Simeon Doane

Biography

Simeon Doane lived at Eastham, on Cape Cod in present-day Massachusetts, near his brother Solomon. Born in 1708 to Samuel Doane and Martha Hamblin, he married Apphia Higgins in 1730 and remained part of that Cape Cod community through a life that ended in 1789.

His will gives a fuller picture of the family than the surviving birth entries alone. Written on April 24, 1784, it named Apphia, four sons—Benjamin, Ephraim, John and Isaiah—and three daughters, Ruth Smith, Abigail Eldredge and Phoebe Smith. John and Ephraim were appointed executors. The Doane genealogist explained that only Ruth's and Abigail's births appeared in the town records used for this reconstruction; the will supplied the other children's names.

That distinction matters to the shape of Simeon's story. His household was larger than the short list recoverable from birth entries, and his daughters remained identifiable in the estate record under their married names. The will brings these separate households together at the moment Simeon arranged the disposition of his property.

He died at Eastham in December 1789 and is commemorated in the burial ground now called Bridge Road Cemetery.