Other Deans of Pennsylvania

I wrote an earlier blog post about Abraham Dean, his (probable) father, James, and the many Deans of central Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s. I laid out in that blog post my evidence for a connection between James and Abraham Dean of the area near Alexandria, Pennsylvania, and Margery Dean Canan, wife of John Canan.

There are other Deans in the same area at that time, some of whom may be relatives and others who may have been wholly unconnected. Evidence for these relationships tend to be more tentative, but I lay it out below. As with the previous post, this one is aimed at the two or three people in the world who actually care about the details of this topic. And, as with the previous post, most of this information comes from the research by Larry Dean, with a few items of my own thrown in.

The Connection Between Abraham and Robert Dean

Abraham is listed in the U.S. Direct Tax Lists for Huntingdon and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania, in 1798. Abraham is listed as Occupant #14, in Baree Township, "on head waters of Shavers and Stone Creek". Occupant #15 is Robert Dean, with the exact same location information. Occupant #16 is James Dean, also located in the same area. No other families are listed with that location. James, and I already discussed, was Abraham's father. However, this James seems likely to be his brother, since James Sr.'s death was recorded in the Canan family bible in 1795. Robert is another likely brother.

The Connection Between Abraham and William Dean

William Dean was the only other Dean whose name was directly connected to Abraham's in the primary literature. Abraham was appointed the administrator of William Dean's estate in Pitt Township, Allegheny County, on April 21, 1789, after William died without a will. Abraham's co-administrator was Jane Dean, William's wife (1). Allegheny County is significantly farther west than Huntingdon, where James and Abraham lived.

Larry Dean's post covers this case in detail, and includes an email from the local Genealogy Society which claims that the Abraham Dean who administrated William Dean's estate was the son of William and Jane Dean. However, there are no other Abraham Deans who appear in the 1790 census, other than the one in Huntingdon County (2) (well, there is the one in Maine, but that seems a stretch). If William Dean had a son named Abraham, then he was not the head of his household in 1790, yet the fact that he was administering William Dean's will suggests he was of age. So, assuming the Abraham who administered William Dean's will is the same Abraham who is our direct ancestor, what relationship did Abraham have with William and Jane Dean?

The previous blog post includes the evidence that Abraham was James's son, not William's. The genealogy that was cited in Larry's post included no sources to collaborate the suggested relationships or the dates, but it claimed that William was born in 1735 and had received land in Pitt Township for his service in the Revolutionary War. The war ended in 1783, so William could have been elsewhere in Pennsylvania before that time. 

In the mid-1770s, multiple Deans appear in Hopewell Township of what was then Bedford County. At that time, what is now Huntingdon County was part of Bedford County, and Hopewell Township was created in 1773 from Barree (about 10 miles north of Alexandria, PA) (3). James Dean paid taxes on 300 acres in Hopewell township in 1779. A William and a John Dean paid taxes there in 1775, 1776, and 1779 (4). In 1784, there was a William Dean listed as an inhabitant of Huntingdon, where James Dean was also living. (Abraham was not listed, but he may not have bought his land until later that year.)  William's household consisted of 7 white persons (4). In other words, IF this is the same William Dean, then James, William, and Abraham Dean lived in the same area in the 1770s and early 1780s, after which William and his wife Jane moved farther west when they were granted land in Pitt Township. William appears to be in the same generation as James, as far as we can tell from the land records. Certainly, he is at least ten years older than Abraham, as he begins buying land and paying taxes in 1775. 

It is possible, then, that William was the father of Abraham. We cannot disprove this on the basis of the primary documents. However, the secondary evidence more strongly suggests James is Abraham's father, and Abraham never named any of his children William or Jane (see my previous post for discussion of Scotch-Irish naming practices). My suspicion - which I am unable to prove - is that William was Abraham's uncle, a brother of James. Abraham, as a relatively young and fit man (compared to, say, his father, who was around 50 at a time when life expectancy was much lower), was sent to his Aunt Jane's side when his uncle died unexpectedly, and helped her set the estate in order.

However, just to make things more complicated, the William Dean who died in Allegheny County may not have been the same William Dean who lived in Huntingdon! Larry Dean makes a good case that that William Dean, in fact, moved to Kentucky. Which, if either, or these Williams were related to our line remains frustratingly uncertain.


The Connection between Abraham Dean and Matthew and John Dean

And finally, I descend far into the realms of speculation. 

Matthew Dean and his son John lived in in Frankstown Township in what was then Bedford County. This area was later divided into Bedford and Baree Townships (which we've heard of before) and is located in Blair County, just southwest of Alexandria, PA (3). Their lives are fairly well documented because much of their family was killed in a border raid by Native people who were angry at the incursion of white settlers onto their land (4, 5, 6, 7). Matthew, his oldest son John, and his three oldest daughters (Margaret, Rebecca, and Elizabeth) were in the fields and missed the attack on his farmstead/fort that killed Matthew's wife Rebecca and their five other children. 

There is only circumstantial evidence that Matthew and John Dean are related to James and Abraham Dean:

1. Matthew and James Dean lived very close to the area where James and Abraham lived, and at the same times. Matthew is first listed on the tax roles for Frankstown Township in 1776, and lived there until he died in 1781 (8).
2. In his will, Matthew Dean named John Canan as executor. John Canan was James Dean's son-in-law (he had married James Dean's daughter, Margery) (9).
3. John Dean (son of Matthew), James Dean, and John Canan were all founding members of Hart's Log Presbyterian church (5).
4. According to secondary sources, Matthew and James Dean came to the United States around the same time. Matthew Dean's great-grandson said that “Matthew Dean came to Pennsylvania about the year 1760 from Ireland.” (7). As discussed in my previous post, James Dean's great-grandson claimed he, too, had come from Ireland in 1760.
5. A number of family names are shared in common, although unfortunately they are also very common names from the period, so the fact that both families have Margaret/Margery or Elizabeth, John, etc., is not very convincing.

My suspicion - again, not provable - is that Matthew and James Dean were brothers. William may have been another brother. 

If this is true, then one other intriguing piece of information may help clarify the Dean families of Pennsylvania: John Dean listed his birth city as York, PA, in his Revolutionary War pension file (10). If Matthew and James (and William?) Dean arrived in Pennsylvania in 1760, but they are first found on the tax rolls in the mid-1770s, what were they doing between those dates? Of course, they may have been working as laborers, and therefore not showing up in the records until they had saved enough to become men of property. But John's birthdate of 1763 in York suggests they spent some time there. York is south-southeast of Harrisburg, The Clerk of Courts Quarterly for York County record an Elizabeth and a Hans Dean living in the town in October of 1768, when they were brought in for a court case (I believe they were witnesses) (11). Elizabeth Dean was also tried for stealing in York in July of 1775. Obviously, Dean is a rather common name, but it's possible that these Deans were somehow related to the (three?) Dean brothers who arrived in Pennsylvania from Ireland in 1760.


References:

1)  American Revolutionary Soldiers of Franklin county, Pennsylvania compiled by Virginia Shannon Fendrick, published 1969 by the Historical Works Committee of the Franklin County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
2) "United States Census, 1790," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHKJ-8MR : accessed 17 July 2015), James Dean, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, United States; citing p. , NARA microfilm publication , (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll ; FHL microfilm .
3)  http://www.pa-roots.com/bedford/history/originoftownships.html
4) History of the Early Settlement of the Juniata Valley by U. J. Jones, published by Floyd G. Hoenstine, Holidaysburg, Pennsylvania
5) History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania Volume I, by J. Simpson Africa, published by Louis H. Everts 1883 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
6) History of Blair County, Pennsylvania Volume II, by J. Simpson Africa, published by Louis H. Everts 1883 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
7) A History of Blair County by Tarring S. Davis, published 1931
8) The Pennsylvania Archives Third Series, Vol. 22, p. 121, 200, 267, 297
9) Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
10)  Genealogical Abstracts of Revolutionary War Pension Files by Virgil D. White, pub 1990, National Historical Publishing Company
11) http://www.yorkcountyarchives.org/search.asp

James Dean. No, not the cool one.

In Deans in a Nutshell, I summarized the straight patronymic line of Deans from central Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s down to my great-grandfather. The post was a bit misleading, though, in the tone of certainty with which I discussed James Dean, the founder of our line in the Americas.

The truth is, while we have lots of documentary evidence tracing the Dean line from the present day back to Abraham Dean (1763-1806), our knowledge of his father is sketchy. I was inspired by the impressive genealogical work of Larry Dean (probably not a relation, but who knows!) to combine his knowledge of 18th century Pennsylvania Deans - laid out in this on-line essay - with the few bits of information I have gleaned from other sources, to try and clarify our relationship to the various Deans who were running around the Appalachians at the time.

I started my search with one assumption: while the name James is frustratingly common, the name Abraham is more unique. Therefore, any Abraham Dean on record in central Pennsylvania in the late 18th century was - in all likelihood - "our" Abraham Dean. I then worked back from known records of Abraham to try and identify his father and other relatives.

First, some facts about Abraham Dean:

Abraham Dean's Tombstone
In the Dean Cemetery in South Salem, Ross County, Ohio

Abraham Dean was born around 1763; his tombstone says he was 43 in 1806. We know this tombstone belongs to "our" Abraham Dean because he was buried next to Hannah Baird Dean (his daughter-in-law) and James Harvey Dean (his grandson).

Abraham died in South Salem, Ross County, Ohio. However, there are multiple secondary sources that tell us Abraham originally came from Pennsylvania. For example, a book on the history of Polk County, Iowa, published in 1890, wrote of Abraham's son, "John Stuart Dean, deceased, was born in Lancaster County, Pa, August 9, 1797, and closed a busy and useful life, December 21, 1872." (1)

Today Lancaster County, PA, is southeast of Harrisburg. However, in 1797, it was a much larger area. Primary documents suggest Abraham settled near modern-day Alexandria, PA, which is in Huntingdon County. Huntingdon County was created from Bedford County in 1787. Bedford County was created from Cumberland County in 1771. And Cumberland County was created out of Lancaster County in 1750. Either John was born farther east than his father later settled, or the shifting county lines hadn't been remembered twenty years and two states after his death.

Primary documentation confirms the family lived in Pennsylvania before moving to Ohio around 1800. These documents include:

1. Abraham's children's birthplaces, listed in their census records. In 1850, for example, James Stewart Dean, John's older brother, stated he was born in Pennsylvania(2).
2. The name Abraham Dean is found only twice in the 1790 census. One of those Abraham Deans is in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. The other is in Maine. (3) 
3. An Abraham Dean was issued a land warrant on September 2, 1784, for an area in Franklin Township, north of the Little Juniata River (near modern-day Alexandria, PA). This purchase would have been made when he was 21, just as he was coming of age (4)
4. In 1788, Huntingdon County's tax records show Abraham Dean paid  £10 on 2 horses and 1 head of cattle (5). 
5. In June of 1789, Abraham Dean served as a juror at a Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace held at Huntingdon(6). 
6.  In 1798, the United States Direct Tax in Huntingdon County listed Abraham Dean as the owner of 395 acres at the headwaters of Shavers and Standing Stone Creeks (about 10-15 miles NE of Alexandria, PA). Two other Deans are listed as living at those same headwaters, and there are no other families there. Those Deans are James and Robert.

Secondary sources back up the primary sources. In a history of central Pennsylvania, I found this quote: "Continuing down the creek [Spruce Creek, which is north of Alexandria] we find next Abraham Dean's tract at the Great Falls, called Mexico, the warrant for which was issued Sept. 2, 1784. From this tract to near the mouth of the creek, which was then called the East Branch of the Little Juniata, the best land had been taken up by speculators in 1766."(8)

So Abraham Dean was in central Pennsylvania, near modern-day Alexandria, in the late 1700s. But who was his father? Who were his other family members? There were a number of Deans living in that area, were they all kin?

Abraham's name is directly linked in the primary sources to only two individuals: James Dean and William Dean.


The Connection Between Abraham and James Dean

Abraham and James Dean were listed next to each other in the 1790 census (3), suggesting they were neighbors. Unfortunately, that first census only listed the name of the head of household and ages/sexes of other household members. So, all we know about James Dean is that his household consisted of 3 boys younger than 16, 1 man older than 16 (himself) and 4 women/girls. Abraham's household, at the same time, consisted of one boy younger than 16, two men older than 16, and two women/girls. Abraham's surviving children were all born after 1790 - he may not have been married yet in 1790 - so it is not clear who the other members of his household were.

James Dean appears on the tax records of what is now Huntingdon County much earlier than Abraham Dean. Abraham bought his land in 1784, but James is first listed as paying taxes in Barree Township in 1774, as well as in 1775, 1776, and 1779 (5). Barree Township in Huntingdon County is about 10 miles NE of Alexandria, PA. James, then, is older than Abraham. We can assume there is some family relationship, since they owned land close together, but is James Abraham's father? An older brother? We cannot tell for certain on the basis of the primary sources alone, but secondary sources and family naming patterns suggest that James was Abraham's father.

First, a note about naming conventions: Scotch-Irish families frequently followed a standard naming tradition, in which the first-born son was named for his paternal grandfather, the second-born for his maternal grandfather, and the third for his father. The next sons, if there were any, were often named for a paternal uncle, then a maternal uncle, etc., etc. Daughters followed a similar convention: the first-born daughter was named for her maternal grandmother, the next for her paternal grandmother, and the third for her mother. Maternal and paternal aunts' names could follow (9).

Not everyone followed these rules to the letter, but Abraham's first-born son was named James, and therefore that was likely Abraham's father's name, as well.

We also have significant evidence that James Dean was the father of Margery Dean Canan. Margery Dean Canan married Col. John Canan, who later became a prominent Pennsylvanian businessman and politician. Because Canan was well-known, his life was somewhat better documented than other citizens of that time and place. Therefore, we know that he was married in 1775, meaning Margery had to have been born at or before 1760, at the latest.  Since Abraham was born in 1763, this makes Margery the correct age to be his sister.

The James Dean who was Margery Dean Canan's father was clearly the same James Dean who lived in Huntingdon County in the last quarter of the 1700s. The primary evidence connecting John Canan and James Dean is as follows:

1. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, the 1784 journal of James Harris, surveyor, mentions drinking cider "with Mr. Canan at Mr. Mitchell's and Mr. Dean's his father-in-law." In the same journal entry, he mentions his assistant taking a horse to Warrior's Mark that evening. Warrior's Mark is less than ten miles NE of Alexandria, PA. A William Mitchell, possibly the Mr. Mitchell of the journal entry, is listed in the 1790 census on the page before James and Abraham Dean (3).

2. Larry Dean records a Canan family bible that listed a number of deaths, including those of John and Margery Canan. Only one Dean was mentioned in that bible: James Dean, who died in November of 1795. 

Secondary sources and naming conventions support the contention that James Dean was the father of Margery Dean Canan. A biography of their grandson, S. Dean Canan, published in 1907 stated that  "He [John Canan] married, in 1775, Margery Dean, born 1760, died 1815, daughter of James and Catherine Dean, both natives of Ireland, and married after their arrival in America." (10). John and Margery named their second son James (as would be expected for a second son who was named after his maternal grandfather), and their first daughter Catherine (again, as expected, if that was the name of Margery's mother.)

If James Dean is Margery Dean Canan's father, then the ages of James, Margery, and Abraham suggest that James was the father of Margery and Abraham. There is some support for this in the names Abraham gave his children. His two oldest children are James and Catherine, and his third daughter was named Margery.

I mentioned before that Abraham's name is linked in primary documents with a man named William Dean. There were a number of Dean men documented in Central Pennsylvania in the late 1700s, but there's so much material to cover, those relationships will have to wait for another post.

References:

(1) "Portrait and Biographical Album of Polk County, Iowa", 1890, p. 428, (https://archive.org/stream/portraitbiograph08chic#page/428/mode/2up)] 

(2). United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MX7S-R6B : accessed 1 June 2015), James Dean, Buckskin, Ross, Ohio, United States; citing family 2812, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

(3) "United States Census, 1790," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHKJ-8MR : accessed 17 July 2015), James Dean, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, United States; citing p. , NARA microfilm publication , (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll ; FHL microfilm .

(4) History of the Early Settlement of the Juniata Valley by U. J. Jones, published by Floyd G. Hoenstine, Holidaysburg, Pennsylvania

(5) The Pennsylvania Archives Third Series, Vol. 22

(6) Source: Extracts from Court Quarter Sessions, 1789-1795, Huntingdon County, PA,http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/huntingdon/othcourt/1789-1795-court.txt

(8) "History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania", by J. Simpson Africa, p. 329, 

(9) http://www.johnbrobb.com/Content/TheScottishOnomasticPattern.pdf

(10) "History of Cambria County Pennsylvania, volume 3", by Henry Wilson Storey, p.64

(11) Allegheny Co., PA will book #1, page 10, FHL #0858898