The only son of David McCance, he was born at Ladybrook, Dunmurry, in 1784.  He married Mary Eliza Stephenson (1786-1859), eldest daughter of the Rev. Samuel Martin Stephenson of Belfast, on 19th Dec 1803 at the 2nd Unitarian Church, Belfast.  They had two children, David (1805) and John (1806).  He died on 19th March 1807 and was buried at Drumbeg, where there is an inscription on the Memorial erected by John McCance (b.1772).