Edward O. Day, an influential citizen of Cornish, Sullivan County, N.H., is a native of this town. He was born June 21, 1838, his parents being Hiram and Louisa (Wyman) Day. The Day family is an old one in this country, and the name has been borne by several generations of upright men and women. The first representative in America was Anthony Day, of Gloucester, Mass., who died there in 1717, at the age of ninety-four years. His son Nathaniel and the next two in line, Benjamin and Benjamin, Jr., were born in Attleboro, Mass. Peletiah, who came next and was the great-grandfather of Mr. Edward O. Day, was born in Norton, Mass.
His son Rufus, who was born in Taunton, Mass., May 3, 1770, and died November 16, 1838, was the first of the name to settle in Cornish. Rufus Day was twice married, his first wife being Betty Commings, of Cornish, by whom he had the following children: Roxanna, Sylvia, Rebecca, Samuel C., Eliza, Hiram A., Emmeline, and Lucinda. Roxanna Day married Joseph Hilliard, a prosperous farmer of Cornish, and died April 19, 1878. Rebecca, who married Saul Wyman, died July 1, 1881; and her five children are likewise dead. Sylvia married Joseph Richardson, a farmer and brick mason of Cornish, and died February 14, 1882. Of her six children one is living. Samuel C., who was a shoemaker, died June 2, 1875. His wife, formerly a Miss Wood, is deceased; but three children are living. Eliza married Samuel Jones, a farmer of Montpelier, Vt., and had five children, two of whom are living. She died May 23, 1890. Samuel Jones is also deceased. Emmeline married Ariel K. Wood, and died July 16, 1887. Her husband is also deceased. Four of their children are living. Lucinda married Alvin Commings. They are both living, and have two children. Betty Commings Day died August 9, 1825; and Rufus Day married for his second wife Phebe Choate White, who died March 3, 1839, leaving no children.
Hiram A. Day, father of the subject of this sketch, was a well-known and highly respected farmer of Cornish. He was a Representative in 1883. He married Louisa Wyman, and had five children-Edward O., Henry M., Charles F., Caroline L., and Martha W. Henry Day, born in Cornish, August 29, 1842, married Alice H. Peck. He is in the insurance business in Lebanon, N.H., and is a Representative from that town at the present session of the legislature. Charles F., born January 28, 1844, enlisted as a private at Cornish in 1862, in Company E of the Ninth Regiment, New Hampshire Infantry, and afterward became Corporal. He was taken prisoner at Poplar Grove Church, September 30, 1864, and died December 25, 1864, at Salisbury Prison. Caroline L., born September 12, 1846, resides at Cornish. Martha, born November 28, 1851, has been a school teacher for a number of years. Hiram A. Day died January 10, 1895.
Mr. Edward O. Day began his working life as a tiller of the soil, and has been interested in agricultural pursuits up to the present time. He is a successful farmer and a useful citizen, being well informed on current events, and through the columns of the daily press keeping in touch with all the great social and industrial questions of the day. He has served 1893 he represented it in the State legislature, where he was a member of the Committee on Mileage. He has been Highway Surveyor for a number of years. He is a prominent Mason, and has held all offices in his lodge up to that of Master. He is an attendant of the Baptist church. He married L. Addie Spaulding, who was born November 2, 1843. Her parents, Siloam and Mahala (Silloway) Spaulding, were both natives of Plainfield, N.H. A singular coincidence in their lives is that both were born in the same town in March, that they were married in March, and that both died in the month of March in the same year, 1885.
