Roderick Day

Submitted by Billy
bdday2@verizon.net

Roderick Day (My 3rd great grandfather) has been very elusive.  I  
have looked for about ten years.  He is last seen at Lee,  
Massachusetts in the 1830 Census.  I have traveled to Massachusetts  
and to the Stockbridge and Lee area with out success.  The Day  
research has him born about 1780 in Colchester, Connecticut(Son of  
Amasa and Eleanor Day).
The first Census record of the United States in 1790 shows Amasa Day  
in Colchester.
  Two males over the age of 16yrs in the household.  This alone  
disputes the 1780 birth date. The birth year has to be at least 1774.  
The 1830 Census of Lee, shows him to 60-70 years old. Now the birth  
year is down to at least 1770  or 1760. This was the record that I  
had to prove his age. I could not find any record of Roderick in  
Massachusetts.

Flavius Pease Day(son of Roderick) was in Warrick County, Indiana in  
the 1840 Census.  In the 1850 Census of Warrick County his oldest son  
George was born in Ohio 1839.  This was a clue but I didn’t pick up  
on it.  I looked for George Day in Ohio but didn’t find any thing.

I was browsing the internet with many Day records and found some Days  
buried in Denison Cemetery, Cleveland , Ohio. Roderick Day,Elizabeth  
Day, James W. Day and Lawson Day.  I still didn’t believe it because  
Roderick’s birth date was listed as 1764.  My Roderick was born about  
1780 according to family.

I e-mailed the cemetery for their records on the Days.  Roderick Day  
was born 1764 and died 9/5/1840 and his wife Elizabeth was born 1776  
and died 9/30/1847. James W. Day was born 1808 and died 2/10/1870.   
My Roderick had a wife named Elizabeth and a son named James W. Day.   
The death record form Cuyahoga county gives Roderick and Elizabeth as  
the parents of James W. I looked in the 1840 Census for Elizabeth  
with out success. Since Roderick died in 1840 I didn’t look for him.   
That was another one I didn’t pick up on right.

I finally looked in the 1840 Census of Ohio for Roderick and there in  
Lake County, Ohio he was found.  One male 70-80 years old and one  
female 20-30 and one female 60-70 years old. Now the 1764 date  
becomes a real possibility.  The other female is their daughter  
Harriet E. Day and next to them is James W. Day(son of Roderick). The  
1850 and 1860 Census show that James W. was born in Massachusetts and  
his wife Samantha was also born in Massachusetts.

This begins to make sense when you look at this areas history.  This  
was the Western Reserve which was owned by and settled by  
Connecticut . Many of the settlers came form Colchester and Middlesex  
Counties  of Connecticut. Some common names were Kellogg, Foote,  
Champion, Bliss, Spencer, and Day. The trip was about 600 miles  
through the wilderness and over the mountains.

My 2nd great grandfather named some of his children after that family 
(James W., Harriet E., Lawson, Lois M. and Roderick)

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