Biography of
Ananias Dare
Ananias Dare was one of twelve "Assistants" in the government of the Cities of Raleigh in Virginia and a member of the "Lost Colony" of 1587 that arrived at Roanoke Island in July. He was described in 1586 as a tiler and bricklayer but the next year, in a document drawn up by Sir Walter Raleigh, he was referred to as a gentleman "late of London." His wife was Eleanor White (b. 1569), daughter of Governor John White of the 1587 colony, and Dare's name appears third in the list of colonists. Nothing further is recorded of the members of the colony after White sailed for England on August 27. Dare was survived in England by a son, John Dare, to whom his property was awarded by court action in 1597. Robert Satchfield in 1594 was named as Ananias Dare's next of kin while John Nokes in 1597 appears as a blood kinsman. The Dare family likely resided in the Parish of St. Bride's, Fleet Street, London, although the name also appears in records of other London parishes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as well as in Devon
Eleanor White's name appears first in the list of women of the "Lost Colony". Her daughter, Virginia, was born Aug. 18, 1587 on Roanoke Island, less than a month after the colony landed. She was christened on August 24 by the name given by Queen Elizabeth to the new country. A terra cotta memorial to her was installed in St. Bride's Parish, Fleet Street, London, after that church was restored following World War II. [see a list of participants in the Roanoke Voyages]
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© 2010
Kay Midgett Sheppard & Marla Beasley