Biographies
from
The History of Otsego County, New York
1740-1878
D. Hamilton Hurd
Published by Everts & Fariss, Philadelphia
DAY, Rensselaer - Otego
The subject of this sketch was born in the county of Hillsboro,
N.H., May 8, 1815. He was the eighth child in a family of ten children
of Robert DAY and Anna BADGER; both natives of New Hampshire;
his grandfather, John, was a native of Newburyport, Mass. The family
is of English descent, and its ancestors were among the emigrants
who sailed in the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth rock in the year
1620, represented by two brothers. His father came to the town of
Unadilla in the year 1819, and settled on some 50 acres of wild land,
built a log house, and made considerable improvements; but after a
few years removed to "flax island," town of Otego, and again settled
on a wilderness tract of land, and erected a log house and began
clearing off the forest. The family met the obstacles of this pioneer
life with that fortitude and resolution which so characterized the early
settlers of that day. In the year 1834 his father removed to another
location in the town of Otego, and together with the subject of this
memoir, purchased 163 acres of land where Rensselaer now resides.
To this purchase he has made some addition, nearly the whole of which
is located on the banks of the Susquehanna river, and is one of the
finest sections in the town for farming purposes.
Mr. Day first cast his vote with the Whig party, and is now identified with the Republican party, and an ardent supporter of its principles. He was one of the first railroad commissioners of the town to issue the first ten per cent. of the bonds. Has represented his town as supervisor for two terms, and under the old law of the State was one of the bank commissioners and appraisers for Otsego County, appointed by the governor of the State with Judge STURGES, Jared GREGORY, Levi C. TURNER. In all these appointments his duties were performed with honor to himself and satisfaction to those whom he represented.
In the year 1858, October 24, he married Miss Margaretta, daughter of Peleg CARR and Mary MAXWELL, of Laurens, Otsego County. She was born March 11, 1828. Her father settled in Laurens in the year 1794, and hence was one of the pioneers of that town, and had come there with his father, Peleg Carr, when fourteen years of age.
Her grandfather died on the farm where he first settled, in the year
1820, and her father died in the year 1859. Her mother died in the year
1870, at the advanced age of eighty.
Mr. Day's mother died in the year 1857, aged eighty-three years.
His father died in the year 1862, aged eighty years.
To Mr. and Mrs. Day have been born five children, Emily Victoria,
Anna Mary, Helen Celestia, Cordelia, and Ida Margaretta.
Mr. and Mrs. Day are sparing no pains to give their children the
opportunities of a good education, appreciating fully the advantages of
a knowledge from books befitting the rising generation of the nineteenth
century. Mrs. Day, having in her earlier years spent several terms as a
teacher, is followed by her daughters, at very young ages, in being
prepared for similar positions.
Mrs. Day is descended from New England stock on her father's
side, he being a native of Rhode Island, and on her mother's side from
New Jersey, her mother being a daughter of David Maxwell, and
hence combines in her early education and intelligence that decision
of character always appreciative of good society and rare intellectual
culture.
Mr. Day is a plain unassuming man, and characteristic of him are
his sterling qualities of honesty and integrity of purpose, respected
and honored by all who know him. A view of the result of his ambition and
toil, together with portraits of himself and wife, will be found in
another page of this work.--
Excerpt from History of Otsego Co., NY, page 246