DAY FAMILIES

INCLUDES

DAVID DAY & MISS LOUISA E. DAY

BIOGRAPHY

AS RECORDED IN:

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF
TOLLAND AND WINDHAM COUNTIES CONNECTICUT.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES
PUBLISHER: J.H.BEERS & CO., CHICAGO; 1903 P. 356

DAY. The Days, to whom Miss Louisa E. Day of Thompson, Windham county, belongs is an old family of the town of Killingly. It has been handed down by tradition that the family originally came from Wales, which is undoubtedly correct. In a book of Heraldry containing Arms of William Day, B.D. Provost of Eton College, and Dean of Windsor, confirmed by William Flower, Norroy, on Oct. 21, 1582, in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, he is said to be descended from the Dees of Wales, being a younger son of Richard Day, who was a son of Nicholas Day, son of John Dee (called in English Daye), son of Morgan Dee, a Welshman. Dee signifies, it is said, dark or dingy, and was the name of a small river in Wales, and was applied to some ancestor living on its banks. In time the name Dee came to be written as it sounded, Daye or Day.

Robert Day, the emigrant of 1635, of Ipswich, England, born in 1605, came to America in the ship “Hopewell,” and settled in Ipswich, Mass. He was made a freeman in 1641, and he died in September, 1683. By his wife, Hannah, he had five children: John, born in 1641; Thomas, born in 1643; Hannah, born in 1645, married Robert Lord; Sarah, born in 1647, married David Fiske; and James, born in 1649, married Susan Ayres, and died in 1690.

The line of descent is through James Day, born in 1649; his son Robert, born Jan. 17, 1684 (married, first, April 4, 1706, Elizabeth Dresser, and second, in 1736, Susan McKee), who moved to Killingly in 1717, and settled on the South Whetstone brook; and James, who was drowned Dec. 25, 1782, when sixty-six years of age. James Day, who owned some 3,300 acres of land in Killingly, and was the founder of the village of Dayville, married Mary Parkhurst, of Plainfield, Conn., who died July 28, 1818, at ninety-seven years of age. He and his wife are buried in the old Day cemetery and a marble slab marks the graves of both. To James and Mary Day were born children as follows: Nathan, born July 28, 1743, Granville, N.Y.; Jonathan, born March 12, 1745, Killingly, Conn.; Elias, born Sept. 25, 1750, Woodstock, Conn.; Mary, born March 21, 1753, married Nathaniel Maize; Thomas, born June 9, 1755, Thompson, Conn.; John, born March 12, 1757, Killingly, Conn.; James, born Aug. 23, 1758, Killingly, Conn.; Asa, born July 23, 1760, Killingly, Conn.; and David, born July 20, 1762, Killingly, Conn. James Day was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and the following is a copy of the certified records of his services:

Page 18, “Record of Connecticut Men in the Revolution,” list of the men who marched from Connecticut towns “for the Relief of Boston in the Lexington Alarm,” April, 1775. From the town of New London, James Day, adjutant, Number of days service, 30. Page 72, same book, Adjutant James Day, of New London, commissioned May 30, discharged Dec. 10, 1775; re-entered service, 1776, on the staff of Col. Samuel Holden Parsons, Sixth Regiment; raised on the first call for troops in April, May, 1775, recruited from New London, Hartford and present Middlesex counties. June 17, ordered by the Governor’s Council to Boston Camps. There the regiment took part at Roxbury, in Gen. Spencer’s brigade, and remained until expiration of term of service, Dec. 10, 1775; adopted as Continental Regiment, re-organized under Col. Parsons for service in 1776. Page 74, James Day, Second Lieutenant of the 4^th Company, also adjutant as above. Page 78, same book, Adjutant James Day, New London, Col. Parson’s regiment, 1776 (10^th Continental). After the siege of Boston it marched under Washington to New York (by way of New London and the Sound in vessels), and continued in that vicinity from April to the close of the year; assisted in fortifying the city; ordered Aug. 24, to the lines around Brooklyn; engaged in battle of Long Island, Aug. 27; and in retreat from New York, Sept. 15; present with the army at White Plains, Oct. 28; remained on the Hudson in the vicinity of Peekskill under Gen. Heath until term of service expired, Dec. 31, 1776.

Thomas Day, son of James, was born June 9, 1755. He married, April 13, 1783, Susannah Buck, daughter of Samuel and Hannah Buck, of one of the old families of Killingly, who was born June 7, 1763. Thomas Day was a deacon in the Brandy Hill Baptist Church, of Thompson, and “a much esteemed deacon,” and he and his wife were very worthy people. During the war of the Revolution Thomas Day served under Capt. Crosby. His death occurred July 15, 1830, and he was buried in West Thompson cemetery, West Thompson. The following children were born to Thomas Day and his wife: Waity, born April 19, 1784, married Obadiah Stone, Sept 23, 1810, and died in Thompson, Sept. 14, 1854; James, born Aug. 3, 1785, married Nancy Ballard, Oct. 21, 1810, and died in Thompson, Sept. 17, 1824; William, born Dec. 29, 1786, married Esther Davis, of Thompson, Feb. 24, 1811, and died in Mohawk, N.Y., July 14, 1885; Thomas Jefferson, born June 14, 1790, married Lydia Clemons, April 15, 1825, and died at Buffalo, N.Y., June 15, 1873; David, born June 12, 1792, is mentioned below; Susan, born April 18, 1794, married Ransom Seamans, March 16, 1816, and died in Schroon Lake, N.Y., Nov. 19, 1876; Joseph, born May 19, 1796, married Mary Blaisdell, Aug. 3, 1837, and died in Upper Chippewa, Canada, Aug. 27, 1872; and George Washington, born March 10, 1801, married Sarah H. Morse, March 20, 1823, and died June 14, 1885.

DAVID DAY, father of Miss Louisa E. Day, attended school in Thompson, where his life was spent as a farmer and stockman. He purchased the Charles Crosby farm, a tract of 100 acres, on which property he carried on general farming and made many improvements, making it one of the finest farms in that section of the country. It is now owned by J.E. Doane. David Day died Dec. 2, 1873, and was buried in the West Thompson cemetery. On Dec. 13, 1814, he married, for his first wife, Betsey Cady, daughter of Nedabiah Cady, of Reading, Vt., born Dec. 21, 1791, died Jan. 16, 1833; she was buried in the West Thompson cemetery. One child came to this union, Caroline Elizabeth, born in October, 1825, who died Aug. 3, 1826. Mr. Day married for his second wife Miss Louisa Cady, daughter of James and Rosanna (Cutler) Cady, of Killingly, and a granddaughter of Joseph Cady, of Killingly, the Cadys being one of the old families. She was born in Killingly, Feb. 9, 1801, and died June 10, 1893, at the ripe age of ninety-two years. Two children came to Mr. and Mrs. Day: Louisa Elizabeth, born May 11, 1836, and David Elmer, born Dec. 21, 1838. The latter, who died Nov. 21, 1900, is buried in the same cemetery as his father, and at the time of his death was engaged in farming the old homestead, being a hard-working man, highly respected. In his politics he was a Republican, and in all the relations of life he endeavored to live up to the teaching of the Golden Rule. David Day, the father, participated in the war of 1812, and was at New London. In his political faith he was a Whig, and upon the formation of the party became a stanch Republican. He was a consistent member of the Congregational Church, and carried out in his life the doctrines of the faith in which he died, being a loving husband, a kind father, a true and loyal friend, an exemplary citizen and a man whose life was a benefaction to the community in which he lived. Mr. Day inherited from his father a small sum only, but in his lifetime accumulated a large property. He was a man of superior judgement in business matters, and wholly self-made. He was not a public man in any sense, but was universally esteemed for his genuine worth.

MISS LOUIS E. DAY, the last of her family, is a lady highly respected by all who know her. While she still retains her home in Thompson, having a life interest in the old home, in which she has spent her life, she spends her summers at different pleasant resorts on the coast. Miss Day understands thoroughly the management of her large wealth, and, having made safe and wise investments, she can rest secure in the enjoyment of her ample income. A kind-hearted lady, her charities are many, but she is one of those who prefer to give in secret and not to sound her benefactions to the world, and her friends are many, for she possesses the virtues which attract people to her and inspire affection.

Reproduced by:

Linda D. Pingel – great-great granddaughter of Cyrus White of Rockville, Ct.

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