has steadily and surely made his way to the front in the profession of law, and he possesses in a more than ordinary degree the natural attributes essential to a successful career at the bar and in public. He was born in New Haven, Ohio, March 25, 1827, his parents, Joseph and Alcy (Lockwood) Dana, being born in New Hampshire and Rhode Island, May 5, 1769, and July 8, 1780, and died at Fremont, Ohio, April 5, 1850, and March 10, 1850, respectively. The father was a proficient and very successful educator by profession, but when the War of 1812 broke out gave up this calling for a time to enlist in the service of the United States, and was a participant in the engagements at Bridgewater and Lundy's Lane. He removed with his family to Huron County, Ohio, in 1816, and there spent his declining years. The subject of this sketch is the youngest of twelve children, two now living, and he first attended school at Fremont, Ohio, but from 1847 until 1850 he was a student in Oberlin College (Ohio), and from 1851 until 1852 he was a student in the law department of the Ohio University at Cincinnati, being a classmate of Oliver P. Morton and Daniel W. Voorhees. He was graduated in March of the latter year, but as he had had the " gold fever " for some time, he, in company with a brother, started across the plains to California with 100 yoke of oxen and twenty wagons, and after remaining in that State until 1852 they returned to Ohio. In 1853 Mr. Dana started once more for California, and made his way on horseback and alone from Council Bluffs to Salt Lake City. The same year he returned to his old home, and in 1854 came to Iowa and settled in Keokuk County, but in 1855 took up his abode in Marshalltown, where during the winter of 1855-56 he and his wife taught school. In the spring they came to Story County, and here have since made their home. In his professional capacity he soon became well and favorably known, and from 1858 until 1860 he represented Story County in the General Assembly of Iowa, being its first representative. He was admitted to the bar in Sigourney, Keokuk County, Iowa, in October, 1854, and for the past thirty-five years he has assisted in securing pensions to soldiers and soldiers' widows. He is one of the oldest lawyers in this section of the country, and is an honor to the calling. He has been a life-long Republican and helped organize that party in the State of Iowa and Story County, and served one term as mayor of Nevada. In 1858, while a member of the State Legislature, he walked home from Des Moines and located the site for the State Agricultural College. He took a very active part in the location of the college in this county, and secured for it more than three-fourths of all the land and money donated by citizens of the counties of Story and Boone, for the use of the college. He deserves much credit for his interest and work in this direction, but aside from this he has always been a patron of worthy enterprises. He took an active part in the enactment of the laws relative to our present school system, of which Iowa is justly proud. Mr. Dana was married on February 16, 1854, to Miss Harriet A. Davis, who was born in Bucyrus, Ohio, November 28, 1835, a daughter of Rev. John Davis, of Ohio. They have three children: Frank, Florence and Mabel.
George Danskin, farmer and stock-raiser, Sherman Township. Mr. Danskin has been identified with the agricultural affairs of Story County for nearly a quarter of a century, and during this time he has contributed not a little to its reputation as a rich farming community. He came here in 1868, and for the first six years cultivated rented land; later he purchased and afterward sold different farms, until he finally settled on his present property, comprising 160