Washington County
Ohio Genealogy Trails
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Washington County
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Captain William Dana
Captain Dana was of French Huguenot descent and was born at Brighton, Mass. in 1745.
He removed his family to the vicinity of Worcester, Mass. just before the battle of Lexington.
He was chosen Captain of an Artillery Company and was stationed a mile or two out of Charleston at the time of the battle of Bunker Hill. An express from General Putnam, near its close, arrived with orders to hasten on to the hill to reinforce the flagging provincials. He started at full speed but met his countrymen on Charleston neck on their retreat.
He remained in the service two or three years attached to the department of General Knox head of the Artillery Corp.
In the Summer of 1788 he and two sons came to Marietta where he cleaerd a small section of land and built a brick kiln and burned the first brick made in Ohio. In 1789 he removed with his family, to Belpre and drew a lot of land just above the head of Blennerhassett Island and spent the winter in a small cabin but built a comfortable home in 1790.
He lived in Farmers Castle during the Indian war. A few years after its close his land was cleared, a convenient frame house built, orchards of fruit trees in bearing, and smiling plenty crowned his table, around which assembled eight sons and three daughters. In person Captain Dana was tall and in his manhood sustained the position and bearing of a Soldier. In disposition he was cheerful and social and never happier than when surrounded by his old associates at the festive board.
He died in 1809.
Source: A History of Belpre, Washington County, Ohio, by C. E. Dickinson, 1920, Transcribed by C. Anthony
