Son of Jane Thompson and Jonathan Doan(6), Elijah(5), Israel(4), Daniel(3), Daniel(2), Deacon John Doane(1). Married 22 Sep 1836 to Fanny Minard. Hanged for his part in the 1837-8 William Lyon McKenzie Rebellion. Many of those involved were pardoned; others were banished to Australia and returned to Canada later. One son, Byron/Brian Joshua Doan. Note: Spelling of middle name has been noted as Gillam, Gillem, Gwillem, Gwillen, etc. Some information in the articles below is contradictory.

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Joshua Doan(e) was hanged in London, Ontario for a feeble armed invasion from Detroit.

The Battle of Windsor was pretty much the last gasp of Canada's Rebellions of 1837 — touching Lower Canada (Quebec) as well as Upper (Ontario).

The effort saw stateside refugees of the Upper Canada Rebellion, also known as the Patriot War, organize an attempt to overthrow British-Canadian authority between Windsor and Niagara. But a brief incursion (a few houses were captured) failed to trigger a general response in a populace that was all risings'ed out, while United States authorities stayed well clear of these troublemakers. Officials had little difficulty mopping them up.

Six different people (named here) were executed at intervals in London, Ontario, beginning on January 7, 1839 — and ending on this date.

Joshua Doane was a Quaker — a sect ordinarily leery of armed conflict and liable to be considered disloyal as a result — who abandoned the whole pacifism thing in favor of the Patriot cause. He'd had to beat it over the border when the last round of Upper Canada disturbances had been put down the previous winter: he wouldn't get another chance after the 1838 invasion fizzled.

Doane's touching last letter to his soon-to-be-widow survives:

London, January 27th, 1839

Dear Wife,

I am at this moment confined in the cell from which I am to go to the scaffold. I received my sentence today, and am to be executed on February 6th. I am permitted to see you tomorrow, any time after 10 o'clock in the morning, as may suit you best. I wish you to think of such questions as you wish to ask me, as I do not know how long you will be permitted to stay. Think as little of my unhappy fate as you can; as from the love you bear me, I know too well how it must affect you. I wish you to inform my father and brother of my sentence as soon as possible. I must say good-bye for the night, and may God protect you and my dear child, and give you fortitude to meet that coming event with the Christian grace and fortitude which is the gift of Him, our Lord, who created us. That this may be the case, is the prayer of your affectionate husband,

JOSHUA G. DOANE.

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The Western Telegraph, 07 Mar 1839

CANADA.

Trial of the Sandwich Prisoners.--Hiram B. Lynn of Ann Arbor, was lately executed at London U.C. He had been wounded in the left arm, and in consequence of Mortification from his wound he was very weak. On the 17th he was placed upon the gallows erected from a window of the jail and swung off. After remaining suspended for a time, he was cut down and placed in a coffin and buried. On the 29th of December, Davis Beford a captain, was put on trial. He lived in the London district, was engaged in the attack last winter under Doctor Duncombe but was pardoned. On the first of January Samuel Snow, Albert Clark, Elizur Stevens, Truman Woodbury and Whitney, were put on trial.--They declared that they went aboard the Champlain from curiosity and were taken over to Canada against their will. They were convicted and sentenced to be hung. On the 4th John C. Williams, Joseph Grayson, John B. Tyril and John O. Maybe were tried and convicted. On the 16th, R. P. Goodrich, Junis Purley, Cornelius Cunningham, James A. Atkinson, Joshua G. Doan, John Spragg, Joshua Horton, Ezra Horton, Oliver Crandal, Riley M. Stewart, Cornelius Higgins, Daniel Kennedy and Robert Marsh were put on trial. Goodrich and Purley acted as Majors. Purley said in defence. "Gentlemen, if I am executed, let it be remembered that I die a martyr in the cause of liberty." They were all convicted.
--Com. Intelligencer.

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From The Doane Family Vol. I:

Joshua Gwillen Doane was born 1811, 11, 7, and was hanged at London, Ontario, Can., Feb. 6, 1837. He married Fanny Minard. She married second his brother Joel Doane. Mr. Doane was one of the leaders from Yarmouth, Ontario, in the McKenzie Rebellion. With his brother, Joel, he fled into the state of New York, where he raised a band of desperate characters and invaded Canada. He was defeated, captured, tried for treason and executed. I quote the following from Frank Hunt's letter in the Toronto Globe of Sept. 6, 1890.

The Friends of South Yarmouth had bitter experiences during the regime of the Family Compact, and some of the first settlers departed so far from the faith of their fathers to declare their intention to fight if need be for responsible government, and a son of Jonathan Doan sacrificed his life for liberal principles. And no wonder. The petty officials who did the dirty work for the Family Compact took special delight in annoying the inoffensive Quakers who they supposed would quietly submit, but they found they were mistaken. The Friends were warned out to drill contrary to all precendent and the laws of the realm, and when they would not respond their houses were pillaged by the petty officials who levied tribute, and proceeded to help themselves to the most useful property at hand. . . . . From Mr. Haight, I learned where rested the remains of Joshua G. Doan, the young patriot, and his friend the American Perley who were executed in London in 1837 for espousing the cause of Wm. Lyon McKenzie and the people of Canada. Doan's wife and child were permitted to see him for a few minutes before his execution, and when the time was up, they had to be torn away from him, and dragged out of the cell. It was a most heartrending scene. He died like a brave man and with his dying breath he prayed that the power of the Family Compact might be broken, and good government given to the people. His prayer was answered, and his remains hardly had returned to Mother Earth before the Family Compact was a only thing of the past. Israel Doan went to London twice after the execution and requested that he be given the remains of his brother and Perley, to be buried in the Friends burying-ground at Sparta, but his request was not granted. The third time he was more successful, and brought their bodies to the meeting-house where a large concourse of people were assembled. They were frantic with grief, and Doan's brothers walked up and down in front of the meeting-house refusing to be comforted. We visited the Friends cemetery near by, and, as I viewed the neglected graves, covered with long grass, their locality known to but few, I wondered how long it would be before the people of Canada, who enjoy the blessing of responsible government, would do their duty to the memories of the men who dared oppose the tyranny of the Family Compact, and were brave enough to give up their lives for the sake of liberal principles . . . . Yes, I knew Josh Doan, said Mr. Haight, and he was a splendid sample of a man. He was fearless to a fault, and being possessed of a large sinewy frame, few men in the township cared to dispute his prowess. He was openhearted and always willing to do anyone a good turn. Josh Doan was a manly fellow, and there was great sorrow at his death.

Several young men from Yarmouth were apprehended and taken to London, but all were liberated except Doan, and many more escaped to the States. They have passed to their rewards, and even those who were bitter opponents during those troublous times, admitted before the grave closed over them, that the cause they contended for was a righteous one, and that these colonies received responsible government more quickly through what was considered the rash acts of the patriots, than they would have if everyone had quietly submitted to the state of affairs that existed, and calmly waited for tyrannical officials to give up their power and become more liberal in their views.

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The Dunkirk Evening News, 01 Apr 1939

LONDON, ONTARIO, LOSES OLD LANDMARK

London, Ont., Apr. 1--UP--London was without one of its greatest landmarks today and upper Canada lost one of its most historic symbols when workmen chopped down an old elm tree at the corner of Clarence and Dufferin street to make way for a new building.

The tree was that from which six leaders of the rebellion of 1837 were hanged Feb. 6, 1839, lashed back to back in pairs.

The rebels, Joshua Doan, Hiram Lynn, Daniel Bedford, Albert Clark, Cornelius Cunningham and Amos Perley were members and leaders of the Sparta volunteers, most active rebel unit.

At their trial 16 other rebels were court-marshaled and transported to a penal colony.

In 1837 London was a British army headquarters and the Sparta rebels were captured by British troops who hanged the six in pairs from the huge old tree as drums rolled and crowds watched silently.

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Upper and Lower Canada Marriage Bonds

Name of Future Husband: DOWN, Joshua G.
Residence: Yarmouth Township, Middlesex County
Name of Future Wife: MINARD, Fanny
Residence: Yarmouth township, Middlesex county
Reference: RG 5 B9
Volume: 31
Bond Number: 5161
Date: 1836-09-22
Microfilm reel number: C-6785