Ann Willard Dana

Ann Theodora Dana (Willard)

Find A Grave Memorial ID # 174291356

Dana, Samuel Luther, chemist, was born in Amherst, New Hampshire, July 11, 1795; son of Captain Luther and Lucy (Giddings) Dana, and brother of James Freeman Dana. He removed to Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1804 and acquired his preparatory education at Phillips Exeter Academy. He was graduated at Harvard in 1813, and then joined the U.S. army as lieutenant, serving until the close of the war of 1812.

He graduated with an M.D. from Harvard in 1818 and practiced his profession first in Gloucester and later in Waltham, Mass., until 1826, when he founded a laboratory for the manufacture of sulphuric acid and bleaching salt to be used in cotton factories. The Waltham laboratory was later united with the Newton chemical company, and Dr. Dana was chosen chemist.

He resigned in 1833 to pursue his studies in Europe, and after his return in 1834 he accepted the position of resident and consulting chemist to the Merrimack manufacturing company, Lowell, Massachusetts.

He invented the "American System" of bleaching cotton, and various improvements in the bleaching, dyeing and printing of cotton goods. He also attained eminence as a scientific agriculturist and contributed numerous articles to periodicals on the subject.

He was married in 1819 to ANN THEODORA, daughter of the Rev. Joseph Willard, D.D., president of Harvard, 1781-1804. She died in 1828 and he was subsequently married to her sister, Augusta Willard. Amherst College conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. in 1847.

Among his published works are: Outlines of Mineralogy and Geology of Boston and Its Vicinity (with J. F. Dana,1816); Chemical Changes Occurring in the Manufacture of Sulphuric Acid (1833); Muck Manual for Farmers (1842, 4th ed., 1855); Essay on Manures (1843, new ed., 1856); Lead Pipe, Its Danger (1848); and Lead Diseases (translated, with notes, 1848). He died in Lowell, Mass., March 11, 1868.