M. T. Dana (1850-1922)

By Douglas H. Shepard, 2000

               

Myron Tuttle Dana was born on 14 March 1850 in Lawyersville NY. His parents were Gilbert Warner and Clara Henrietta (Nichols) Dana. After attending district school, he studied at the Hudson River Institute, Geneseo Normal (1876) and then Wesleyan University at Bloomington IL, earning a Ph.B. in mathematics and German.

                After graduating, he taught in district schools for three years, chaired a department of a union school for one term, and then taught Latin and Greek at the Nunda Union School and Academy where he became Principal. In 1881 he was brought to the Fredonia Normal School as Vice-Principal and Professor of mathematics and German.

                On 28 December 1882 he married Annie McKinstry, the ceremony performed by Dr. J. J. Landers of Trinity Episcopal Church. On 12 May 1906 he was named Principal to replace Dr. Palmer and, in 1907, he was made an honorary Doctor of Pedagogy. The Danas’ only child, daughter Clara Durlin Dana, married Dr. Harry E. Wheelock on 26 July 1919. Dana presided over the Normal School for the next sixteen years through the First World War and after. On 8 February 1921, Mrs. Dana died, and, in 1922 M. T. Dana  retired, dying, after a fall at his home, 87 Central Avenue, on 13 December 1922.