INTRODUCTION

Research into the origins of Deacon John Doane, initiated by Gilbert Doane, has been carried out for well over thirty years. Key stages in this research have been reported in the DFA Proceedings for 1972, 1976, 1990 and 2004.

This report covers progress made since the 2004 Committee report.

For family reasons, Virgil Doan, Chair Person of the committee since it was reconstituted in 2002 has had to relinquish that role, and members of the Committee recorded their appreciation for all the work he has put in since then.

ACTION AGREED AT 2004 COMMITTEE MEETING

Having followed up Gilbert Doane’s ‘Clues to the Identity of Mr John Done’ (DFA Proceedings 1976) and eliminated from consideration four of the individuals with that name who, for a variety of reasons, could not have gone on to become Deacon John, two possible ‘candidates’ remained: John Done of Duddon and John Done (cordwainer) of Alvechurch.

At the last Committee it was agreed to continue to try to find out more about these two individuals.

In the case of John Done of Duddon, the background to his supposed taking of an oath of allegiance to King Charles I prior to travelling abroad would be explored.

In the case of John Done (cordwainer) an attempt would be made to find the original will of Deacon John and check his signature on that document against the presumed signature of John Done (cordwainer) contained in a legal document purporting to refute the allegation that he had laid false claim to the estate of John Done (whitebaker).

Findings

John Done of Duddon obtained Royal permission to travel abroad, but he went to France, not Plymouth Colony. He is therefore unlikely to have been the man who later became the Deacon.

Although a transcript of Deacon John’s will exists, Marshall Doane has discovered that the will itself was destroyed in a fire, so it has not been possible to compare his signature with that of the cordwainer. However, the cordwainer is at present the only person left on our list of possible ‘candidates’.

These findings suggested that, although other sources could become available in future, enabling paper–based research to be resumed, there were at present no other leads to be followed up using this approach.

Y-DNA TESTING PROGRAM

Introduction

As a result, those who had been given responsibility for the research task, Virgil Doan and Derek Done, together with President Dick Doane and Historian Kay Blair, felt that there was a need for an alternative approach, involving a program of Y-DNA testing. Following acceptance of this proposal by the DFA Board, a program of testing was begun in 2005 by the Family Tree DNA organization, with Virgil Doan taking on the role of Administrator of the program. (This role was subsequently taken on by Dick Doane, following Virgil’s resignation for family reasons.)

This research program is based on the fact that the male Y chromosome is passed from father to son in the same way as a surname. The objective of this program is to find a Y-DNA match between a known descendant of the Deacon and a Done/ Donne resident in England of known pedigree. Such a match would indicate that these two individuals shared a common ancestor who could then be identified.

Y-DNA profiles were obtained from six male Doane Family Association members who were documented as being descendants of the Deacon. Two profiles were obtained from each group of those believed to be descendants of each of his three sons. An attempt was then made to find males in England and Wales with the same Y-DNA profile as the sample of DFA members and with the name Done or Donne.

Results

This is a brief summary of the results of the Y-DNA testing program as they affect the research into the origins of Deacon John.

· Of the sample of six DFA members, five had Y-DNA profiles sufficiently close to each other to indicate that they were descended from the Deacon - as their paper pedigrees suggested;

· Of UK Dones/ Donnes tested, there were no matches with the six members of the Doane Family Association sample;

· Three of the UK sample and one US resident Done had pedigrees indicating that they belonged to the aristocratic Done family centred on Tarporley in Cheshire. The Y-DNA analysis for these individuals showed them to have the same profile as each other, tending to confirm their view that they were from this Tarporley ‘tribe’. Unfortunately, this Tarporley profile is very different from that of our DFA sample, indicating that it is unlikely that the US/ Canadian Doan(e)s are related to the Tarporley Dones;

· There are probably five or six different and unrelated Done/ Donne families in the UK at present, confirming Gilbert Doane’s view that the name is a generic one, meaning ‘dweller in the hills’.

Summary of conclusions

There are several alternative conclusions as to the origins of Deacon John, given that no Y-DNA matches have been found. These are:

Deacon John was not born a Done, but adopted the name in order to be able to leave behind his English identity, or
he adopted the name Done in order to lay claim to the estate of John Done ‘whitebaker’ or
there are other Done/ Donnes out there with a DNA match, waiting to be tested, or
the line of Deacon John’s ancestors has died out outside the USA and Canada.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Continue with the Y-DNA testing program in order to discover links with the ancestors of Deacon John Doane. In particular:

consider ways in which more UK residents with the name Done or Donne might be persuaded to participate;
expand the testing program to include those with the name Done or Donne currently resident in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries (including the USA and Canada) to which they or their ancestors may have emigrated from the UK;
explore possibilities of Y-DNA matches with other names through Y-search, the Y-DNA public database.

Continue researching the paper records (parish records etc), as more are transcribed or otherwise become available.

DD 24 July 2006