According to the Dorchester County, Maryland History, the Dorchester County Deanes, Critchetts, Shentons and Summers were all Catholics. They found sanctuary in Maryland. That is the reason why William Henry Deane did not join his kinspeople in New England, who were all Puritans, and who had little toleration for anyone who chose a different path. The Critchetts were in Barbadoes quite early--another Puritan stronghold--so they found their way to Dorchester County. The Deanes, Critchetts, Shentons, Merediths and Summers all appear on a list of Catholic families residing on Hooper's Island in Dorchester County, Maryland.

The Thomas Henry Deane family relocated from Dorchester County to Hampshire County, Virginia about 1770 and remained Catholic until after the death of Thomas Henry Deane's wife, Elizabeth Critchett Shenton in 1775. By then, the Methodist movement was strong in Hampshire County, Catholic churches were few and far between, and the Deanes began intermarrying with the Protestants. Thomas Henry's second wife, Dianna, was not Catholic. While the children of his first marriage were all baptized Catholic, it appears that the children of his second marriage were not. By 1793, Thomas Henry Deane and most of his family relocated to Harrodsburg in Mercer County, Kentucky. After their removal to Kentucky, it appears that some of the family became members of the New Providence Presbyterian Church, which was formed in Mercer County in 1785. New Providence is one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in the area. Graves have been located there for some of Levin Dean's children. Thomas Henry Dean and his wife Dianna may also be buried there along with Levin and Margaret Howell Dean. No tombstones have been found for these people there, which means they either vanished over the years or became too illegible to read.