Chapter 1: earlier years
- Ancestry and family history -- clerk in store at Buffalo -- Learns Seneca language -- Coffee Club -- Prepares for college -- Enters Harvard
The subject of this memoir, Charles Anderson Dana, was the eldest child of Anderson Dana and his first wife, Ann Denison. He was seventh in the male line, from Richard Dana, the colonial settler, through Jacob, Jacob second, Anderson first, Daniel, and Anderson second. In the female line, he was descended from Ann Bullard, Patience---, Abigail Adams, Susanna Huntington, Dolly Kibbe, and Ann Denison, whose mother, it should be noted, was Anne Paine, a daughter of one of the best-known and most widely disseminated families of New England. It will be observed that although the surname of one of these maternal ancestors is unknown, there is every reason to believe that, like the rest, her family were colonists of straight English blood. The same statement is doubtless true in reference to all the collateral connections, hence it may be confidently asserted that, with the exception of the attenuated stream from the Italian forebears of the first settler, the Dana family [2] is of absolutely pure New England blood. A study of its genealogy shows that practically every ramification of it has its American root in the earliest immigration of the colonists, a fact that well accounts for Dana's character as one of the most intense Americans, one of the most stalwart believers in the American people, and one of the most devoted partisans of American institutions that the country has produced. While the family records show but little of unusual distinction, they are filled with the names of serious men and women of all occupations and callings. In common with their neighbors, some were farmers, some mechanics, some merchants, some soldiers, and some sailors, with here and there an author, professor, lawyer, doctor, general, judge, legislator, and even a governor. While they were mostly plain and unpretentious people, they seem to have been always abreast of the times in native intelligence, industry, scholarship, courage, and public spirit. Susanna Huntington, the great-grandmother, and Ann Denison, the mother of Charles, were women of unusual character and worth, to whom the family immediately connected with the subject of this memoir freely confess their obligation for much of whatever superiority of character or intellect its most favored members may be thought to possess. Charles Anderson Dana was born August 8, 1819, at Hinsdale, a small town in western New Hampshire. His father was at that time a merchant in a modest way, but failed in business when his eldest son was only a few years old. This misfortune was followed shortly by the removal of the family to the village of Gaines in western New York. Here the father had charge of a warehouse on the banks of the Erie Canal for a while, but soon gave it up to cultivate a small farm which he had bought near by. But misfortune still followed the family. Nearly the whole fell sick of the ague, at that time the scourge of every new [3] #earlier years settlement in the country. The mother died, leaving four young children, Charles Anderson nine, Junius seven, Maria three years of age, and David a babe in arms. This loss made it necessary for the family to return to the home of Ann Denison's father near Guildhall in northeastern Vermont. Here the children were divided. Charles went to his uncle David Denison, who lived on a farm in the Connecticut River valley, while his brother and sister remained with their grandfather near by. The life was a healthful one, and Charles, being from the first an unusually bright boy, was sent to the neighborhood school which, as was then customary, was kept open during the winter months only. Fortunately the teacher was an undergraduate of a New England college, who was not only competent but took an interest in his work. Charles naturally made rapid progress, and by the time he was ten years of age had become so proficient in most of his English studies that he was classed with boys as much as six and eight years his senior. Early after becoming a member of his uncle's family, he came into possession of a Latin grammar, and at once began the study of Latin. Whether this merely stimulated his natural aptitude, or developed an inherited but latent instinct for language, must necessarily remain a matter of speculation; but it is certain that from that time forward this New England lad, with but a slight strain of Continental blood in his veins, showed an extraordinary capacity for the acquisition of foreign tongues and the study of both ancient and modern literature. By the time he had fairly entered his twelfth year, it was supposed that he had acquired sufficient education, especially in reading, writing, and arithmetic, to earn his own living, and accordingly, with the consent of his uncle and grandfather, he was sent to Buffalo, where he arrived greatly exhausted from the long and tiresome journey by [4] stage-coach. After several weeks' rest he became a clerk in the general store of Staats & Dana. He had already been taken into the family of his uncle William, who was junior partner of the firm, but later took board at the Eagle Tavern, which at the time was the best in Buffalo. This was a most important move in the life of the young adventurer. It placed him in a wider and more progressive field than was offered by the wilds of northeastern Vermont. Buffalo, situated at the eastern end of Lake Erie, near the outlet of the Erie Canal, was already becoming a commercial centre of great importance. It contained a population of about twenty-five thousand souls, and counted a number of distinguished lawyers and doctors as well as prosperous merchants among the principal citizens. It was even at that early day noted for the education, refinement, and public spirit of its leading people. William Dana was himself a man of intelligence and note, who was interested in one of the principal stores of the city, with a branch at a neighboring town, both establishments having an extensive trade in dry goods and notions with the surrounding country, and especially with the civilized Indians of the Six Nations. Naturally enough, as these were the first Indians Charles had ever seen, the young clerk became greatly interested in them and their primitive ways, and as the women spoke but little English, he set about learning their language. In a short time he had practically mastered it, and his retentive memory never forgot it. Many years afterwards, during the siege of Vicksburg, he gave a striking illustration of the thoroughness with which he had learned this strange tongue and the tenacity with which he had retained it. Coming into camp one night after a hard day's ride, we found a strange officer at the camp-fire, Captain Ely S. Parker, a full-blooded and well-educated Seneca Indian, who had been recently detailed at headquarters [5] to assist Colonel Rawlins and Captain Bowers in the growing work of the adjutant-general's department. Dana was duly introduced, but before taking off his side arms and making himself comfortable, he said to me, aside: “I think I know that man's people, and if he is a Seneca, as I think he is, I can speak his language. What do you think he would do if I were to address him in his own tongue?” As the gentleman was also a stranger to me, I could hardly venture an opinion, but as my own curiosity was aroused, I said at once, “Try it on and let us see.” Thereupon Dana, without a perceptible pause for reflection, addressed the captain in a well-sustained phrase filled with clicks and guttural sounds. Parker, although a man of grave and dignified bearing, looked puzzled and surprised at first, but as soon as Dana paused his interlocutor replied in words of the same kind. A brief but animated conversation followed, and before it was ended a smile of gratification broke over Parker's face, and an acquaintance was begun which lasted till his death. Dana afterwards told me that he had learned the language as a boy, but had neither spoken nor thought about it seriously since he left Buffalo, over twenty years before. He and Parker met frequently during the various campaigns in which they took part, and were in the habit of conversing in the Seneca dialect, especially when they did not care to be understood by others. This incident attracted the special notice of the other officers present, and particularly of General Grant, upon whom it apparently made a deep and lasting impression. The general, it will be noted, was not much of a linguist himself, but he often mentioned this talk at his camp-fire as illustrating Dana's unusual talents in that direction. But Dana's study of languages did not end with his mastery of the Seneca dialect. It will be recalled that he had begun the study of Latin at his uncle's in Vermont, [6] and now that his new life as a clerk not only gave him more leisure of evenings, but brought him in contact with a larger circle of educated people, he renewed the study of that language with avidity and industry. His progress was phenomenal. He not only mastered the grammar, but soon became proficient in reading the Latin classics, which in those days were supposed to be the only sure foundation for a liberal education. Just how or when the young clerk began with the Greek grammar and literature is not recorded, but that he did begin probably while at work in Buffalo, and that he made the same rapid progress as with Latin, becomes certain when his later attainments are considered. He was from the start a good clerk, and mastered the details of the business. Indeed, there is reason to believe that he always looked back upon his experience in his uncle's store as having made a business man of him, although it is certain that he early acquired a distaste for store-keeping if not for commerce, and secretly determined to become a scholar and devote himself to a professional life. He received a salary for his services, and while it was but small, as was customary in those days, the cost of living was correspondingly low, and hence he was able to lay by something for future use. One who was a fellow-clerk for several years describes him as “a quiet, studious boy who loved nature and books, and although a good salesman, rather prone to spend too much time in the adjoining book-store looking over volumes he could not buy.” He loved to make long excursions into the woods, and fishing was a perfect delight to him. It is said that when he first saw Niagara Falls, he was so impressed by them that he composed an ode on their grandeur which had considerable merit, but as it has long been lost this statement must be taken on faith. As the lad grew in strength and intelligence, his taste [7] for literature and his determination to acquire a thorough education became the ruling purpose of his life. Although he dressed well and was agreeable in manners, he rather shunned than sought social gatherings. He thought they took too much time, and that he had better spend his evenings at home reading poetry, romance, and history. During this period he became greatly interested in the American Revolution and in the early presidents. He specially admired General Jackson, and sounded the praises of the great Tennesseean upon all proper occasions. From the first he was unusually independent in the selection of his books. Among the rest, he read and openly expressed his admiration for the works of Tom Paine, possibly because he may have been a distant kinsman, but certainly because he was a patriot who addressed his countrymen, in Common Sense and The Crisis, in virile and masterly English. Until he was seventeen, Dana confined his general reading to the masters of English literature, and this fact doubtless accounts for the purity and vigor of the style which from that time forth characterized his correspondence as well as his more formal writings. He was now in the period of his dawning ambition. The world and its mysteries were opening before him, and alluring him to explore and master their significance. With the avid curiosity which is the chief characteristic of youth, he sought by all the means within his reach to know, not only the history of his country, but the nature of man and the motive of his actions in the pursuits of life. He was indifferent to nothing which opened the secrets of history or revealed the laws of the visible world about him; but even in his earliest reading it is to be observed he showed a decided preference for the study of man and his attainments rather than for science; for literature and art rather than for mathematics and [8] physics; and that in his chosen field he regarded language as the chief instrument — the aster-key with which to unlock the secrets of the intellectual world. And this explains why henceforth, even to the end of his career, the study of language was his chief occupation and delight. Before passing to an account of the new life upon which young Dana was about to enter, it is worthy of note that during the Patriot War, which took place in Canada about this time, Buffalo, as a frontier town, became greatly excited. Sympathy ran high with the patriots; General Scott was sent to the Niagara border to insure the observance of strict neutrality, and to prevent an outbreak which the capture and burning of the Caroline by the Canadians came near precipitating. The militia was called out, but, barring a few parades and marches through the streets of Buffalo, it took no part in active operations. Young Dana, as a member of the City Guard, which he had joined along with a number of his companions when the excitement began to rise, participated in its exercises, and so long as the crisis lasted was somewhat in danger of becoming a soldier. Notwithstanding a serious and cautious turn of mind, he shared the public sympathies, and regarded himself as fully able to do a man's part, not only towards maintaining the public order, but in defending the public interests. The Patriot War, however exciting, was a passing episode which soon gave way to another of far greater concern to the subject of this narrative. A great financial and business crisis was at hand, which, unfortunately for the uncle and his partner, but perhaps fortunately for their young clerk, was about to overwhelm the firm in irremediable ruin. It will be recalled that a wild and destructive panic which involved all kinds of business throughout the United States took place in 1837. In common with thousands of other merchants who did a [9] credit business, Staats & Dana could neither collect the money due to them nor pay what they owed to others, consequently there was nothing left for them but to close their doors, discharge their clerks, and save what they could from the wreck. Of course young Dana shared the fate of his companions, and thus found himself unexpectedly at the parting of the ways. His career as a merchant's clerk, except for temporary employment the next year by George Wright & Company, was ended without the slightest regard to his preferences; but they now asserted themselves, and without hesitation he decided to enter college as soon as he could make the necessary arrangements and complete his preparation in scholarship, which was done entirely by himself. While it is not positively known, it is altogether probable that he selected Harvard mainly through the influence of his friend and neighbor Dr. Austin Flint, a brilliant young practitioner of medicine who had graduated there in 1833, and removed to Buffalo to enter upon his profession two years later. It is certain that young Dana soon became intimate with him, and that they spent much of their leisure together till Dana set out for Cambridge. Flint was a man of high scholarship and engaging manners, and afterwards achieved great distinction at Buffalo as well as in New York, to which place he removed in 1859. For several years after parting he and Dana appear to have kept up an active correspondence, extracts from which will be given as occasion arises. Encouraged by his friends, sustained by his ambition, and impelled by his cherished purposes, Dana left Buffalo to enter upon his new life in June, 1839. He was then about twenty years of age, tall and slender, with a fresh complexion, fastidious in taste and habits, and highly esteemed by all who knew him. Speaking of him, an old [10] friend says, “The general impression he made upon all in Buffalo at that time was that of a student bound to gain knowledge, and that he was blessed by an intelligence superior to most of the young men with whom he associated.” That the prevalent impression of young Dana, at the period alluded to above, must have been highly favorable is strongly supported by the fact that on January 29, 1839, he delivered before the “Coffee Club” of Buffalo, of which he was a member, an exceedingly interesting lecture on “Early English Poetry,” the manuscript of which, in his own clear and distinct handwriting, is now in my possession. It shows the wide range of his reading on the subject of his lecture, and exemplifies his poetical theories, his power of statement, and his canons of criticism. While his style at that time appears somewhat stilted, it was surprisingly clear, direct, and comprehensive for a lad of his years and opportunities. Speaking in after years to an old friend, Dana declared, that “the best days of his life, as regards health and happiness, were spent in Buffalo, whence he went to fish in the Niagara, to hunt in the American and Canadian woods, to hobnob with the Indians at their reservation near by, and to make trips down the river to the falls.” It was surely a delightful region, which he must have left with regret, and to which he returned with pleasure whenever he had the opportunity. His best and most intimate friends still lived there, and were always ready to receive him with open arms and a generous welcome. He had passed his teens and reached his adolescence among them, and in entering upon a still broader field of life and intellectual development, he naturally turned to these friends and this home of his youth for sympathy and encouragement. It should be stated that his father, who appears to have always been somewhat of a dreamer and never a successful [11] or forehanded man, had married again and was raising a new family, which taxed his slender resources to the utmost. He had done nothing for his first set of children after taking them to Vermont, nor was he afterwards able to give them any help whatever. Charles, like the rest, was therefore forced to depend absolutely upon himself and such chance assistance as he could secure from his friends, or from the funds of the college which he attended. His own savings could not have exceeded two hundred dollars at most, but without doubt or fear he went forth, as many another American youth has gone, with unfaltering faith and a stout heart to find an education and to make his way in the world.
