Judah Dana

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Judah Dana (April 25, 1772–December 27, 1845) was a Maine statesman and U.S. Senator.

His birthplace is listed variously as Pamphlet, Connecticut; Pomfret, Connecticut; or Pomfret, Vermont; and his mother was eldest daughter of American Revolutionary War Gen. Israel Putnam.

He attended the common schools and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1795. He then studied law, and began to practice in 1798 in Fryeburg, Maine, which was then a part of Massachusetts. He was the district attorney for Oxford County, Maine from 1805 to 1811, judge of probate in that county from 1811 to 1822, and a judge of the court of common pleas from 1811 till 1823. He was also a judge of the circuit court, a delegate to the convention that framed the state constitution of Maine in 1819, and in 1833 was elected a member of the state executive council, serving in 1834.

He was an adherent of the Jacksonian Democratic Party, and, on the resignation of Ether Shepley, was appointed U.S. Senator, serving from 21 December 1836 until 3 March 1837, when a successor was elected and qualified. He died in Fryeburg and is buried in the Village Cemetery there.

His son John Winchester Dana was later a Governor of Maine.

[edit] Sources

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography.
• This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.