DAY
Tradition asserts that the family of Day is of Welsh descent, that it was originally spelled Dee and that its known ancestor was Richard Dee, who was probably living during the fist half of the fourteenth century.
A small water course in Wales has for ages been known as the river Dee, which signifies dark or dingy, and doubtless it was first applied as a surname to some person or persons residing upon its banks. From 1634 to 1645 eight Englishmen of this name arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and among them was Stephen Day, who was the first to introduce the art of printing in New England. The earliest of these immigrants was Robert Day, and the family about to be considered is descended from him. Have these webpages helped you?
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(I) Robert Day, aged thirty, accompanied by his wife Mary, aged twenty-eight years, arrived in Boston from Ipswich, England, in 1634, settling first in Newtown (now Cambridge), Mass., where he was made a freeman May 6, 1635. He subsequently became one of the first settlers in Hartford, Connecticut, probably going there with the Rev. Thomas Hooker, and he died in that town in 1648.
It is quite probable that his first wife died shortly after her arrival in New England. He married (second) Editha Stebbins, a sister of Deacon Edward Stebbins (or Stebbings), of Hartford. In Oct. 1648, she married (second) Deacon John Maynard, of Hartford, who died without issue shortly afterward, leaving his property to his wife's children, "provided they carried themsleves well towards their mother." In 1658 she married (third) Elizur Holyoke, grandfather of President Holyoke of Harvard College and removed to Springfield, Mass. She died in Springfield, Oct. 24, 1688, surviving her last husband, who died Feb. 6, 1876.
The children of Robert Day, all of his second union were:
1. Thomas, ancestor of the Springfield branch.
2. John, ancestor of the Hartford branch.
3. Sarah, married (first) Sept. 1658, Nathaniel Gunn, of Hartford; (second) Samuel Kellogg of Hatfield, Nov.24, 1644; she was slain with her son Joseph by the Indians, Sept. 19, 1677.
4. Mary, married (first) Samuel Ely, of Springfield; (second) Thomas Stebbins; (third) Deacon John Coleman of Hatfield; she died at Hatfield in 1725, quite aged.
(II) Thomas, eldest child of Robert and Editha (Stebbins) Day, was born in Hartford, Conn., and settled in Springfield, Mass., where he died Dec. 17, 1711. He married Sarah Cooper, who died Nov. 21, 1726. She was a daughter of Lieutenant Thomas Cooper, who was killed by the Indians in their attack upon Springfield in 1659. Thomas and Sarah (Cooper) Day had ten children:
1. Thomas, born March 23, 1662.
2. Sarah, June 14, 1664; married John Burt.
3. Mary, Dec. 15, 1666; married John Merrick.
4. John, Feb. 20, 1669; died Aug. 6, 1670.
5. Samuel, May 20, 1671.
6. John, see forward.
7. Ebenezer, Feb. 18, 1676, died June 12, 1676.
8. Ebenezer, Aug. 8, 1680.
9. Jonathan, Aug. 8, 1680.
10. Abigail, married (first) Samuel Warriner; (second) Thomas Miller.
(III) John, fourth son and sixth child of Thomas and Sarah (Cooper) Day, was born in Springfield, Sept. 20, 1673, died Nov. 20, 1752. He resided in West Springfield. March 10, 1697 he married Mary Smith, of Hadley, Mass., who died Feb. 28, 1742, and on August 27 of the following year he married (second) Hannah Kent, of Hadley. He was the father of ten children, all of his first union:
1. John, born July 5, 1698.
2. Hezekiah, Oct. 15, 1700.
3. Joseph, June 24, 1703.
4. Mary, Jan. 30, 1706; married Benjamin Stebbins, of Belchertown.
5. Sarah, May 14, 1708; married Aaron Ashley, of Sheffield.
6. Benjamin, Oct. 27, 1710.
7. Rebecca, May 12, 1713; married Benjamin Stebbins, of Northampton.
8. William, Oct., 1715.
9. Elizabeth, Jan. 19, 1718; married _____ Hall, of Wallingford, Conn.
10. Thankful, Jan. 19, 1721; married Eldad Taylor, of Westfield, Mass.
(IV) John (2) eldest child of John (1) and Mary (Smith) Day, was born in West Springfield, July 5, 1698, died March 30, 1751. He resided in Ireland Parish (West Springfield).
Jan. 21, 1724, he married Abigail Bagg.
Children:
1. Abigail, born Sept. 2, 1724; married Ebenezer Jones.
2. Mary, August 7, 1726; married Joseph Ely.
3. John, April 23, 1728.
4. Joel, April 6, 1730.
5. David Jan. 24, 1732.
6. Jael.
7. Eunice, March 4, 1734; married Benjamin Eastman.
8. Sarah, March 25, 1736, died April 15, 1813.
9. Mercy, May 26, 1738; married William Kendall.
(V) Joel, second son and fourth child of John (2) and Abigail (Bagg) Day, was born in Ireland Parish, April 6, 1730, died Feb. 14, 1803. May 17, 1751, he married Eunice Day, born in 1733, daughter of Joseph Day, granddaughter of John, great-granddaughter of Robert, the immigrant. She died Dec. 29, 1815.
Their children:
1. Joel, born 1751.
2. Tryphena, Feb. 14, 1753; married Oliver Bagg.
3. Jedediah, March 7, 1755.
4. Zervia, March 19, 1757, died young.
5. Edward, Jan. 6, 1759, died at Troy, Oct. 25, 1777, while serving in the revolutionary army, aged twenty years; the pension papers are now [1910] in possession of the family.
6. Eli, April 12, 1761.
7. Zervia, Jan. 19, 1763, died young.
8. Robert, 1764, died Aug. 27, 1777.
9. James.
10. Alexander, Oct. 5, 1769.
11. Eunice, married Abraham Ives.
12. Lucy, married Jube Ely.
(VI) Joel (2), eldest child of Joel (1) and Eunice (Day) Day, was born in Ireland Parish (West Springfield), 1751, died March 13, 1830. August 19, 1782, he married Lucretia Day, who died Feb. 1, 1802, aged forty-two years, She was a daughter of William Day and a descendant of Robert Day through Thomas, John, and Captain William Day. Feb. 10, 1803, Joel Day married (second) Eunice Bdortha.
The children of first wife were:
1. Chester.
2. Sophia, born May 25, 1784.
3. Edward, March 1, 1786.
4. Lucretia, Sept. 5, 1787; married Rufus Colton.
5. Joel, Sept. 10, 1789.
6. Francis, Sept. 25, 1791.
7. Amelia, 1792, died July 1, 1793.
8. Laura, Aug. 8, 1794; married Daniel Merrick.
9. Harriet, Feb. 21, 1799; married Lucius Ely.
10. Lucy, Dec. 30, 1803; married Russell Ely, Jr.
11. Newton, March 4, 1906.
(VII) Chester, eldest son of Joel (2) and Lucretia (Day) Day, was born Dec. 8, 1782; was accidentally drowned Nov. 18, 1824. He resided in Louisville, N.Y., Feb. 12, 1812. He married Marinda Day, daughter of Asa and Esther (Chapin) Day, of Chicopee, Mass., and Massena, New York.
David Day (5), John (4), John (3), Thomas (2) and Robert (1) Day had chldren:
1. Lucretia, born Aug. 24, 1814.
2. Francis, May 28, 1817.
3. Asa, FEb. 24, 1820.
(VIII) Lucretia, eldest child of Chester and Marinda (Day) Day, was married April 5, 1835, to Harvey Church, and their daughter, Marinda Lucretia Church, born in Massena, N.Y., Aug. 2, 1837; died in 1901; married to Samuel Stoughton Fuller of Potsdam, New York. (See Fuller III).
SECOND ENTRY:
Ransom Day, a descendant of Robert Day, immigrant from England, was born in 1780 in Connecticut, and died in Hermon, New York, in 1837. He lived first in Herkimer, N.Y., and as a pioneer went to Hermon in 1824, with his son John.
He married Elizabeth Ford.
Children, all born in Herkimer county, where their mother died:
1. John, see forward.
2. Nathaniel, captain of a whaling ship out of New Bedford, Mass.; engaged in the Sepoy war, and killed by a poisoned arrow at Cape Town, South Africa, in 1849.
3. Aaron, served in the Seminole war.
4. Alfred.
5. David.
6. Elizabeth, married Hiram Weeks, of Michigan.
7. James, who originally owned Whitney Lake, now in New Haven, Conn.; his son now resides there; prominent men of their days.
(II) John, son of Ransom Day, was born in Herkimer county, N.Y. in 1804, and died in Hermon, in March, 1880. He received a common school education, and came to Hermon with his wife and father in 1824. He settled in the Day district, where he had a farm of three hundred acres, and which he had cleared himself. He kept a large herd of cows and carried on an extensive dairy business.
In politics he was a Whig and afterwards a Republican. In religion he was a Congregationalist, and a trustee in the church.
He married, in 1822, Jemima, daughter of Joel and Jemima (Nicholson) Mills. She was born in Woodstock, Vermont, in Feb. 1806, and died in Hermon in 1899.
Children:
1. John, deceased.
2. Sophia, deceased.
3. Eliza, married Daniel Powell of Rensselaer Falls.
4. Jemima, married George Evans, of Hermon; deceased.
5.-6. Simoen and Samuel, twins, both deceased.
7. Hiram W., mentioned below.
8. James, deceased.
9. Samantha, married Leonard Farmer of Oregon, a large land owner.
10. Dr. C. P., dentist, of Hermon.
11. Helen, married Harry Alverson of Hermon; deceased.
12. Emogene, married William Scripture of Hermon, with International Harvester Company.
13. Katherine, married Frank Babbitt; deceased.
(III) Major Hiram W., son of John Day, was born in Hermon, March 13, 1835. He was educated in the town schools, the Gouverneur Wesleyan Institute, and the St. Lawrence Academy at Potsdam. At the two latter schools he worked his way, at the Wesleyan Institute by acting as bell ringer. He studied law in the office of Judson & Powell, Ogdensburg, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. He remained in the office of that firm until 1862, when he entered the army.
When, in 1862, President Lincoln issued his call for three hundred thousand men, Mr. Day, with Colonel Judd, Captain Paine and S. C. Judson enlisted a large part of the men who composed the One Hundred and Sixth New York Volunteers Infantry regiment. On August 27 he went out as first lieutenant of Campany A., but was in command of it until he was commissioned captain, March 3, 1863. He showed himself to be a man of resolution, with ability to command, and a bravery almost amounting to recklessness. The most notable instances of his service in the field follow.
With a small number of men he captured the celebrated guerrilla Sam Hi and his gang, and a captain of the Confederate cavalry with nineteen of his recruits. At the affair at Martinsburg, Virginia, where Lee's army was checked by a few companies under Colonel James, Captain Day with his company was at the front, and bore the heavy work of the day. He joined the Army of the Potomac just after the battle of Gettysburg, and in Novmeber following was detailed as acting assistant inspector-general, Third Brigade, Third Division, Third Army Corps. At Locust Grove he prevented a general stampede of brigade by holding two companies in check, revolver in hand, and with Lieutenant Judson deployed and opened fire upon the enemy, eventually holding the left of the line and winning the day.
He took part in all the battles of the Wilderness, was acting assistant inspector general, First Brigade, Third Division, Sixth Army Corps, and bore his full share of the honors that gave the One Hundred and Sixth Regiment so terrible a name to the rebels. At the Slaughter Pen and Cold Harbor his company and brigade were in the front of the battle, and, while losing many men, covered themselves with glory. At the battle of Monacacy, Maryland, one of the fiercest of the war, and which saved Washington City from capture, his brigade also bore the brunt of the battle. During the latter part of this engagement Captain Day was the only living nondisabled staff officer on the entire line, and, though constantly on horseback and exposed to the close musketry fire of five thousand of the enemy, he assisted Colonel Truax to retire the troops in good order, after General Lew Wallace had ordered a surrender. In this battle his brigade of three thousand men left upon the field twelve hundred and ninety-five killed, wounded and disabled. The Confederate General Early said that he lost in that battle nine hundred killed, besides his wounded.
Captain Day also participated in the battle of Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Run, and other notable engagements, and escaped without a wound. At the battle of Cedar Creek he twice saved the regimental colors, and was brevetted major "for brilliant and meritorious service during the war, especially in the Shenandoah Valley." Referring to the Cedar Creek engagement, General J. Warren Keifer worte to Captain Day at a later time, it being his seventy-fifth birthday: "I remember very well when I put you in charge of a sort of forlorn hope party with instructions to break the Confederate line late in the evening of October 19th, 1864, and also remember how gallantly you carried out this order, which resulted in breaking the line and enabling the Third Division of the Sixth Army Corps, which I then commanded, to charge through and break the center of the Confederate army under General Jubal A. Early, and together resulted in the overthrow and rout of the Confederate army, giving to the Union army the most complete victory of the civil war, and made the name of General Philip H. Sheridan immortal."
In the assault on Petersburg, April 2, 1865, Captain Day led the First Brigade, Third Division, Sixth Army Corps, on the left of the assaulting line, capturing three redoubts and forts. At Sailor's Creek he received the flag of truce from Major Pegram, of General Pegram's South Carolina division, surrendering Major General Ewell, Major General Custis lee, Major General Pegram, General Burbridge, Commodore Tucker, Commodore Senis, and their forces of ten thousand men, with the entire Richmond reserve trooops. He was also present at the surrender of Lee to Grant. At various times, by special assignment, he served as judge advocate and as acting assistant inspector general from his detail in Nov., 1863.
At the close of the war, Major Day went to St. Louis, in the insurance business. Later he removed to Peoria, Illinois, and became business manager for the Peoria Evening Review, with Baldwin, and the famous Robert J. Burdette. In 1873 he returned to Ogdensburg, New York, and in 1874 to Hermon, where he has since been engaged in the practice of law. He has sent several cases to the court of appeals, and has been prominent in selecting and purchasing right of way for the railroad which has recently come into Hermon, the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad, at De Kalb Junction to Stella Mines and Hermon. He was the original promotor of this mining property, and selected, purchased and established the railroad in person to those mines from De Kalb Junction.
In politics he is a Democrat, and since 1879 has been frequently a delegate to various state conventions of his party. He is a prominent Grand Army man, and is a past post commander, and a member of the St. Lawrence County Veterans' Association; a Mason, Blue Lodge, Chapter and Council degrees.
He married, Aug. 14, 1865, Emma A., daughter of Edward and Adaline Baldwin, of Ogdensburg. They hafve an adopted daughter, Lulu, now the wife of Frank S. McKee, of Edwards, and they have one child, Lowell, living with them.
THIRD ENTRY:
Plliny Enos Day was born in 1795. His name originally was Pliny Baker, but he was left an orphan about 1800 and adopted by Asahel Doubleday of Woodstock, Vermont. He changed his name by legal process, Nov. 7, 1822, to Pliny Enos Day. Mr. Doubleday was born March 3, 1752, at Lebanon, Conn., and died at Woodstock, Vermont, Feb. 23, 1843; married Betsey Gray and settled at Woodstock about 1783. The father of Mr. Doubleday had twenty-five children.
Enos Baker was a son of Artemas Baker, who settled in Woodstock before 1790. According to the first federal census taken in that year, he had in his family only two males over sixteen. He built a house at Woodstock in 1793; was a trader and hotelkeeper. He died or left town before 1800. The Bakers also came from Connecticut, according to family tradition, and their descendants are widely dispersed.
Pliny E. Day received a common school education at Woodstock. He enlisted in the war of 1812, but was not in active service. He worked at farming in his youth, and learned the trade of carpenter. He removed from Woodstock to Saratoga county, New York, and later to South Glens Falls, where he lived for a number of years. His last years were spent with his son at Norwood, New York. He was a builder and contractor in various places in northern New York.
He married Martha Putnam, a native also of Vermont, and a descendant of a brother of General Israel Putnam. She died in 1872 at the age of seventy-two. He died at Norwood, N.Y., in Feb, 1866.
Children:
Aurileus, Emeline, Orlando C., Harriet A., Franklin L., Jane L., Frederick W., Henry H., Albert G.
Only the last two are living (1910).
(II) Henry Harrison son of Pliny Enos Day, was born in South Glens Falls, Saratoga county, N.Y., Feb. 14, 1841. He received a common school education in the district schools of Saratoga county and at the Glens Falls Academy. He worked at farming in his younger days and afterward had a sawmill. In 1858 he came to Potsdam, N.Y., to work for the A. M. Adsit & Company, lumber manufacturers. He enlisted at Potsdam, Sept., 1862, in Company E, Ninety-second New York Regiment of Volunteers, and served in the civil war in the departments of Virginia and North Carolina. In 1864, he was transferred to Butler's Army of the Potomac with his regiment; was a Goldsborough under General Foster. His regiment was assigned to the task of suppressing the Buskwhackers. He took part in the battle of Cold Harbor and was in the first attack on Petersburg. He was in the battle at Chapin's farm, and Oct. 27, 1864, in the engagement on the Williamsburg road near Fair Oaks, Oct. 27, 1864, and outpost of Richmond, where he was wounded and taken prisoner. As a result of his wound he lost his right arm. He was paroled in Feb. 1865, and was discharged from the service on account of disability at Hicks General Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, July 26, 1865, ranking as sergeant.
He then returned home to Norwood. In the spring of 1867 he came to Potsdam, where he conducted a saw mill and a lumber business. In 1872 he went to Glens Falls, where he opened a saw mill under contract until July, 1886. In March of that year he was one of the founders of the Norwood Manufacturing Company, of which he became superintendent. He continued in this position until Jan., 1907, when at a special meeting of the directors of the corporation he was elected to his present position as president of the company.
In 1900 the company bought its present plant at Tupper Lake and in 1902 sold its Norwood property. Since then the business has all been done at Tupper Lake. The conern has been highly prosperous and well managed. he was one of the original directors of the Tupper Lake National Bank, established in July, 1906, and since May, 1909, he has been its president. He is a member of the board of trade of Tupper Lake; of the John A. Dix Post, Grand Army of the Republic.
In religion he is a Baptist; in politics a Republican.
He married, Dec. 25, 1877, Edna E. Griffin. They have no children.
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