Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1876-04-27
DANIEL DANCER.

Daniel Dancer was born in l1l6
in the hamlet of Weald, in the neigh
borhood of Harrow. He was de
scended from a respectable yeoman's S
family in the county of Hertford
and his grandfather appears to have
been settled at Bushby, near Wat
ford, where he followed the profitable
occupations of mealman and malster.
His father, who resided at Stone
causeway, on Harrow Weald Com
mon, possessed considerable property
in land, which he farmed himself;
he had four children, three sons and
daughter; and on his death, in
1876, his eldest son Daniel succeeded
to the estate.
1t has somewhere been asserted,
that there never yet were three gen
eraJfOns or mfsers; the Dancers, now
ever, form a special exception to this
rule, for it is an undoubted fact, that
the grandfather, the father, and all
the children, were strictly entitled to
this appellation! Their characters,
however, were Of peculiar cast; for
it was the ambition and occupation of
their lives, not to accumulate for the
sake of their offspring, or relatives,
or posterity, or themselves, but from
the same principle that the magpie
is said to steal gold-merely for the
pleasure of hiding it!
The contemporaries Of the grand
father are now no more, and but few
traditional anecdotes have been
handed down concerning him. But
Daniel was satisfied that he had con-
cealed money to the amount of more
than one thousand five hundred
pounds in the premises occupied by
him, and this occasioned no little I'M
easiness; but it did not proceed from
the fear of its not being discovered,
but from the dread lest his brothers
might find it, and not deliver it to
him. This rendered him cautious OF
mentioning his suspicious; and it
was full two years before any part OF
it was found. At length, on remov-
ing an old gate, about two hundred
pounds in gold and bank notes, which
had been concealed between two pew
ter dishes under one of the posts,
were fortunately disinterred. The
rest was never heard of.
1t was in the paternal mansion al
Astmiss, at Causeway gate, on Har
row Weald Common, that Daniel was
doomed by the fates to spend the
whole of his life, which seems to have
been one uninterrupted dreary blank
His wretched habitation was sur
rounded by about eighty acres of his
own rich meadow land, with some o
the finest oak timber in the kingdom
upon it; and he possessed an adjoin
ing farm, called Waldos; the whole
of the annual value of about two hun
dred and fifty pounds per annum, i
properly cultivated. But cultivation
was expensive, and so Daniel per
mitted grass only to grow there: in
deed, in so neglected state was thu
place for several years, that tn,
house was entirely surrounded by
trees, the fields choked up with un
derwood, and the hedges of such al
amazing height as wholly to exclude
the prospect of mankind, and Great
a dreary gloom all around.
Dancers house exhibited a com
plete picture of desolation. Amons
other odd circumstances, a tree hat
actually pushed its top through tn
roof, and contributed not q little, b,
means of its branches, to shelter tn
wretched inhabitants frem the in
clemency of the weather.
Dancer had sister, who lived wit
him till her death, and whose disposi
ton exactly corresponded with hi
own. The fare of this saving coupl
was invarisbly the same. On Sur
day they boiled sticking of bee
with fourteen hard dumplings, whic
always lasted during the whole week
an arrangement which no considers
ton could scarcely induce them t
} alter, excepting through some Gil
cumstance like the following. Dai
Ger accustomed himself to wands
over the common in search of an
stray locks of wool, cast horseshoe
old iron, or pieces of paper, and eve
to collect the dung of sheep under tt
hedges. In one of these perambul
: tions he found a sheep which ha
died from natural disease; this pri;
he instantly threw over his should