Dones who respond to the suggestion that we share with them the results of our UK research, the letter refers to the facility, generously funded by the DFA, to have a free Y-DNA test. So far, as part of this approach, 100 such letters have been sent to Dones and further 20 to Donnes (all resident in the UK - most in England but some in Wales and Scotland). So far, several responses have been received, although three of these have resulted in a request to take the test. Further responses are awaited.
One approach considered to encourage such participation was to start a Done ‘One-Name Study’ in the UK, and to join the UK-based Guild of One-Name Studies (with the delightful abbreviation GOONS!). This would have provided a forum for other Dones to join, identifying potential participants in our testing program. However, although I am a member of the Guild, a One-Name study has not been registered with them as this would probably involve dealing with endless queries about the aristocratic Done family of Tarporley in Cheshire, which our DNA testing programme suggests is unlikely to be related to the family of the Deacon. (The known members of that family in England and South Africa had a Y-DNA signature in common that was very different from that of the Doan(e) Family Association members who took the test.) However, the letter to prospective participants does refer to the One-Name research that Kay Blair is involved with in the US.
The findings of the DNA research, based on the 12 marker Y-DNA profiles of the 28 individuals tested so far, have been analysed into groups where the ‘genetic distance’ connecting individuals within a group is no more than two. (The individuals selected for this analysis excluded non Don(n)e/ Doan(e) participants - e.g. Campbell/ Perry.) These results show that there are ten such unrelated groups, where the genetic distance between groups is three or more (and in most cases far greater than three). These are:
a) a group of Doans and Doanes, consisting of five of the six DFA volunteers plus a further five individuals identified as having similar profiles to those of the volunteers – all resident in the USA;
b) five separate groups consisting of a single individual Doan or Doane – all resident in the USA’;
c) a group of five ‘Tarporley’ Dones (three UK residents, one South African resident and one US resident);
d) a group consisting of two Dones, one resident in the UK and one in the US;
e) a group of five Dones and Donnes, all resident in the UK; and
f) a group consisting of a single individual Done resident in the UK.
General conclusions are:
a) in the past, the names Done and Donne may have been used interchangeably by members of the same family. This is consistent with the fact that the cordwainer used the name Done, but the ancestry to which he refers in the relevant legal document is supported by parish records that sometimes have the name spelled Donne;
b) there are many individuals bearing the name Done who are unrelated to each other in any recent historical timescale. In the UK, this may be because the surname is a generic one that was adopted by different families, although it may also be because of so-called ‘non-paternity events’, where a child took the name of a man who was not his father (a stepchild or the child of a father who was not his mother’s Done husband);
c) in the USA, the reason for there being so many separate Doan(e) groups probably includes the ‘non-paternity event’ explanation, although it could be that some individuals from different Done families who emigrated to America later than the Deacon, adopted the American spelling of the name (although many did not); and
d) we have so far found no groups that consist of both Doan(e)s and Don(n)es, suggesting that the Doan(e) names are virtually confined to the USA and Canada, whilst the spelling in the UK is almost always Done or Donne.
The www.spatial-literacy.org website shows the distribution of the names Done, Donne and Dunne across Great Britain at the time of the 1881 Census. This shows the Done name to be concentrated in the North West of England, the name Donne to be located in South Wales, North West England and a few other areas in England, and the name Dunne to be more widespread, but with some pockets in the North West, Cumbria and parts of Scotland. The implications of this for our research program have yet to be assessed.
This history of this family has been recorded by Martin Done, in his History of the Done family of Cheshire. His book contains a chapter on the Dones of Kidwelly in Carmarthenshire (in Wales) whose name in Welsh was spelled ‘Dwnn’.
Comment: Jim Doan (Florida) gave a lecture on this subject at the Reunion.
One other line of inquiry has been to investigate a possible link between the Deacon and a Stephen Bryant, an individual who members of the Bryant Family Association believe to have been a stepson of the Deacon. So far, only a reference to a ‘Doane (Bryant)’ in a footnote to a particular edition of William Bradford’s ‘History of the Plymouth Plantation’ provides clues as to the origin of this story, but following research recently carried out by committee member Marshall Doane at the NEGHS library, no link has been found between Bryants and Doanes in this or any of the other editions of Bradford's History that he consulted. Marshall reported that ‘this document does not mention any details concerning Bryants or Doanes, and any references which do occur must be in added notes by editors……The most extensive notes for any edition appear in the two-volume set published in 1912 by the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. The only mention of the name Bryant that I found was a rather remote one in the editor's note on Page 271 regarding a meeting of townsmen (Town of New Plymouth) July 16, 1638: "And have thereupon nominated and appointed Thomas Prence, gent, and Gov'r William Bradford and Edward Winslow, gent, and Assistants of the Government, Stephen [Bryant or Doane] John Done [Doane] and Thomas Willett, gent and John Dunhame to have the power and authority for these foure years next to put forth and dispose the said stock of cowes....etc.” The brackets were added by the editor, who, by them, suggests that the Stephen referred to may be either a Bryant or Doane. Note that the editor also "corrected" the spelling of Done to Doane. I know of no Stephen Doane of this period (1638), so it may make some sense to think that the editor meant to print "Deane instead of Doane.…….I have found no reference in numerous editions of William Bradford's "History" that would support a connection between a Doane and a Bryant, either in the actual text or any accompanying notes. If the reference exists, it must be in some other editor's notes of some other edition.’
So, I suggest that although we should not rule out a possible Bryant connection, it looks as though research in this area will prove to be a case of diminishing returns!
These early 17th Century records have already been a very fruitful source of information about several John Dones (including the cordwainer, the whitebaker and the whitebaker’s widow Agnes) but there are very many more lawsuits involving people carrying the name of Done. I have recently obtained a copy of a document relating to another of these lawsuits, and have again found the names of John Done and the widow Agnes. Although it will take me some time to decipher the document, I am hoping it will provide more clues.
Next Steps
The future program of research should extend the past and present lines of enquiry to include:
· continued DNA testing;
· further analysis of the geographical distribution of the Done name across Britain (including Donne, Dwnn and Dunne);
· further examination of the history of the Dwnns of South Wales;
· follow up of a possible connection with the Bryant family;
· further study of possible connections with the Harding and Atwood families; and
· further analysis of the Court of Chancery records for evidence of law suits involving ‘John Done’.
It is in this last task that other members of the Committee (or other DFA members) with the time and patience might be able to help by looking at these records for the period between 1610 and 1640 for more evidence of the background to John Done. With modern technology, the analysis of such documents could be carried out by someone in the USA just as easily as someone resident in the UK. The TNA (the British National Archive) will copy the original documents at a high level of resolution, and send them to the researcher electronically, at a cost that depends on the size of the document, but probably averages around $40, little different from the cost to a UK resident (such as me) since it is only really practicable to deal with copies, rather than originals, of such large and fragile parchment documents. For the non-expert, they need to be perused closely at home, particularly when they need looking at line by line, or even letter by letter. The analysis of such documents requires considerable patience, since the handwriting of the period may be unclear because of the passage of time, but there are several learning guides available on the Internet that will help. We have a list of references to the relevant lawsuits which can be ordered from the UK National Archives.
We are very fortunate that committee member Marilyn Winton, who in the past has carried out a considerable amount of research into the possible ancestry of Deacon John, has volunteered to help with this. She is an expert, trained and experienced in palaeography, particularly in reading the handwriting of the 16th-18th centuries, and so is ideally suited for the task of deciphering of Court of Chancery documents.
Derek Done
Committee Chair