Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/374

Rh natural and happy result that the subject of this sketch should have entered upon her life work endowed with those mental qualifications by the cultivation of which she has developed into a versatile and charming writer. But she is not indebted to the Danas alone for her inheritance.

Her great-grandfather, Phineas Dana, a descendant of Joseph Dana, the second son of the original Richard, settled in Oxford, Mass. He married Mehitabel AVolcott, of that town, daughter of Josiah5 Wolcott (Henry,1 of Windsor, Conn.) and his wife Isabella, daughter of the Rev. John Campbell. This eminent divine, who for forty years was beloved and revered as pastor of the church at Oxford, Mass., where many traditions of his scholarship and godly character still remain, was a native of Scotland and a graduate of Edinburgh University. An early ancestor of Miss Dana's on the maternal side was Major Thomas Savage, who came from England to Boston in 1633, and who was the founder of a family distinguished by integrity, industry, great determination, and unusual physical endurance. Of this typical New England stock was James Savage, one of the earliest and most prominent settlers of Augusta, Me. His wife, Eliza Bickford, of Alton, N.H., is still remembered as a woman of devout thought and benignant presence. Sarah W. Savage, the daughter of James and Eliza Bickford Savage, married James Wolcott Dana, and became the mother of Olive E. Dana, who was born in Augusta, December 24, 1859.

With her refined and charming personality, her forceful and sympathetic character, and her remarkable mental endowments, Miss Dana has exerted a wide influence in her large circle of friends and among the many readers whom she has never .seen. During the last twenty years, while constantly contributing to the press, Miss Dana has generously given of her time and ability to all good works. She has been interested and active in the church and in the philanthropic and educational movements of the day. She was one of the founders of the Current Events Club of Augusta, and was for two years its honored and efficient president. She has also been a member of Unity Club; and one of her most beautiful poems, "The Laggard Land," was written for a Ixinquet of this old and well-known literary society.

ARRIET WOOD FOSTER, second daughter of the late David Wood Foster, formerly a well-known and public-spirited citizen of this city, and his wife, Sarah E. Abbott, was born in Boston, as were most of her ancestors for several generations. On the paternal side she is descended from Hopestill Foster (son of Richard Foster, of Biddenden, County Kent, England), who arrived at Dorchester, Mass., with his mother, Mrs. Patience Bigg Foster, in 1635. The name of Hopestill Foster appears on the Dorchester records of many years, he serving as Treasurer, Selectman, Deputy to the General Court, and commissioner for small causes.

John Foster, one of his sons, was graduated from Harvard College in 1667, excelling in mathematics. In 1675 he established the first printing-press in Boston. He compiled an almanac for that year, which was printed by Samuel Green, and he was author and printer of the Boston Almanacs for 1676-81. He also made the seal of the colony. He died in 1681, and his gravestone, bearing a curious device, can still be seen in the old cemetery at Upham's Corner, Dorchester. He left no children.

Miss Foster's paternal grandfather, John Hancock Foster, son of Hopestill Foster of the fourth generation (Hopestill,3 James2) and his wife Susan, daughter of David Wood, was born in a house that formerly stood at the south-east corner of Hollis and Washington Streets, Boston, which he afterward inherited. In this house, in 1814, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Allen, of Boston, and within its walls both he and his wife died. The property was purchased from Governor Belcher over two hundred years ago, and is still in the possession of John Hancock Foster's heirs. In this house was held the first meeting relative to the formation of the Hollis Street Church. On the maternal side Miss Foster claims de-