Daniel Poor: 52 Ancestors Prompt "Poor Man"

Daniel Poor: 1624-1689

The prompt for this week was “Poor Man”.  I wanted to write about one of my distant ancestors who died in the county poor house, but I couldn’t remember which branch of my family he was in or what his name was, so I needed to take a different approach. I turned to the literal: one of my 8^th Great-grandfathers was Daniel Poor—a truly “Poor” man!

Daniel Poor was born around 1623 or 1624 in Wiltshire, England and emigrated to the colonies in 1638 at age 14. He traveled on the ship Bevis from Southhampton, and was listed on the ship’s register as “Dayell Poor, 14, servant”. He married my 8^th Great Grandmother Mary Farnum in Boston on October 20, 1650, and their marriage was one of the first recorded in Essex County Massachusetts. They settled in Andover, Massachusetts, home of Francis Dane, another one of my 8^th great-grandfathers.

Daniel’s occupation in area records was listed as “husbandman”, which was the 17^th century term for farmer. He seems to have been successful, and was obviously well respected in the community, as he served multiple roles in the governance of Andover. He was appointed surveyor in 1673, and served on the Andover Board of Selectmen in 1674, 1675, 1677, 1683, 1684, 1686 and 1687, and as the Grandjuryman in 1681.

By the time of his death in 1689, he had amassed a substantial estate, including hundreds of acres of land, herds of cattle, sheep, swine and horses, and a long list of household items. The will was filed with an inventory listing the value of his holdings and property—the total valuation was over 756 pounds, a large sum for that era. The herds of animals alone were valued at over 61 pounds.

Daniel allowed a garrison house to be built on one of his outlying properties—this was a fortified house that used to protect the community from Indian attacks. An example of a garrison house is pictured below. 

The other photo shows the Benjamin Abbott house, an old Andover house built in 1685 near the time of Daniel’s death, providing an idea of what Daniel’s house might have looked like.

Daniel's will divided his property between his widow and his eleven surviving children—two sons and nine daughters, a large number of children to reach adulthood in that era! My direct ancestor Hannah Poor Dane had already received her portion, apparently at her marriage, so she received nothing at his death. My other direct ancestor, daughter Priscilla Poor Mooar, fared better. The will states: “I give to my daughter Priscilla my meadow on the west side of Shawshin River commonly called the Pond Meadow.” According to the inventory, the meadow land on the west side was worth 40 pounds.

Despite Daniel’s wealth, he apparently was not completely literate—probably not surprising since he was working as a servant at age 14 when he emigrated. His will was signed with “his mark”, shakily drawn initials “D” and “P”.

There is no record of his burial site. Presumably he was laid to rest in the older of Andover’s two burial grounds, but we cannot be sure. Despite Daniel’s surname, he was rich in family and property. His descendants still lived in the area in 1830, when the map below was drawn.