Mary (Ward) Dancer (1791 - 1853)

Born 1791 in Stewart, Tennessee, United States

Wife of Asahel Dancer — married 1813 in Stewart, Tennessee, United States

Descendants

Died Dec 1853 at about age 62 in Bastrop, Bastrop, Texas, United States

Biography

Mary was born in 1791. She passed away in 1853.

Anecdote

ASHALL AND MARY (WARD) DANCER

Ashall Dancer was born in 1795 in Tennessee. In 1813 he married a woman named Mary Ward in Stewart County, Tennessee. She was born in Tennessee about 1798. The couple had eleven children, two born in Bastrop County, Texas. Ashall and his wife moved to Texas around 1836, traveling from Tennessee and settling in Bastrop County. Bastrop County papers give a list of all the children of Ashall and wife at the time of immigration into Texas.

In 1839 church elders A. Dancer and R. G. Green were sent from the Providence Church in Bastrop County to help organize a church in Fayette County, the Plum Grove Baptist Church, often referred to as the Hopewell Church. In October of 1839 A. Dancer, a strong anti-missionary Baptist was chosen as its pastor. It was the first church of Primitive Baptist faith west of the Colorado River.

One of their sons, John Dancer, served with Capt. Dawson and died on September 18, 1842 in the Salado Creek massacre. He is buried with the soldiers on Monument Hill overlooking La Grange in Fayette County.

In 1849 Ashall Dancer was killed by Indians Mary Dancer died in 1853.

DANCER, ASHALL (ca. 1795-ca. 1849). Asiel (Asahel) Dancer, a Baptist church elder and lay minister, was born, probably around 1795, in Tennessee. Around 1813 he married a woman named Mary, also of Tennessee, and the couple had eleven children. One of their sons, John Dancer, served with Capt. Nicholas M. Dawson and died on September 18, 1842. He is buried with the Dawson and Mier expeditionqv soldiers on Monument Hill overlooking La Grange in Fayette County. Dancer and his wife moved to Texas around 1836, traveling from Tennessee and settling in Bastrop County. In 1839 church elders Dancer and R. G. Green were sent from the Providence Church in Bastrop County to help organize a church in Fayette County, the Plum Grove Baptist Church, often referred to as the Hopewell Church. In October 1839 Dancer, a strong antimissionary Baptist (see BAPTIST CHURCH), was chosen as its pastor. The church was affiliated with the Union Baptists of western Tennessee and evidently split over the missionary question shortly after its inception. In December 1841 Z. N. Morrellqv became its pastor. Asiel Dancer died in Bastrop County around 1849; his wife died in Bastrop County in 1853.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: James Milton Carroll, A History of Texas Baptists (Dallas: Baptist Standard, 1923). La Grange High School, Fayette County: Past and Present (La Grange, Texas, 1976). Houston Wade, comp., The Dawson Men of Fayette County (Houston, 1932). Leonie Rummel Weyand and Houston Wade, An Early History of Fayette County (La Grange, Texas: La Grange Journal, 1936).

Betty McCarty McAnelly

Plum Grove

The only photo of Ashall that I have was published in “Texas Tales Your Teacher Never Told You” Wordware Publishing, Plano, Texas. The photo is of the Plum Grove Church (also known as Hopewell) in Fayette County, Texas. Ashall Dancer is the one on the right. I do not have information on the gentleman to the left. As Ashall reportedly died circa January of 1849, the photo predates that time. ^{[1] [2]}

Probate info for her estate

• Note- can only copy from Family search, no real link--

BASTROP COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE, PROBATE MINUTES VOL. D, PAGE 186 Note Succession of ) And now this day came Joseph L. GRAY, executor of Mary DANCER, dec. ) said Mary DANCER and it appearing to the court that said Executor filed at the last term of the court his account current for final settlement of the Estate of his said testatrix & it appearing to the court that due notice of said settlement have been given, after examining said account with all the exceptions thereto and having the evidence offered in support of and against said account and exceptions and having restated said account and that as restated be audited & allowed, and it further appearing to the court that Barker DANCER and others entitled to receive a portion of said estate are present in court and it further appearing to the court that said estate consists of the following property and money to wit: cash in hand of executor $249.58 1 yearling 4.00, 2 steers 24.00, and E. TONEYS note 3.11 $271.58

And it further appearing to the court that Barker DANCER, Margaret PERKINS, wife of John W. PERKINS, Sarah REID, wife of Thomas REID, James H. DANCER, Rebecca DANCER, Mary GRAY, wife of Thomas GRAY, Lydia COTTLE, wife of Z. P. COTTLE, Martha A. CARTER, wife of W.J.S. CARTER, Elizabeth WOODS, wife of Joseph WOODS, and Mary GRAY, wife of Joseph GRAY, all of Bastrop County are the heirs of said deceased and entitled to the distribution of said estate. It is therefore ordered and decreed by the court that said estate be partitioned among said heirs as follows to wit to the said James H. & Rebecca one fourth of the whole amount of said estate to be equally divided between them and to consist of money only and the whole of the residue of said estate be equally shared among all of said heirs including said James H. & Rebecca setting aprt to said Mary I. [J.] GRAY first choice? said steers at 12$ and the note on E. TONY for 4$ and to the said Barker DANCER the other of said steers at 12$ and the said yearling at 4$ and it is further ordered that said executor pay over the amounts and deliver to said heirs respectively fixed and set apart by this decree Reserving an amount sufficient to pay all expenses of administration remaining unpaid and it further appearing to the court that said James H. & Rebecca are miners and that their guardian is interested in the distribution of said estate It is ordered by the court that E.P. PETTY be appointed guardian ad litem for said James H. and that A.I. ROSE be appointed guardian ad litem for said Rebecca to represent them respectively in said partition.Less Modified 24 November 2014 by MMaddux ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ [stephenfaustindrt.org/ashall-dancer/ Daughters of the Republic of Texas (link is now throwing 404 error)]
2. ↑ Wayback Machine reference for above content (sorry the link for the photo doesn't work in the wayback machine) :(
3. ↑ FamilySearch Person: LCYW-JKJ details for Mary (Ward) Dancer.

See also:

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40727751/mary-dancer: accessed 9 May 2023), memorial page for Mary Ward Dancer (1791–1853), Find A Grave: Memorial #40727751; Burial Details Unknown, Bastrop or Fayette Co., TX; Maintained by Sarah Locklin Taylor (contributor 46921363).
• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXLJ-2D6 : 23 December 2020), Mary Dancer, Bastrop, Bastrop, Texas, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• Source: S-2052547468 Repository: #R-2139381723 Title: Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Note: This information comes from 1 or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files. This source citation points you to a current version of those files. Note: The owners of these tree files may have removed or changed information since this source citation was created. Page: Ancestry Family Trees Note: Data: Text: http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=22815142&pid=432
• Repository: R-2139381723 Name: Ancestry.com Address: http://www.Ancestry.com Note:

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Ward-4658 created through the import of Wells Tree.ged on Mar 8, 2012 by Tommy Wells.