[25edison.ftw] One Samuel Day – or Three? The Samuel Days of Alfred, Shapleigh and Waterboro, Maine c.1810 -1830 and Beyond Edward G. Hubbard November 20, 2006 In Early families of Shapleigh and Acton, Maine (2002), Frederick R. Boy le posits a Samuel Day as the oldest son of Hilton Day, who was of Shaplei gh by 1820. Although, as will be shown, it is quite likely that Hilton h ad a son named Samuel, the various data that Boyle cites actually perta in to three individuals. The key to discerning this is the 1820 census en umerations of two Samuels Days in Shapleigh and yet another in Waterboro. The initial problem with Boyle's account is twofold: (1) He is unaware th at Hilton Day married Martha Gowen on November 8, 1785 (Records of the Fir st Congregational Church in Kennebunk, Maine, FHL film 0011327). (2) He n otes (correctly) that Hilton was born about 1763, according to the 1850 ce nsus, and baptized in Wells, Maine, on June 30, 1766. Hilton was thus t oo young, as well as married too late, to have been the father of a Samu el who was born c.1776, the date Boyle cites in his work. There was indeed a Samuel Day who was born around that time and who was en umerated in Waterboro, Maine in the U.S. censuses from 1820 through 186 0. He was 74 years of age in 1850 and 84 in 1860. Boyle notes that, acco rding to the York county probate records, this Samuel died March 15, 186 0, but that date is problematic, for two reasons: (1) Samuel of Waterbo ro was enumerated in the 1860 census, which was taken as of June 1, and ( 2) a transcription of his gravestone in Waterboro's Weymouth cemetery giv es his date of death as March 17, 1867. The 1867 date cannot be correc t, either, since the petition for administration of his estate is dated M ay 1865, by which time his widow was already dead. (The Weymouth cemete ry gravestone of Samuel's wife Sarah, who was enumerated as age 70 in 18 50 and age 80 in 1860, gives her date of death as February 12, 1864, and h er age as 86 years, 2 months and 24 days.) Since Samuel's age at dea th is inscribed as 86 years and 9 months, and he was 84 at the time of t he 1860 census, it may be that his actual year of death was 1862. Although Boyle identifies the son of Hilton with the Samuel of Waterboro a nd notes that the latter's wife was listed as Sarah in the 1850 censu s, he goes on to state that Hilton's Samuel married Lucy Hubbard in Wel ls on March 10, 1816. The Samuel of Waterboro had, as already mentione d, a wife named Sarah and (given that and his age) seems to be the Samu el of Coxhall (later known as Lyman) who married Sarah Wakefield in that t own on January 16, 1800 (Vital Records of Lyman, Maine, NEHGR Vol. 9 5, p. 200). As stated above, this Samuel was enumerated in Waterboro in 1 820 (and thereafter), whereas the Samuel whom Boyle sees as Hilton's son w as enumerated in Shapleigh in 1820, next to, as Boyle notes, Hilton himse lf (and immediately after the Joseph Day identified by Boyle as another s on of Hilton). This Samuel of Shapleigh was still in that town at the ti me of the 1830 census. However, a second Samuel Day was enumerated in Shapleigh in 1820, betwe en Daniel Hubbard, Jr., and Thomas Hubbard, who were brothers. Witho ut a doubt, this is the Samuel who married Lucy Hubbard, and the fact th at he is described as "of Wells" in the Shapleigh record of his March 1 0, 1816 marriage to Lucy, as well as in their intentions recorded in Wel ls on February 10, 1816, is a good indication that he was not Hilton's so n. Hilton, although born in Wells, was recorded in Sanford in 1790 and 18 00, in Waterboro in 1810 and in Shapleigh in 1820, and is unlikely to ha ve had a son in Wells in 1816. Who, then, was this Samuel "of Wells" who was enumerated in Shapleigh in 1 820 but not 1830 or thereafter? A search of subsequent censuses opens t he door to the answer. In 1850, a Samuel Day, age 56, with wife Lucy, a ge 57, both born in Maine, were enumerated in Glover, Orleans County, Verm ont. They were still there in 1860 (ages 66 and 64) and 1870 (ages 72 a nd 73). Who they were is made clear by the information about them in Glov er, Vermont, Westlook Cemetery Inscriptions and Other Genealogical Data, p ublished by the Glover Historical Society in 2002. Samuel's inscription g ives his date of birth as April 19, 1794 and his date of death as April 1 9, 1873; Lucy's inscription states that she was born April 30, 1796 and di ed March 17, 1877. That this couple is the same as the one recorded in Sh apleigh is clinched by three facts: (1) The 1820 census indicates that Sa muel was at least 26 and Lucy under 26, which is consistent with the birth dates on their gravestones. (2) A history of Glover states that "Samuel Da y, from Acton, Me., came to Glover in 1828." (The section of Shapleigh wh ere Samuel resided among the Hubbards in 1820 was later set off as the to wn of Acton.) (3) On her gravestone, Lucy's middle name is inscribed as " Ricker." (The mother of Lucy Hubbard of Shapleigh who married Samuel D ay in 1816 was Lucy Ricker, the wife of Daniel Hubbard, Sr., of Shapleigh. ) The Glover publication also reveals just who this Samuel Day was. It cit es the Glover town records as stating that Samuel was age 79 when he di ed and that his parents were Joseph Day and Mary "Story" (sic). The fath er is was without a doubt the Joseph Day of Wells who was baptized on Nove mber 3, 1745 and married Mary Storer on October 24, 1767. Samuel would ha ve been the male under 10 years of age in their household in 1800, and o ne of the males of at least 16 but under 26 in 1810. (Note: William S. T hompson, in Records of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport Families, p. 334, lis ts only seven children for Joseph and Mary - the youngest being Nahum, bo rn 1783 – but the U.S. censuses indicate that there were more. See append ix A for further details.) The Samuel listed next to Hilton in the 1820 census seems to be the Samu el (age 16-26) who was enumerated with a female (also age 16-26) in Alfr ed in 1810. This Samuel appears in numerous York county land records whi ch refer to him as "of Alfred" from 1808 to 1817 and as "of Shapleigh" fr om 1818 through 1824. The transactions are summarized in appendix B. T wo of them link Samuel to Hilton. In 1808, Hilton (then "of Waterborough ") sold 30 acres in Alfred to Samuel, and in 1813 Samuel bought 34 acr es in Alfred from Joseph Day, Jr., of Alfred and Joseph's wife, Lucy. Jos eph, who was enumerated in Shapleigh from 1820 through 1850, is identifi ed by Boyle in Early families of Shapleigh and Acton, Maine as a son of Hi lton. Samuel's wife, Lydia, appears with Samuel in the sales of parce ls of land in 1812 and 1813. No record of their marriage has yet been fou nd, but the 1810 census indicates that they were married by August 1 (t he census date) that year. Assuming that Samuel was of age when he fir st purchased land in 1808, he must have been born by 1787, no more than t wo years after Hilton's marriage. The 1820 census indicates the presence in the household of a male of at le ast 10 years age and four males and a female under 10. Only three of tho se males, plus the female, were listed in 1830, along with a male and a fe male, ages 5-10, and a female under 5. In his Book of Remarks, Nathan Goo dwin records the deaths of five children of Samuel Day in Shapleigh (on 6- 28-1816, 4-13-1817, 5-10-1818, 2-14-1822 and 7-2-1827). Given that the re were two Samuel Days in Shapleigh during those years, and that the Samu el who married Lucy Hubbard, being the younger of the two (born 1794), wou ld have been called "Jr." according to the conventions of the times, the f act that Goodwin refers to Samuel without that appellation probably indica tes that these were the children of Samuel (born c.1787) and Lydia. The n ames of all their children remain unknown at this point, but further resea rch into the matter may yet bear some fruit Conclusion: The three Samuels were as follows: 1. Samuel Day, b. c.1775; m. (Coxhall/Lyman 1800) Sarah Wakefield; resid ed in Waterboro from at least 1820; d. Waterboro perhaps March 15 (or 17 ), 1862. 2. Samuel Day, son of Joseph and Mary (Storer) Day, b. Wells 1794; m. (Sha pleigh)1816 Lucy Ricker Hubbard; Of Wells through 1816, he was enumerat ed in Shapleigh in 1820 and moved to Glover, Vermont in 1828. He di ed in Glover in 1873. 3. Samuel Day, probable son of Hilton and Martha (Gowen) Day, b. (Sanford ?) c.1787; m. (no later than 1810) Lydia (surname unknown); of Alfred thro ugh 1817; of Shapleigh in 1818; still living there in 1830. Appendix A: The Children of Joseph and Mary (Storer) Day of Wells Thompson lists the children of Joseph and Mary as follows: Mary, bapt. June 25, 1769 Betty, bapt. May 5, 1771 Comfort, bapt. Nov. 1, 1772 Abraham, bapt. Nov. 19, 1775 (daughter, name not recorded), bapt. May 24, 1778 Nancy, bapt. June 20, 1781 Nahum, born 1783 Comfort married (int. Shapleigh, January 24, 1792) Jotham Emery (who was b aptized in Berwick July 3, 1768). Nahum and his family are well-document ed in Thompson and other sources. As proved above, Samuel, born April 19, 1794, was one of the younger child ren reflected in the censuses. Taken together, the numbers of females recorded in 1800 and in 1810 indica te that there was a daughter born 1784-1790, another born 1790-1794 and y et another born 1794-1800. They may include the following female Days w ho appear in the Wells town records but have not been linked to other D ay families in that town: Abigail, m. Oct. 19, 1809 James Mitchell Olive, m. Aug. 26 (or 28), 1815 James Mitchell (the same man, perhaps a w idower?) The Abigail who married James could instead have been the Abigail (daught er of the late Robert) who was a minor under the age of 14 when John Fi sk of Wells (her step-father) was appointed guardian for her and here sist er Jane in 1799. Olive is otherwise unknown, but it is tempting to specul ate that she was the Olive "of Wells" for whom intentions of marriage wi th Daniel Hubbard, Jr., of Shapleigh were recorded in 1816 (July 23 in Wel ls; August 2 in Shapleigh). There is no record that this couple actual ly married and, since Daniel married someone else in 1815, Olive may ha ve done the same. Further research may clarify these matters and shed additional light on t he family of Joseph and Mary. Appendix B: York County Land Records of Samuel Day of Alfred and Shapleigh Deeds recorded March 26, 1817: 1. On March 10, 1808, Samuel Day of Alfred bought 30 acres in Alfred fr om Hilton Day (book 96, p.257). 2. On June 21, 1812, Samuel of Alfred bought 50 acres in Alfred from Matth ew Whitten (book 96, p. 257). 3. On Sept. 28, 1813, Samuel (described this time only as "of Waterborough ") bought 34 acres in Alfred from Joseph Day, Jr., of Alfred (book 9 6, p. 257). (Joseph subsequently was in Shapleigh.) 4. On March 25, 1817, Samuel of Alfred (with Lydia Day, his wife) sold thr ee parcels in Alfred (the above 34 acres, 50 acres and 30 acres) to Ivo ry and Daniel Conant (book 96, p. 258). Deeds recorded April 19, 1819: 1. On May 30, 1808, Samuel Day of Alfred bought 16 acres in Alfred from Ma tthew Whitten (book 103, p.31). 2. On May 15, 1809, Samuel of Alfred bought 25 acres in Alfred from Matth ew Whitten (book 103, p.30). 3. On April 20, 1812, Samuel of Alfred (with Lydia Day, his wife) so ld 25 acres and 16 acres in Alfred to Benjamin Knight (book 103, p. 31). Deed recorded Feb. 12, 1818: Samuel Day of Alfred sold 27 acres in Alfr ed to Joseph Knight (book 100, p.33). Deed recorded April 19, 1817: On April 4, 1817, Samuel Day of Alfred boug ht 63 acres in Lyman from Andrew Conant (book 98, p.10). Deed recorded Sept. 15, 1818: On Sept. 15, 1818, Samuel Day of Shapleigh s old 63 acres in Lyman to John Conant and David Hall (book 101, p.12).. Deeds recorded Aug. 16, 1820: 1. On Aug. 30, 1817, Samuel Day of Shapleigh bought 4 acres in Waterborou gh from Trueworthy Chase (book 106, p. 29). 2. On Aug. 16, 1822, Samuel Day of Shapleigh sold 4 acres in Waterborou gh to David Thing (book 106, p.29). Deed recorded June 30, 1818: On June 29, 1818, Samuel Day of Shapleigh bo ught 90 acres in Shapleigh from Thomas Gile of Alfred (book 99, p.213). Deed recorded March 10, 1824: On March 10, 1824, Samuel Day of Shapleigh s old 90 acres in Shapleigh to Joseph Sayward (book 114, p.207). Deed recorded March 29, 1819: On March 29, 1819, Samuel Day of Shapleigh b ought 14 acres in Shapleigh from William Webber. Two of the above deeds indicate that Samuel moved from Alfred to Shaplei gh in 1817, sometime between April 19 and August 30.
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[25edison.ftw] Subject; Benjamin Day letter to Brother James B. Day, Waterboro, York, ME . Waterboro, Dec.3 1848. Brother and Sister, it has been a long time since I saw you. I thoug ht I would write a few lines to inform you that your friends is all wel l, except DANIEL has been sick two years, he is in consumption. Since I w as here, I work in Salem, Lexington, and Brighton. I would be very gl ad to come and see you, but I couldn’t make it convenient. James, we have built a large barn, sixty feet long, and thirty seven fe et wide, and cut it full of hay. We keep twenty head of oxen’s, cows, ste ers, and heifers. One horse. THEODORE has bought him a farm, and moved away, he bought in Waterboro. I SREAL has bought the old place, and moved on to it. I want you to wri te as soon as you get this letter, let me know how you are getting alon g. I want to hear from you all very much. I have nothing more to wri te in particular. I give my love to you all. This is from your Brother Benjamin Day To James B. Day Death; Isreal Day’s wife is dead. She died 19, March 1844. Address to; Mr. James B. Day of South Wrentham MA
[25edison.ftw] !BIR-MAR-DEATH: William Day & Dorothy Littlefield; 1989; by Ina Harris Day; pages 102-109.