JOHN WILEY DAY. In every vocation of life there are those who by dint of "brain and brawn" have pushed through the ranks of the many and taken positions with the few. To the man who without the aid of noble birth or bequeathed fortune succeeds in rising to this place among his fellows much credit is due, and the story of such lives cannot be other than beneficial to the struggling youth of the rising generation. Among this class our subject finds a graceful position. J. Wiley Day is a descendant of an Englishman by the name of George Day, who emigrated from England to the United States in the seventeenth century. He resided for a time in Connecticut, but later made a permanent settlement at Newark, N. J., where the descendants became quite numerous. The subject of this sketch is more immediately descended from one Samuel Day, who emigrated from Morristown, N. J., near the middle of the eighteenth century, and settled in Morris township, Washington Co., Penn., on North Ten-Mile creek, northwest of the village of Prosperity, on a farm now owned by J. Miller Day. His will bears the date of November 27, 1793, probated in 1796; he had four sons and one daughter, viz.: Daniel, Samuel, Joseph, Benjamin and Joanna. Of these, Daniel remained on the land bequeathed to him by his father, now owned by J. M. Day; Samuel emigrated to Belmont county, Ohio, where the name of Day is quite common; Joseph also settled on land bequeathed to him by his father in Morris township; Benjamin emigrated in 1812 to the northern part of Ohio, near the city of Cleveland, where he purchased a large body of land, upon a part of which the city has since grown, consequently becoming quite wealthy. Daniel Day died in 1811. He had six sons: Colvin, William, John, Stephen, Samuel and Cephas and three daughters: Abigail, Nelly and Electy.
Samuel Day married Hannah Cooper, who was born November 17, 1798, a daughter of Zebulon Cooper, of Morris township. The Cooper family, which is an old one in this county, came to Pennsylvania from Sag Harbor, Long Island. To the union of Samuel and Hannah (Cooper) Day came eight children: Maria, born February 27, 1820, died in Morris township, September 11, 1861; Elmus, born November 23, 1821, now a farmer in Muscatine county, Iowa; Emeline, born March 5, 1824, died September 4, 1883; Josiah, born July 13, 1827, is now living in Muscatine county, Iowa; Cephas, born April 6, 1830, died May 20, 1845; Samuel A., born February 25, 1835, is now a resident of Philadelphia; J. Wiley and Ann Eliza (twins), born December 15, 1837 (Ann Eliza died August 11, 1845). The father of this family died December 18, 1870, and the mother passed away September 6, 1878.
The Day family are represented in various occupations, and valued for their integrity and public-spiritedness. John Wiley Day, though not afforded an opportunity for a finished education, is a man who has kept well up with the times, and is conversant with all matters pertaining to the public. He was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for State Representative in the fall of 1890, and, though defeated, his popularity is evinced by the fact that he reduced the Republican majority from 1,000 to 123. In 1863 Mr. Day married Caroline C., daughter of Joseph Dunn, of Morris township, Greene Co., Penn., and of this union were born four children: Samuel Cassius, Anna B., Joseph E. and Lizzie H. Their mother died in 1874, and in 1876 Mr. Day married Maria E., daughter of Thomas Horton, of East Bethlehem township, to which union two children have been born: Bessie Ora and John W. This wife died July 5, 1890. Mr. Day is giving his children the educational advantages afforded in the schools of that section, as they arrive at the age at which they appreciate it. He is an active member of and an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
Text taken from page 1065 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).Transcribed March 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project.
Published March 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.[ [Back to Beers Table of Contents] [Back to Beers Project Page]