Rev. Francis Dane

Written By Sara Jobe

Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature

An Undergraduate Course, University of Virginia

Spring Semester 2001

Rev. Francis Dane was born around 1615 in England and died on February 16, 1697 at the age of eighty-one in Andover, Massachusetts. He is the son of John Dane, who settled in both Ipswich and Roxbury. Dane's name is found among the early residents of Ipswich in 1641, and according to Joseph Felt's History of Ipswich, Dane moved to Andover in 1648. Dane became the second pastor of the North Parish in 1649. He remained in this position for forty-eight years until his death in 1697. In regard to his education, Rev. Cotton Mather lists Dane as one of the young men who finished his studies in the Colony before Harvard College conferred degrees. In addition to his ministry, Dane founded school for Andover youth. Dane had two sons, Nathaniel and Francis, and four daughters, Elizabeth (Johnson), Hannah (Goodhue), Phebe (Robinson), and Abigail (Faulkner). He himself was married three times: Elizabeth Ingals (pre 1645-1676), Mary Thomas (1677-1689), and Hannah Abbot (1690-his death 1697).

Abiel Abbot's History of Andover notes that there is no record of any discord between Dane and his congregation from 1649 to 1680, although historian Sarah L. Bailey calls the reality of such a situation into question in her Historical Sketches of Andover. Whether flawless or not, it is evident that Dane was a highly respected and powerful member of the Andover community, comparable only to Dudley Bradstreet, former Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Around 1680, church members began to complain about the capabilities of Dane and requested a younger, more vibrant minister for their church. In January of 1682, the congregation called the young Rev. Thomas Barnard, a recent graduate of Harvard and protege of Cotton Mather. Soon thereafter, the congregation stopped paying Dane's salary and gave Barnard a full salary. Dane petitioned the General Court in Boston, and the Andover church was required to pay Dane thirty pounds a year to share pastoral duties with Barnard. The church decided to pay Barnard fifty pounds a year, which much less than Barnard expected, with the stipulation that when Dane retired or died, Barnard would receive the full eighty pounds annual salary.

Andover church politics were fairly stagnate for the next ten years, although it appears that the tension between Dane and Barnard was evident throughout this time. In 1692, however, things started to heat up when the witch hunt broke out in near by Salem Village. By August, the hunt had stretched to Andover with an invitation to two of the Salem accusers to come and find witches in Andover. Rev. Barnard did much to facilitate the witch hunt, holding prayer meetings in the church that resulted in "touch tests" where the accusers could simply touch community members who were then accused of witchery. Rev. Dane refused to take part in the witch hunt from the outset, and perhaps because of this as well as the tension between Dane, Bradstreet, and Barnard, more members of Dane's family were accused than any other single family in the entire episode. In addition to Dane's extended family, two of Dane's daughters, his daughter in law, and five of his grandchildren were accused.

Upham writes, "The Rev. Francis Dane deserves to be recognized preeminent and for a time almost alone in bold denunciation and courageous resistance of the expiable proceedings of that dark day." Dane was the driving force behind ending the trials in Andover. He first arranged for the Andover children to be let out of jail on bond in October 1692. Husbands, brothers, and fathers of the accused witches then joined Dane in petitioning the General Court for the release of the Andover women on the grounds that they were needed at home and with the coming of winter would not fare well in the prisons. On October 18, 1692, Dane wrote a petition addressing what he believed to be the forced and false confessions of guilt made by women during the frenzy of the "touch test," in order to save themselves from trial and possible execution. Dane writes that there was, "reason to think that the extreme urgency that was used with some of them by their friends and others who privately examined them, and the fear they were then under, hath been an inducement to them to admit such things." This was the first attempt to explain the confessions of those who had been accused. Dane also wrote letters to the courts and his fellow ministers condemning spectral evidence using such strong language as, "I believe the reports have been scandalous and unjust, neither will bear y light." Slander charges filed by Dane and members of his family, particularly Abigail Dane Faulkner, did much to deter a resurgence of accusations in Andover as well.

Local historian Enders Robinson in his book Salem Witchcraft concluded from the above facts that the Andover incident was a direct conspiracy of Barnard against Dane. Although this theory cannot be proven, and Dane was responsible for halting the Andover proceedings, Robinson makes an unfounded assumption. Barnard was highly respected and had studied with Cotton Mather at Harvard. Mather was one of the top proponents of the trials and the necessity of purging the colony of witches. Barnard was not the only minister at the time to be lured to Mather's convincing theological arguments. In Barnard's mind, promoting the witch trials could very well have been the best thing he could do for his congregation. One must also note that as Dane's resistance movement gained momentum, Barnard sided with Dane over the courts. Robinson believes this to be indicative of Barnard's manipulative nature. Although this is possible, there is no evidence for Barnard's motive in changing sides on the witchcraft issue. Regardless of the social motives behind what occurred in Andover in 1692, Dane immerged as a fearless and effective leader. He suffered under the accusations of numerous members of his family, yet found the strength to guide an entire community through an irrationality that could have lead to many more innocent deaths had he not taken such an outspoken, controversial, and admirable stand.

Abiel Abbott, History of Andover from its Settlement to 1829, 1829.

Sarah Loring Bailey, Historical Sketches of Andover, 1880.

Joseph B. Felt, The Annals of Salem, 1827.

--------, History of Ipswich, Essex and Hamilton, 1834.

Enders A. Robinson, Salem Witchcraft, 1992.

Charles W. Upham, Salem Witchcraft, 1867.