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DANA, Francis, a Delegate from Massachusetts; born in Charlestown, Mass., June 13,
1743; was graduated from Harvard College in 1762; studied law; was admitted to
the bar and commenced practice in Boston in 1767; delegate to the Provincial
Congress in 1774; spent two years in England endeavoring to adjust differences
between Great Britain and the American Colonies; State councilor 1776-1780;
Member of the Continental Congress 1777-1778, and was one of the signers of the
Articles of Confederation July 9, 1778; elected September 28, 1779, secretary
to accompany John Adams, who was appointed a commissioner to negotiate a treaty
of peace with Great Britain and a treaty of commerce with Holland; appointed
December 19, 1780, Minister Resident to Russia, but was never received as such;
again a Member of the Continental Congress in 1784; judge of the supreme court
of Massachusetts 1785-1791; appointed chief justice November 29, 1791, and
served for fifteen years; member of the State convention which adopted the
Federal Constitution in 1788; a founder of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences; died in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Mass., April 25, 1811; interment
in Old Cambridge Cemetery.
BibliographyCresson, William Penn.
Francis Dana. [Baltimore: n.p.], 1930.
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