ad U.S. Heraldic Registry � Registrations/Dann, John (1792-1870) ?

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John Dann and Mary Dann née McPherson/MacPherson


Registration number 20090324D


This certifies that heraldic arms of John Dann and Mary Dann née McPherson/MacPherson which are offered in memoriam and conveyed to their descendants are registered and described by the blazon below

Arms: Azure on a bend Gules fimbriated Or between a wildcat sejant sinister forepaw raised and a garb a weaver's shuttle Or, on a canton Tenne three daggers Argent.
Crest: A sinister hand erect forefinger extended proper holding a tea spoon bendwise Argent.
Motto: Seek to Dwell in Freedom's Hall



Biographical information

John Dann was a weaver and farmer born at Coolrain, Offerlane Parish, County Laois, Ireland, on 29 August, 1792. John Dann traveled via stage from Coolrain to Dublin, Ireland, where he left in the summer of 1819 landing at Quebec, Canada in the fall of 1819. The voyage took him seven weeks and three days. He traveled south from Lake Champlain, settling at New Hartford, Oneida County, New York.

John Alexander McPherson and family also arrived from Europe in 1819, landing at Montreal Canada, crossing into New York State. They settled on five acres in the area known as Slatenbush, in the town of New Hartford, where John Alexander McPherson ran a small farm and wove in his shop. This is where John Dann worked for John Alexander McPherson and where he met Mary McPherson, whom he later married on 17 January, 1824. They both wove together to help pay expenses. They rented a house on the turn pike road between Utica and New Hartford. Later they purchased a farm at Hillsborough in the town of Camden, New York, consisting of 140 acres, which they moved to in the spring of 1832. The Dann family later moved to the newly purchased Dann farm at Hillsborough, Camden, New York, where Margaret Dann was raised, and later left to live and work at Utica, where she was, according to Robert Dann, living in a boarding house, called Millner House, at Mrs. Maynard’s in 1854, based on the 1854 city directory of Utica, New York.

After the children had all grown, the family sold the farm. John Dann and Mary moved into the town of Camden. John Dann died at Camden on 18 November, 1870, at the age of 78. Mary later sold the house at Camden and moved to New Haven, Connecticut to live with her sons until she died on 12 April, 1887, at the age of 82 years. She was buried at Fair Haven Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut. 

For extended information, see: Arms and History of Kenneth Eugene Aberle and Affiliated Families

Design rationale

The blue shield represents the waters surrounding the British Isles which this family and its branches ventured out from. The orange canton and three daggers represent military service under Schomberg, at the battle of the Boyne for the cause William of Orange on 1 July, 1690. The wildcat sejant sinister forepaw raised is for the family’s recollection of its maternal links to clan McPherson. The garb of wheat is for farming and the weavers’ shuttle represents both the Danns and McPherson’s, as dual tradesmen in farming and weaving. The silver tea spoon which was separated from the family’s silver, has reemerged in the crest as a visual symbol of John Dann's last gift that he received from his mother, Ann Benn, just prior to his departure from Dublin, Ireland. That was the last time he saw her. The motto was pulled from the Dann history, "Seek to Dwell in Freedoms Hall." From a verse entered into the family’s story which was handed down from father to son, as to the motivation for crossing the western sea to America. After a prior event involving the Dann family and a former landlord, John Dann stated that it was “better to dwell in freedoms hall, with a cold damp hearth and moldering wall, than to bend the neck and bow the knee, in the proudest palace of Slavery.

Registered by

Craig Scott Aberle

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