"John1 Dane … married, probably by 1608-10, Frances (_____). … Frances, the wife of John1 Dane, had been at one time a servant to Lady Margaret Denny who was maid of honor to Queen Elizabeth and wife to Sir Edward Denny, a gentleman of the queen's privy chamber. Lady Margaret died on April 24, 1648, aged eighty-eight and was buried in the church of Bishop's Stortford. Frances was probably the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Bowyer, for among the 'Benefactions' recorded for the Parish of Bishop's Stortford is the following: 'John Dane, by deed dated 21st of July, 1630, in consideration of the Parish having been at great charge in relieving Margaret his mother-in-law, the wife of Thomas Bowyer, after the death of her husband, &c conveyed a parcel of ground taken out of a great yard belonging to John Dane, with a heremail there, or booth, and half part of a well lying in Hockerill Street, for the benefit of the chief inhabitants of this Parish forever.' This furnishes probability, but no proof of parentage for Frances, for Dane could as suitably have called Margaret 'mother-in-law' if she were step-mother to himself or to Frances."
Emphasis added.
