Mike Dana's History Page

Mike Dana's History Page

I've always enjoyed History, in both written and oral form. I come from a family of storytellers, and while I learned very early from my Dad and his Father to love a good yarn, I developed a passion for "real" History at an early age as well. My primary focus has been on American, British, and Russian History; taking a more or less "shotgun" approach, with regard to period (which means that there are gaps, but I'm working on it!).

Family History has been important, too, and my biggest current project is "The Dana Family Archives". My Great Aunt, when she passed away in 1978, left behind a big box of photos, letters, postcards and so forth dating from around 1871 to 1978. I'm now going through this and attempting to organize, catalog and scan this information so that it can be put on discs and made (affordably!) available to the whole family. It's very time consuming, and a lot of work, but it's also a "Labor of Love". I also plan on tying it in with the Family Tree, a project that this same Great Aunt (Grandpa's Little Sister) got me interested in when I was 11 years old. Between her and one of my Dad's cousins, My Grandmother and others, we've managed to trace the Dana Family back to 1535 in Northern England (Richard Dana emigrated from Manchester to Cambridge, Mass. in 1640), and my Grandmother's family has been traced to Francis Cooke, who came to America on the Mayflower and is a "Common Ancestor" of both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston S. Churchill.

The picture on this page is from this collection and is of Loren Dana, my Great Great Grandfather and his eldest Daughter, Eleanor. It was taken in California, probably Yreka or Redding, around 1871. His story is one of my favorites (and not just because I look like him <grin>)! His family moved from Upstate New York to Illinois when he was young, and in 1849, he left home to follow the Gold Rush. Unlike most of the men who did this, however, he didn't stop there for long. By 1851, he'd followed the Rush to New South Wales, Australia! There, in 1856 at 36 years old, he met and married Jane, the 19-year-old daughter of the local Constable (a former British Soldier from Dublin Named John Sullivan). By 1862, Loren and Jane and the first two of their 5 children (Eleanor, the girl in the picture, was born in 1857 and George, my Great Grandfather, born in 1860) were headed back across the Pacific to California. Once there, Loren built a sawmill and founded the town of Dana (originally "Danaville"), California in the shadow of Mount Shasta. By 1882, young George was running the mill and Loren (now in his sixties!) was off prospecting again. He met his brother Dennis in Montana, where they staked two claims in the valley of the Little Blackfoot River. He liked the area, and thought it would be a good place to settle, so he returned to California. Within a single month, Loren's first wife, Jane died and was buried, George and two of his younger Sisters each had weddings, Loren married the 36-year-old housekeeper (who was also George's Bride's Cousin), the sawmill was sold, the family packed up, and they were off to establish two adjacent homesteads in Montana (which included the nearly worthless Gold claims). The Ranch that this became remained in the family's hands from 1883 to 1989. A couple of years after the homestead was established, Loren's Mother came to live with them as well. In January of 1888, Loren's youngest Daughter, Jenny, caught pneumonia and died. Loren, according to Family Folklore, neglected to wear his long underwear to the funeral, which was held in sub-zero weather (something like -20F or lower). Two weeks later, he too was dead of pneumonia. He is buried between his Daughter and his second Wife, Leah (who died a few years later), in the cemetery at Deer Lodge, Montana. His Mother, who died in 1895, at the age of 95(!), is buried on the other side of his daughter, and in the space of 13 months she lost a Granddaughter, a Son, and a Great Granddaughter (one of George's children, who died the following year at the age of two months).

...And this is just one of the stories that have made this project so interesting!

I've also been a "regular" on several newsgroups on usenet since late 1995; my "favorite" being soc.history.medieval.

Links, etc.

Montana Historical Society
The British Monarchy
The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, etc.
Medieval Technology Pages
The Richard III and Yorkist History Server
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies
Science and Stonehenge
The Lady Washington
The World War I Document Archive
U.S.S. Constitution Homepage
Washington State Legislature
Washington State Law
Religion and the American Revolution
Sharon Kay Penman
THOMAS; US Congress on the Internet
Mike Cleven's Home Page
Castles Abbeys and Medieval Buildings
The Historical Reenactment Web Site

More to come...




Myquotes

Visitor Number since 20 February, 2000

This page was last updated on 13 June, 2005.