JOHN S. DANA

Source: The History of West Virginia, Old and New
	Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
	Chicago and New York, Volume III

pg. 99-100
Kanawha
JOHN S. DANA. Among the men prominently identified
with the mercantile and financial interests of Charleston,
as well as with the social life of the city, few have gained
a higher reputation for ability and keenness of discernment
than John S. Dana, vice president of the wholesale dry
goods concern of Abney-Barnes Company. Mr. Dana is also
not unknown to public life, and in each avenue of activity
is accounted a constructive and helpful citizen.

Mr. Dana was born near Charleston, June 28, 1879, a son
of J. E. and Maria A. (Swift) Dana, natives of New York.
His father, who fought as a Union soldier during the Civil
war, came here immediately after receiving his honorable
discharge to investigate the coal fields. He started the
Campbell's Creek Coal Company, of which he ran the oper-
ating end, while his brother, S. F. Dana, had charge of the
office at Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Dana continued in charge
of the operations of this company for a period of forty
years, and then retired to his comfortable home at Charles-
ton, of which city he was appointed postmaster, a position
in which he served four years. He is now living in his home
in Palm Beach, Florida. Mrs. Dana, to whom he was mar-
ried at Richfield Springs, New York, died in 1914,

John S. Dana attended the public schools of Charleston,
and after doing some preparatory work pursued a course at
Princeton University, from which he graduated with the
class of 1903, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In
that year he returned to Charleston, where he joined the
Abney-Barnes Company, wholesale dry goods merchants, of
which he is now vice president. This company is now the
largest concern of its kind in the Kanawha Valley, and has
always adhered to the same line. It started as a small
retail store some time after the close of the Civil war, but
has been gradually developed into an enterprise which has a
place among the city's leading concerns. It has sixty-five
employes and twenty road salesmen, in addition to house
salesmen, and during the nineteen years that Mr. Dana has
been with the company he has seen its sales increase 600
per cent. The present officers arc: W. O. Abney, presi-
dent; E. A. Barnes, treasurer; and John S. Dana, vice
president. Mr. Dana was also one of the original organ-
izers of the Union Trust Company, which opened its doors
for business May 5, 1913. The officials of this concern, of
which Mr. Dana is a director, are: William O. Abney,
president; A. B. Koontz, vice president; Charles Ward,
vice president; H. P. Brightwell, cashier; and directors,
Roman Pickens, J. S. Dana, E. L. Boggs, James A. Holley
and H. M. Bertolet. This institution is one of the strongest
in West Virginia and owns one of the finest bank and office
buildings in the state. Mr. Dana is also a partner in the
brokerage firm of Hardy-Dana Company, members of the
New York Stock Exchange. He is a stanch republican in
his political views and for several years has been one of the
constructive and working members of the city council, in
which body he is serving as chairman of the finance com-
mittee. He has been a constant supporter of worthy civic
movements, and his name is found regularly on the list of
worthy charities.

Mr. Dana was united in marriage at Charleston with Miss
Cynthia Abney, born in this city, a daughter of F. W.
Abney, one of the founders of the firm of Abney-Barnes
Company. To this union there have been born four children,
namely: Francis, Arnold, Adelaide and John S.


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