Charles Root Dana (November 8, 1802 – August 7, 1868)[1][2] was an American Mormon leader, pioneer, and missionary, and a politician in territorial Utah.
[4] Dana was involved in bringing a suit before Joseph Smith in his function as judge of the municipal court at Nauvoo, Illinois.
[8] In the completed temple Dana married two additional wives in 1846, Emily Waterman and Susan Sue Thomas, according to the Mormon practice of polygamy.
Though slow in progress, Dana appealed to his listeners’ humanity by emphasizing the Mormon suffering and made political connections with Thomas L. Kane in Philadelphia and Duff Green in Washington, D.C.. Green gave Dana access to community groups and national leaders, and many made personal donations, including President James K. Polk, James Buchanan, and Dolley Madison.
In 1848 Dana returned to Washington on another fund-raising mission, but argued more in defense of Mormon doctrine and received much less charity.
[9] Their daughter Margaret Elizabeth reported that her mother had gone to visit family in Michigan and began the trip home to Ogden but was never heard from again, possibly killed by Indians.