[phelps.FTW]
[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 1, Ed. 1, Tree #1377, Date of Import: Oct 25, 1998]
5/25/95
Dr. Daniel Ryan
What we know about Dr. Daniel Ryan is from Land and tax records, vital records of several towns, books and the headstone where he is buried in Sharon, NH. The earliest reference to Dr. Daniel Ryan is Nov. 8, 1757 when he married Anna McCoy.
Dr. Daniel Ryan was born in 1728 (estimated from headstone where he is buried in Sharon, NH).
"Daniel Ryan, M. D. came from Ireland as a surgeon on a vessel about 1750 and settled in Tewksbury, MA. His son, Samuel Ryan, M. D., came to Sharon in 1790, and his son Samuel was a farmer, dealing in lumber and owner of the famous "Ryan Steam Mills." (from the Cutler Memorial and Genealogical History, compiled by Nahum S. Cutler, Greenfield, MA, 1889.)
He was married in Tewksbury to Anna McCoy, from Gloucester, on Nov. 8, 1757 (Tewksbury vital records).
He is usually referred to as Dr. Daniel Ryan. Tax, Census, cemetery records, etc. almost always include the Dr. In the 1757 reference he is referred to as Dr. There are several references in the Tewksbury Town records that show he was compensated for treating sick people. (Possibly an early form of welfare?) Middlesex County land records refer to him as a physician. It seems likely that he already was a Dr. when he arrived from Ireland. How much schooling (or where) it took for an M.D. we don't know.
The Tewksbury vital records show that to Daniel and Anna were born James (10/21/1759) and Daniel (bapt. 9/30/1764).
Dr. Daniel Ryan appears on the tax rolls in Tewksbury, MA in 1758, 1759 and 1760. He then is on the tax lists in Marblehead, MA in 1767, 1768, 1769 and both Marblehead and Tewksbury in 1770. (He owned land in both towns at this point.)
On July 3, 1769, Middlesex County tax records show "that I James McCoy of Tewksbury in the County of Middlesex in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England yeoman in consideration of the natural love and affection I do bear towards my Daughter Anna Ryan the wife of Daniel Ryan of Marblehead in the County of Essex in the Province aforesaid Apothecary and in Consideration of forty pounds lawful money of the Province aforesaid to me in hand well and truly paid by the said Daniel Ryan and for other good causes me thereto Moving do hereby give grant bargain sell a liene and convey and confirm to the said Anna Ryan and to her children born of her Body and their kin & asigns forever all that parcel of Land containing about forty acres with my Dwelling House and Barn thereon" followed by a description of the property. There is a lot in that sentence, but at any rate, as of that date Anna and Daniel were still married and very much alive.
On May 24, 1770, less than a year after the above land transaction, Daniel Ryan and Mrs. Rebekah Ebbron (of Lynn, MA) published intententions of marriage in Marblehead. Is this our Daniel? Possibly. If it was our Daniel, the plans fell through because on Nov. 18, 1770 Daniel Ryan and Joanna Brimblecome were married in Marblehead. This is definitely our Daniel. We have not found any death records or cemetery records for Anna McCoy Ryan. Clearly, however, she must have died between July 1769 and November 1770. (But see 1795 land transaction below).
Samuel Ryan, son of Daniel and Joanna, was baptised on Sept. 1, 1771. He is later referred to as Dr. Samuel Ryan.
Dr. Daniel Ryan again appears on the tax lists in Marblehead, MA in 1771, 1773, 1774, and 1775, then in Tewksbury in 1778, 1779, and 1780.
The vital records of Danvers, MA show a "Ryon, w. Dr. died in Danvers in May 1776 with burial in Marblehead". Could this be Joanna? There are no other death or cemetery records for her. Danvers is between Tewksbury and Marblehead. Daniel and Joanna may have been on what might have been many trips between the two.
An entry in the Tewksbury Congregational Church records on Dec. 12, 1773 says, "Mrs Ryans child drowned at Jon Kitteridges". Based on the recorded children of Dr. Daniel, this would have to be Daniel, Jr. since James and Samuel appear later. We haven't found any later references to Daniel, Jr. However, it is possible that Anna or Joanna had another child either in Tewksbury or Marblehead who was not recorded.
Vital records of Billerica, MA show Sarah, daughter of Daniel Ryan born in Sept. 1777. No mother is listed. Land records in Billerica, MA in Feb. and Mar. of 1778 show Daniel in Billerica.
Records of the Tewksbury Congregational Church show that Sarah Mehony (living at Dr. Ryans) joined the church on October 3, 1779. The same records then show Dr. Daniel Ryan & Sarah Mehony were married on Nov 5, 1780.
Tewksbury Town records show a little bit of the life of Dr. Ryan. On April 22, 1777 he was given orders " to receive of Doctor Daniel Ryan cost of warning out Timothy Grasby and family out of town" and "to receive of said Doctor Ryan for the cost of warning Samuel Danforth and family out of town". On 4/14/1780 he was given an order "for the abatement of his sons school which he was rated for in the last two state rates and one town rate before he was sixteen years old". (This could be for Daniel, Jr. who was baptized on Sept. 16, 1764). On 3/23/1783 he was given an order "for the abatement for his rate on a piece of meadow that he was rated for which lay in Billerica". On 4/21/1785 he was given an order "for his daughter keeping school and for his boarding her fifteen weeks in part for the fifth Divisions school money for the years 1783 and 1784". In 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, 1784, 1785 and 1786 he served as "fence viewer" in Tewksbury. On 4/13/1792 he was given "an order to Dr. Daniel Ryan for Doctoring Susanna Hunt, 4/6 and for Doctoring Ann Putnam 5/0, and Mary Hunt 4/6". All of the above from FHL film 892219.
The Tewksbury church records list Daniel and Sarah as the parents of Allice (bap. 4/27/1783), Joseph (bap. 10/28/1781), (Sarah was baptised on this same date. She is listed as a daughter of Dr. Daniel Ryan but no mother is listed. She may be the same Sarah listed as being born in Billerica in Sept. 1777). Roger (bap. 8/28/1785), Thomas (bap. 8/24/1788) and Peggy (bap. 5/1/1791).
There is no mention of Sarah Mehoney Ryan after the birth of the children. As with Daniel's other wives, there are no death or cemetery records.
Among many land transactions of Daniel Ryan is the following very interesting one. Daniel Ryan (Physician), Anna (a "single woman") and James Ryan sold land to Samuel Ryan on 9/7/1795. We "Release, Sell and forever Quitclaim unto the said Samuel Ryan his heirs and assigns all our right and title forever in that Parcel of Land conveyed to us from James McCoy formerly of said Tewksbury containing about forty acres with a Dwelling house and other buildings thereon". This appears to be the same parcel of land transferred to Daniel and Anna Ryan by her father, James McCoy, in 1769. Anna, then, did not die sometime in the 1769-1770 period as speculated above but was divorced by Daniel and is in 1795 a "single woman"? Certainly divorce was very unusual in that era but the divorce record should be interesting if it can be found.
Dr. Daniel Ryan appears in the first U.S. Census (1790) in Tewksbury, MA. The record shows 2 free white males 16 and above, 4 males under 16 years and 5 free white females (any age including head of household).
In the 1800 Census, Daniel Ryan appears in Sharon, NH. The record shows 2 males of 10 and under 16, 1 of 16 and under 26, 4 of 26 and under 45 and 1 of 45 and above. It shows 1 female of 10 and under 16, 1 of 16 and under 26, 1 of 26 and under 45 and 1 of 45 and upward.
Dr. Daniel "Ryon" died on June 5, 1813, in Sharon, NH. He is buried in the Jarmany Hill Cemetery next to son Samuel. None of Daniel's wives are in this cemetery. From the road between New Ipswich and Sharon, the Jarmany Hill Road leads off to the left (west). A half mile or so on Jarmany Hill Road there is a gate with a wide path up the hill. At the top of the hill is the cemetery.
Daniel Ryan 
