Richard de Dene was the head of the ancient House in London during the reign of Edward III (1327-1377). Among his descendants was the Most Reverand, His Grace, Henry Deane, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord High Chancellor of England during the reign of Henry VIII. It is of record that the Deanes of Somersetshire are a branch of Richard de Dene's line. One of its lines also claims descent (by marriage) from the more ancient Danish line. John and Walter Deane, who settled in Taunton, Massachusetts in 1637, came from the vicinity of Taunton, Somersetshire, England. William Henry Deane, founder of the Maryland Deane (Dean) family, and whose son, William Richard Deane, died in Dorchester County in 1699, was also a descendant of the Deane families of Somersetshire and Dorset, a well known British family of ship builders and mariners.
It has long been asserted that the Massachusetts Deanes and those of
Maryland were kindred in blood and of the same original stock. B. F. Johnson,
Inc., compilers of "Men of Mark in England" and "Makers of America" assert that
certain Deanes of Massachusetts and Maryland were of the same Somersetshire
family. This is confirmed by a statement in "New England Families" published
by the American Historical Society. William Armstrong Crozier, Fellow of the
Royal Society, England, states that John and Walter Deane of Massachusetts came
from Somersetshire, England, and gives the Coat-of-Arms, Crest, and Motto
properly appertaining to them, which proves this branch to be in direct descent
from Richard de Dene of London. It follows that the Arms borne by them,
recorded by Crozier and verified by independent English records, are those which
properly appertain also to the Deane Family of Dorchester County, Maryland.
Note: after much research, and according to other sources and consultation not available at the time this article was written (1938), I have found that both of the above Crests displayed are proper as accorded to the Deane/Dean family bloodline. While the one on the left is the earlier Crest from the time of the Crusades, the right Crest is the more modern and more widely accepted Crest for modern-day Deans. Personally, I use BOTH Crests as both are appropriate, and appertain to my bloodline which descends through William Gilbert Deane, a descendant of Richard de Dene, and father of William Henry Deane, both listed above. My preference over all, however, is the more modern crest, as it is more colorful and it displays the family motto.