Caledonia

DANA, Israel Putnam

Vermont Historical Magazine, No XI, October 1867, pp 317-318 (excerpt from a 
section on the history of Danville)

Hon. Israel Putnam DANA was born 13 April 1774 in Pomfret [Windsor County, 
Vermont], and from thence came with his family to Danville [Caledonia County, 
Vermont] in 1805. He was the fifth of a family of nineteen children of John 
Winchester DANA, one of the first proprietors and settlers of that town 
[Pomfret], who came from Pomfret [Windham County], Connecticut. His [Israel 
Putnam DANA's] mother was Hannah, eldest daughter of Gen. Israel PUTNAM, of 
Revolutionary fame. She inherited and transmitted much of her father's 
spirit to her large family.

It will illustrate the hardships which were encountered in the early 
settlement of Vermont, if we here put on record the narrative of an authentic 
tradition, that at the birth of Israel Putnam [Israel Putnam DANA] his father 
had to draw the midwife six miles over the hills and through deep snows, on a 
hand sled. So exhausting was the labor, that stopping to rest for a moment 
at the sugar camp of his neighbor, Abidah SMITH, he sank down insensible, and 
Mr. SMITH went on with the doctress; thus rendering an important service to 
his future son-in-law, the child then born [Israel PUTNAM DANA], who 
twenty-four years after became the husband of Sarah SMITH. During his 
residence in Pomfret, Mr. [Israel Putnam] DANA was engaged chiefly in trade.

The native elements of character which marked him so decisively for a leader 
in whatever sphere he moved, had secured for him the rank of Colonel in the 
Vermont militia, which at that period merited and commanded respect. On his 
removal to Danville, he kept for three or four years the tavern on the old 
stand, near the present location of the Bank. He soon also resumed his 
mercantile pursuits, in which he continued during his active life. As a 
merchant he was enterprising and successful, and his store was for many years 
an important and well-known center for a wide region.

He [Israel Putnam DANA] was elected high sheriff for Caledonia County 1808, 
and held the office five years. In 1809 he took the first company of 
prisoners to the new state prison at Windsor, and the old-fashioned whipping 
post was employed in dispensing justice to offenders no longer. In the War 
of 1812 he was an earnest supporter of the national administration, and 
active in measures for the prosecution of the war. At one time he made two 
journeys to Boston and back, a distance of more than 160 miles, on horseback, 
in twelve days, using the same horse through the entire trip. He was much 
employed in raising volunteers for the service and in furnishing the 
commissariat for considerable numbers of the soldiers quartered from time to 
time in Danville. In 1814 he raised a company, and was on his way with them 
to Burlington [Chittenden County] as commander, when he was met at Montpelier 
[Washington County] by intelligence of the decisive battle at Plattsburg [New 
York].

After the war he was appointed collector, for the large district of Northern 
Vermont, of the direct tax levied by the United States government, to defray 
the expenses of the war, and in the discharge of this office found much 
arduous employment. In later years he was for a considerable period member 
of the Governor's Council, before that organization gave place to our present 
Senate, and in this position he exerted a wide and important influence on the 
legislation of the State. He was prominent in the formation, and for several 
years the first president of, the Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Company. The 
Bank of Caledonia was also largely indebted to his agency in securing its 
charter and organization.

Colonel [Israel Putnam] DANA was a man decided in his opinions, firm in his 
convictions, yet always charitable to such as differed from him, and generous 
to an opponent. He possessed that enterprise, public spirit, courage, and 
discretion, which united in any person, make their mark on a community, and 
exert a signal influence, especially in the development of a new settlement. 
It was the habit of his mind to look below the surface, to trace the 
underlying currents of larger, wider influences, to plant himself upon and 
never take his departure from sound principles. He had an eye keen to 
discern the right thing to be done in critical or perplexing circumstances, 
and as he often said, made it a rule to act from first impressions, and that 
instant. Though never inclined to protrude himself, but rather marked by a 
true modesty of disposition, he was however always ready to act, wherever he 
could do so wisely. Indolence or timidity didn't tempt him to wait on the 
leadership of some more efficient mind. The town and the county owe much for 
the development of their institutions and resources to his agency and 
inspiration, and his name must fill a conspicuous place in any just estimate 
of their early history.

His mind was essentially reverent. He always held firmly, as he was early 
taught, the truths of the Christian religion, and he found them practically 
powerful and precious in his own experience. For thirty years he was an 
efficient and consistent member of the Congregational church in Danville, 
carrying his native zeal, courage, and prudence in counsel into his religious 
activity. His love for the cause, at home and abroad, was strong and ardent, 
and his house a home for ministers of the gospel and the early missionaries 
who labored in this part of the State. To the American Board, of which he 
was an early and fast friend, he contributed for the support of its foreign 
missionary enterprise.

His [Israel Putnam DANA's] eldest daughter, Frances, became the wife of Rev. 
Austin HAZEN, whose pastoral life of more than forty years was spent in 
Hartford [Windsor County, Vermont] and Berlin [Washington County, Vermont]. 
Her surviving children, Allen and Sophia, became missionaries of the Board, 
the former in India, the latter in Persia [Iran], as the wife of Rev. David 
S. STODDARD. Col. [Israel Putnam] DANA died 22 June 1848, at the age of 
seventy-four. The wife of his youth [Mrs. Sarah (SMITH) DANA] survived him 
five years. It may be of sufficient interest to add that the Rev. Judah 
DANA, of Fryeburg [Fryeburgh, Oxford County], Maine, for some years U. S. 
Senator, and enjoying the confidence of Gen. JACKSON, was an older brother 
[of Israel Putnam DANA].

Submitted by Cathy Kubly