(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
Richard Dana was an American lawyer. He was retained as counsel on behalf of the city in much of its litigation, and acquired great influence in public affairs, though he steadfastly declined all offers of political or municipal office.
Background
Richard Dana was born on June 26, 1700 at Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. He was of the third generation of Danas in America. The European origins of the family are involved in uncertainty but in 1640 Richard Dana was a well-to-do resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts. His son, Daniel Dana, who also lived at Cambridge and was tithing-man and selectman, married Naomi Croswell of Charlestown, Massachusetts.
Education
No details of Dana's boyhood or early education have survived, but he entered Harvard College and graduated there in 1718.
Career
Dana taught school for a time but subsequently studied law at Marblehead and was admitted to the Suffolk County bar. He then commenced practise at Marblehead, but moved to Charlestown, and shortly afterward settled in Boston, with which city he thereafter became permanently associated.
Though little or no information is available as to his professional work, contemporary sources testify to his early attainment of a prominent position at the Boston bar, of which in his later years he was described as the leader.
In the early stages of the growing controversy between the province of Massachusetts and Great Britain he unhesitatingly identified himself with the Colonial cause, and was a prominent figure in all the popular movements in opposition to the various steps taken by the administration to enforce the authority of the home government.
An original member of the Sons of Liberty, he instigated the measures which were taken in 1765 to defeat the enforcement of the Stamp Act, and it was before him as a magistrate that Andrew Oliver, the commissioner, was dragged December 17, 1765 and compelled to swear that he would take no further steps to carry out the provisions of the Act.
He was a member of the committee which investigated the circumstances of the Boston Massacre in 1770, and almost the last occasion upon which he appeared in public was the meeting in Faneuil Hall, March 5, 1772 in commemoration of that event, at which he officiated as moderator.
His death in Boston some two months later, was at the time regarded as a severe if not irreparable loss to the Colonial cause.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
Personality
Of unimpeachable integrity, unswerving principles and a fanatic in his devotion to duty as he saw it, his was a strong and impressive but unattractive personality.
Austere to the point of parsimony, “he was exemplary in Carefulness, Diligence, and Frugality, whereby he has left to his Widow and to his Children . .. a handsome Fortune. A very steady and strenuous, and it must be confessed, many Times a passionate Opposer of all those who, in his Judgment were Enemies to the Civil and Religious Rights of his Country; and he very well understood what those Rights were”.
Connections
On May 31, 1737, Dana married Lydia, daughter of Thomas Trowbridge and sister of Judge Edmund Trowbridge; Francis Dana was their son.