From the “Beginning”: Anglo-American Settler Colonialism in New England

Ashley (Woody) Doane

doi:10.3390/genealogy5040097

Abstract

In this article, I use the lens of critical family history—and the history of the Doane family—to undertake an analysis of Anglo-American settler colonialism in the New England region of the United States. My standpoint in writing this narrative is as a twelfth-generation descendant of Deacon John Doane, who arrived in Plymouth Colony circa 1630 and whose family history is intertwined with issues of settler colonial conquest and dispossession, enslavement, erasure, and the creation of myths of origin and possession. This analysis is also grounded in the larger contexts of the history of New England and the history of the United States. I conclude with a reflection upon the implications of settler colonial myths and historical erasure for current racial politics in the United States.

Highlights

IntroductionI learned that my original “American” ancestor, who carried the surname Doane that I bear today, had arrived in Plymouth Colony in the early 1630s, barely a decade after the storied arrival of the first Pilgrim colonists on the Mayflower
John Doane, who arrived in Plymouth Colony circa 1630 and whose family history is intertwined with issues of settler colonial conquest and dispossession, enslavement, erasure, and the creation of myths of origin and possession
I use the lens of critical family history—and the history of the Doane family—to undertake an analysis of Anglo-American settler colonialism in New England

Summary

Introduction

I learned that my original “American” ancestor, who carried the surname Doane that I bear today, had arrived in Plymouth Colony in the early 1630s, barely a decade after the storied arrival of the first Pilgrim colonists on the Mayflower While he immediately became a prominent member of the colony, after a decade or so he moved with a group of other settlers and “founded” the town of Eastham on the outer reaches of the Cape Cod peninsula that juts eastward into the Atlantic Ocean. There, they lived as farmers and seafarers for over 150 years, until the widow of one of my ancestors remarried and moved to a village in Western Massachusetts, where the family lived for well over a century. The untold story involved the erasure of the indigenous peoples of New England—and so much more.

Analytical Framework

In the Beginning

Findings

Closing the Circle