This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/SOC.2ACE/1379.1 Message Board Post: This is not a family that I am researching but I thought I’d take a look and see what I could find for you. First I checked the 1881 Census which you can access on http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=census/search_census.asp In 1881 most of the Doanes in Nova Scotia where found in Shelburne and Yarmouth Counties except for the family of James Wiley who were living in Plympton, Digby County, NS James W. Doane male French age 34 born NS seaman Catholic With him were his wife Susan – age 31, and children Annie – 5, Ella – 3, Maggie – 2 and Estella – 6 months.. I’m not sure were the French comes from. The Doane family certainly were not French. However Susan would have been if she was a Comeau and they were living in a French Canadian community (Plympton) so maybe he “assimilated”. The Digby County genealogical website is http://www.rootsweb.com/~nsdigby/ If you click on the Census selection and scroll down through you will find an index which combines the 1871, 1881 and 1891 Census. It would appear from that that the family left Digby County after 1881. However in the 1901 Census available at http://www.automatedgenealogy.com/index.html Susan is a widow living in Marshalltown, (District K, page 1) Digby County, with children Leaman – age 6, Arthur – age 9, Edith- age 11, Twila – age 13 and Fanny – age 14. (I had a hard time finding them as I was looking for an Arthur Doane. However, the transcriber has made an error and has Susan’s children with a Surname that begins with “T”. ) Also on the Digby county site above is a collection of obituaries where I found the following: died on Friday, February 10, 1899 Source: Digby Courier Submitter: Luella Marshall Obituary contained surnames BURRILL, DOANE, FREEMAN, JONES, MILDON DEATH OF STERNS JONES AN OLD AND RESPECTED RESIDENT OF WEYMOUTH PASSES AWAY The death of Sterns JONES occured at Weymouth on Tuesday .Although hourly expected , yet the sad news was received with a shock ,and has cast a gloom over the entire community . He was 85 years old. Mr. JONES was born in Weymouth April 15 1814 and was the son of the late Cerno U. JONES who was one of the Loyalists who first settled in Weymouth. He was married Dec. 22nd . 1830 to Margaret Ann, daughter of Isaac Wiley DOANE of St. John NB. One daughter and two sons were the family ,viz.,Mrs Charles BURRILL, of Weymouth; Forbes JONES, deputy customs collector of Weymouth and Frank W. JONES of New York. The deceased bore an unblemished character through life . He was one of the charter members of the Old Columbia division ,no.24 , the first Temperance organization formed in Weymouth and always held sacred and lived up the obligation taken in his youth. He was a member of the Anglican church. The wife of ! Mr. JONES died April 24th. 1885 .In the year of 1887 he was married again to Mrs FREEMAN nee Miss Annie Sowley MILDON daughter of Thomas MILDON of Weymouth.In 1851 he was gazetted justice of the peace for Digby county.Twelve years later he was appointed collector of customs for Weymouth . After filling this position satisfactory for 19 years he was super-annuated in 1882 . Since then he has been living a quiet life until his death. His successor was Norman Bond JONES who is still in office. The deceased was a liberal in politics and was a great admirer of Joseph HOWE in his time. The middle name of “Wiley” is just unusual enough that I certainly think you should investigate the possibility of Isaac Wiley as being the father of James Wiley. If you are familiar with the geography of the Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick you know that there is just a few hours ferry ride between the town of Digby and St. John, New Brunswick. Since Doane was a very prominent name in the Yarmouth, NS area, I also checked George S. Brown’s book on Yarmouth Genealogy. He has a section on the Doane family of Yarmouth including quite a bit on the original John Doane who came to Plymouth, Mass. from England around 1630. Quotation from his book “Isaac Wiley Doane, the well-remembered shipbuilder of Digby County was a descendant of Deacon John Doane. He was born in the state of Maine in June 1794 and married a Miss Hutchinson of Digby, a descendant of the old Massachusetts family of that name and settled there (Digby). Their daughter Margaret married Sterns Jones, Esq. of Weymouth, for many years Collector of Customs at that port. On the shores of St. Mary’s Bay, Mr. Doane built ships of the larger class for the shipowners of St. John, New Brunswick and when he died there (St. John) in August 1885 in his 92nd year, many of the men most prominent in business circles attended his funeral. Mr. Doane was a Mason of high degree and had been a member of St. John’s Lodge of St. John ever since he was 21 years old. George S. Brown, June 2, 1897