Samuel Dana (born in Cambridge, Massachusetts [now Brighton], 14 January 1739; died in Amherst, New Hampshire, 1 April 1798) was an American clergyman, judge and politician.
In 1761 the town of Groton, Massachusetts, invited him to become their minister "with a settlement of £200, a salary of £80, and firewood not to exceed thirty cords per annum."
[1] During the troubles that preceded the Revolutionary War, believing that resistance would lead to greater evils than were then endured, he used his influence on the side of non-resistance.
He continued to reside in Groton, where he cultivated a small farm, and in 1780 preached to a separate society.
On the death of John Bulkeley, he became executor of his will, and, moving the extensive law library to his own residence, he studied for that profession.