The Dana family is a Boston Brahmin family that arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts from England during the later end of the Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640).

Richard Dana, immigrant edit

The patriarch, Richard Dana (c.1620—1690) was said to have been born in France. A Huguenot, he would have fled to England as a result of the Edict of Restitution of 1629, and subsequently emigrated to New England, settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts by 1640.[1][2][3] However there is no evidence that any Dana was among the Huguenots that fled to England, and there was a Richard Dana born in Manchester, England in 1617 who is the right age and disappears from English records before Richard Dana arrives in Cambridge.[4]

In Cambridge, he served numerous posts in the local government, including selectman, constable, tythingman, and grand juror.[5] He married Ann Bullard about 1648.[6] The couple had fourteen children, all born in Cambridge:[7]

  • John (1649–1650)
  • Hannah (1651–1728), baptized as Anne, married Samuel Oldham
  • Samuel (1653–1653)
  • Jacob (1654–1698), married Patience Sabin
  • Joseph (1656–1700), married Mary Gobell. Abiah's twin brother.
  • Abiah (1656–1668), Joseph's twin brother.
  • Benjamin (1660–1738), married Mary Buckminster.
  • Elizabeth (1662–1702), married Daniel Woodward. Unlike her siblings, she moved to Connecticut.
  • Daniel (1663–1749), married Naomi Croswell. Most of the famous Danas of Massachusetts come from Daniel Dana.
  • Deliverance (1667–1741), married Samuel Hyde.
  • Sarah (1669–1669)

Notable Danas descended from Richard Dana edit

Other notable descendants:

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Samuel Atkins Eliot (1913). A History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1913. Cambridge Tribune. p. 189.
  2. ^ Hannah Winthrop Chapter (1907). An Historic Guide to Cambridge. p. 165.
  3. ^ Sprague, W. B. (1866). The Life of Daniel Dana. Boston, MA: J. E. Tilton. pp. 269-273. dana family.
  4. ^ Dana, Elizabeth Ellery (1956). The Dana Family in America. Wright & Potter Printing Company, 32 Derne Street, Boston. pp. 9–37.
  5. ^ Dana, Elizabeth Ellery (1956). The Dana Family in America. Wright & Potter Printing Company, 32 Derne Street, Boston. pp. 44–46.
  6. ^ Clarence Almon Torrey; Elizabeth Petty Bentley (1 January 1985). New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-8063-1102-9.
  7. ^ Dana, Elizabeth Ellery (1956). The Dana Family in America. Wright & Potter Printing Company, 32 Derne Street, Boston. pp. 48–52.