Day, J. B. P.

DAY, THOMAS

Posted By: Kathy Leach (email)
Date: 10/25/2010 at 10:21:42

From The History of Monona County, 1891, pages 467-468 (at the Onawa Public Library)

J. B. P. DAY, one of the old pioneers of Monona County, a representative citizen of Kennebec Township, and at present a member of the mercantile firm of W. T. Day & Co., of Castana, is the second son of Franklin A. and Harriet P. Day, and was born in Hallowell, Me., May 31, 1834. He attended the district schools until he was fourteen, when he entered the Hallowell Academy for two years. At sixteen he engaged as clerk for a lumber firm for a year, and the next two years was in the grocery business with his brother, Frank, in Bath, Maine. In the fall of 1853 he followed his father’s family to Middlefield, Conn., where he was employed as overseer of a mill and as clerk for a mill and factory close by. In February 1855, young Day went to Perth Amboy, N. J., where his father was then located, and in July followed the advice Horace Greeley was then giving and came West, via Hudson River, New York Central, Lake Erie & Detroit to Chicago and thence to St. Charles, Ill.

In August and September Mr. Day made a pioneer trip to Sioux City with T. Elliott and J. E. Morrison, at which time they purchased a timber claim on Section 8, on the Sioux River, and returned to St. Charles. In October, F. A. Day, Frank L. Day and wife, and Preston Day, came to St. Charles, and the party drove through to Monona County that fall, going into camp on the west side of the Sioux in the “bend” just northeast of the Kennebec bridge, in the middle of December, living that severe winter in tents, and building a cabin into which they moved February 27, 1856.

J. B. P. Day lived in the “bend” until April 22, 1864, when he moved to the hill-top on his homestead on the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 24, Kennebec Township, the north forty of which is now part of the plat of Castana. Here he opened a farm and occupied the place until December 1878, when, in company with F. A. Day and William T. Day, he purchased the stock of goods carried by Frank T. Day at old Castana and, under the name of F. A. Day & Co., did business for four years. At the end of that time F. A. Day sold out his interest to his partner, and the firm of W. T. Day & Co. was established and remained at the old location until November 1886, when they removed to the new town of Castana.

In earlier days Mr. Day was engaged in farming, road and bridge building, and surveying in connection with a land agency. He is more intimately acquainted with the original surveys of Eastern Monona than all other parties combined, having seen nearly every section line in that part of the county. In 1867 he spent a year in Crawford County, building the first house at Charter Oak, and was the first occupant of Town 84, Range 41. The same season, with the help of A. R. Herrington, he built the road up the Soldier River to Dennison, having built the bridges in Monona County from Castana to and across the Middle Soldier, the year before. In 1871-72 Mr. Day worked with the Iowa Pacific Railroad in locating a line and working up right of way, and the Chicago & Northwestern has since occupied nearly the same line for their track. The Iowa Pacific was abandoned in consequence of the hard times and other roads defeating their placing of bonds for its completion. In his capacity as surveyor he has located a large share of the public roads in Eastern Monona, and has always fought hard for good thoroughfares. He has, like other mortals, his hobbies, one of which is scattering blue grass seed on the wild sod, and has advocated it so long and earnestly that he long ago earned the sobriquet of “Blue Grass”, which he formally adopted as a nom de plume in his many sketches furnished the press in years agone.

On the 22nd of November 1861, Mr. Day married Miss Sophia E. Thomas, the daughter of John and Eliza J. Thomas, who was born near Macon, Noxubee County, Miss., January 26, 1845, and has been a resident of Monona since 1853. They have had five children, viz.: Wilder S., born June 14, 1863, who died July 27, 1863; William T., born May 8, 1865; Annie L., born June 17, 1868, who died October 25, 1871; Ralph P., born February 18, 1871; and Elsie, October 3, 1874.

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