Francis Ami Dane: Named in Honor of His Ancestor Born Two Centuries Before
Francis Ami Dane: 1817-1892 (Maternal 2nd
Great-Granduncle)
Francis Dane: 1615-1697 (Maternal Eighth Great-Grandfather)
AmmiRuhammah Faulkner: 1692-1756 (Maternal First Cousin 8x
Removed and Francis Dane’s Grandson)
When I first entered Francis Ami Dane into my family tree, I
was struck by his name. The name “Francis Dane” had appeared repeatedly in my
family tree for two centuries and across six generations before Francis Ami
Dane’s birth in 1817. Francis’ middle name, Ami, also echoed a name that first
appeared in the Dane line five generations earlier. Francis Ami Dane was proof
that the Dane family took great pride in their history and in the first members
of the family to arrive in the American colonies.
My eighth great-grandfather, Rev. Francis Dane, arrived in
the Massachusetts Colony in the 1630s, and became the minister of Andover,
Massachusetts in 1648. I have written other posts about his efforts to stop the
Salem Witch Trials and his commonplace book which has survived nearly four
centuries and is now digitized and available online. He was a leader in his
community of Andover. He had many descendants.
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His daughter, Abigail Dane Faulkner, was arrested during the
witch trials in retaliation for her father’s opposition. She was convicted and
sentenced to death, but was spared immediate execution because she was
pregnant. By the time her son was born in 1692, the witch hysteria was over and
she was freed from prison. She named her son AmmiRuhammah Faulkner. Ammi
Ruhammah is a Hebrew term found in the book of
Hosea which translates to “ beloved people”. The name was probably intended
to exhibit Abigail and Francis Faulkner’s relief and gratitude to God that this
child had saved her life. The name AmmiRuhamah appears in the Faulkner line for
several generations.
It appears that Francis Ami Dane’s parents, David Dane and
Sally Randall Dane, were familiar with the Dane family history and chose to
honor it when Francis Ami was born. They were also apparently religious, as two
other sons were named Moses and Israel.
While Francis Ami Dane had seven children with his wife Sarah
Terwilliger, he did not give any of his sons the name Francis Ami. One son was
named Frank Siegal Dane. Perhaps Frank was a nod to the name Francis. Francis
seems to have gone by Frank for much of his life.
Francis Ami Dane grew up in Genesee, New York and moved to
Wisconsin at some point in the 1840s. He married Sarah Terwilliger in
Janesville in 1846, and they moved to Lewiston, Columbia County, Wisconsin. He
was a farmer.
Francis died in Columbia County, Wisconsin on New Year’s Eve
1892 at the age of 75. I wonder if
Francis Ami Dane ever really understood the significance of his name, and how
it honored his ancestors. Did he pass on his family’s history to his own
children, or did it die with his father, David? I will never know.
Sources:
The Founding of Harvard College. Morison, Samuel
Eliot. 1935. Harvard University Press. Page 374.
Obituary of Sarah Dane. Portage Daily Democrat. Portage
Wisconsin. May 7, 1895. Newspapers.com.
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