Contributed by Maine State Archives
Description
John Winchester Dana, a native of Fryeburg, chose to pursue a business career instead of becoming a lawyer as his father was.
He served in the Maine House from 1841 to 1842 and as a State Senator from 1843 to 1844, when he was elected president of the Senate. He was acting Governor for one day on January 3, 1844.
In 1846 he ran for Governor in his own right against Whig Daniel Bronson and Liberty Party candidate Samuel Fessenden. None received a majority, so the Legislature, dominated by Democrats, chose Democrat Dana.
He was reelected in 1848 and 1849. A conservative, anti-slavery Democrat, he left office in 1850 to return to private life but was appointed United States charge d’ affaires to Bolivia by President Franklin Pierce in 1853.
On March 10, 1859, Dana resigned and returned to Maine. In 1861 he ran against Governor Israel Washburn, one of the founders of the Republican Party, and was badly defeated.
Disappointed by his defeat, depressed by his wife’'s ill health and the war, he sold his property in Fryeburg and moved to South America to raise sheep. He died of cholera in Rosario, Argentina.
About This Item
- Title: John W. Dana, Fryeburg, 1844
- Creation Date: 1844
- Subject Date: 1844
- Location: Fryeburg, Oxford County, ME
- Media: Carte de visite
- Dimensions: 7.6 cm x 5 cm
- Object Type: Image
Cross Reference Searches
Standardized Subject Headings
- Legislators--Maine
- Dana, John Winchester, 1808-1867--Portrait photographs
- Governors--Maine
- Maine. Legislature. Senate
People
For more information about this item, contact:
Maine State Archives84 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0084
(207) 287-5790
Website
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