Samuel W. Dana

Samuel Whittlesey Dana
1806 engraving by Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin.
United States Senator from Connecticut
In office December 4, 1810 – March 4, 1821
Preceded by	James Hillhouse
Succeeded by	Elijah Boardman
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's At-Large district
In office January 3, 1797 – May 10, 1810
Preceded by	Uriah Tracy
Succeeded by	Ebenezer Huntington
Personal details
Born	(1760-02-13)February 13, 1760 Wallingford, Connecticut
Died	July 21, 1830(1830-07-21) (aged 70) Middletown, Connecticut
Political party	Federalist

Samuel Whittlesey Dana (February 13, 1760 – July 21, 1830) was an American lawyer and politician from Middletown, Connecticut. He represented Connecticut in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

Biography

Born in Wallingford, Connecticut, Dana graduated from Yale College in 1775. He studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1778, and practiced in Middletown, Connecticut.^[1]

Family

His father was the clergyman James Dana (1735-1812), who was a nephew of Richard Dana (1699-1772), a lawyer, who was in turn a descendant through Caleb, second son of Daniel, who was the youngest son of Richard Dana, who came from England, settled in Cambridge in 1640, and died there about 1695. According to the family tradition, this last Richard was the son of a French Huguenot that settled in England in 1629.

Career

Dana was a member of the Connecticut General Assembly from 1789 to 1796. Afterward he was elected to the United States House of Representatives to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Uriah Tracy, and served from January 3, 1797 to May 10, 1810.^[2] There he was chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Elections, and was one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1798 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against William Blount, a Senator from Tennessee.

Dana was elected as a Federalist in 1810 to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James Hillhouse. He was reelected in 1814 and served from December 4, 1810, to March 3, 1821.^[3] He was one of the 13 Senators who voted against war with Britain on June 17, 1812, but 19 Senators voted for war. In 1814, Dana was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society.^[4]

Dana was mayor of Middletown from 1822 until his death in 1830. He was also the presiding judge of the Middlesex County Court from 1825 until his death.^[5]

Death

Dana died in Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut, July 21, 1830 (age 70 years, 158 days). He is interred at Washington Street Cemetery, Middletown.^[6]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Samuel W. Dana.

• Samuel W. Dana at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• American National Biography
• Dictionary of American Biography
• Dana, Samuel Whittlesey [presumed author]. A Specimen of Republican Institutions. Philadelphia: James Humphreys, 1802.
•  "Dana, James". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. 
•  "Dana, Richard". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. 
•  "Dana, Joseph". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. 
• Find A Grave
• Govtrack US Congress

United States Senators from Connecticut Class 1 Ellsworth Hillhouse Dana Boardman Edwards Foot N. Smith Niles Betts Huntington R.S. Baldwin Toucey Dixon Buckingham Eaton Hawley Bulkeley McLean Walcott Maloney Hart R.E. Baldwin Benton Purtell T. Dodd Weicker Lieberman Murphy Class 3 Johnson Sherman Mitchell Trumbull Tracy Goodrich Daggett Lanman Willey Tomlinson P. Smith Niles T. Smith Gillette Foster Ferry English Barnum Platt Brandegee Bingham Lonergan Danaher McMahon Purtell Bush Ribicoff C. Dodd Blumenthal