Troup County, Georgia Biographies DANA BOARDMAN PUTNAM DANA BOARDMAN PUTNAM, M.D., of Boston, Mass., a resident member, was born in Rumford, Me., Sept. 19, 1825, and died at his home, 59 Temple Street, Boston, of pneumonia, Feb. 11, 1881. Jacob Putnam, also born in Rumford, June 6, 1794, and of Betsey Parker, born in Yarmouth, Me., March 4, 1794. He was of the ninth generation from John Putnam of Salem (1634), through his son Nathaniel. The early years of Dr. Putnam were spent in labor upon his father's farm. At the age of twenty he entered upon his studies preparatory to college, at first in the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, and afterward in Yarmouth Seminary. In 1848 he entered Bowduin College, and was graduated, in due course, in 1852. He pursued his medical studies at Bowduin College, at Jefferson Medical College, Pa., and at the Medical College of Georgia, receiving from each of these two last named institutions the degree of M.D. ; from the former in 1853, and from the latter in 1854. During his course of education he paid his own way, and that chiefly by teaching school in the winters. As a physician he settled in Troup County, Georgia, in 1856, where he remained for sixteen years, having a large medical practice on an extended territory. The region over which he rode, day and night, was malarious, and his health suffered severely from these exposures. At length came the war of the rebellion. Though he had endeavored to leave for the north before this contest began, he was delayed, and was compelled to remain south during the years in which the struggle lasted. In 1868 he came north with his family, and settled as a physician in Boston, where he has since resided. For some years past he has given special attention to genealogical studies, and has been deeply interested in preparing a Putnam family tree. Upon this he has inserted the names of an immense number of that prolific race which sprang from John Putnam of Salem. He has gathered more than 2,000 names of the male descendants of John Putnam. Dr. Putnam was united in marriage, December 19, 1854, to Huldah Jane Manly, daughter of Richard Manly, of Alabama. By this union were five children, two sons and three daughters, who with their mother survive. Dr. P. was prominently connected with the Masons and Odd-Fellows, as also with the Suns of Temperance. He was a man of good culture, and used his pen freely, as occasion called, both in prose and verse. For one year (1855) he was Professor of Languages in the southern Military Academy at Fredonia, Alabama. Dr. Putnam was made a member of the society, Oct. 6, 1879. [Source: The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, v.35, 1881 - Submitted to Genealogy Trails by K. Torp]  Return to Troup County Biographies  Return to Troup County Main Page ©2008 Genealogy Trails