Dana family


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.

Richard Dana, immigrant

The patriarch, Richard Dana 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. 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.
In Cambridge, he served numerous posts in the local government, including selectman, constable, tythingman, and grand juror. He married Ann Bullard about 1648. The couple had fourteen children, all born in Cambridge:
Other notable descendants: