1718 saw the birth in Bideford of Abraham Donn, the first of two brothers, the other being Benjamin Donne (b. 1729). Both would prove to be eminent mathematicians, though Abraham died quite young. Benjamin, who survived him, reverted the family name to its original form of Donne, but only after publishing a celebrated map of Devon (in 1765), of which more will be said later. Donne lends his surname (in its earlier version) to an East-the-Water road.