Reginald Merchant Day Ely

Other Events:

• Education: A.B. (Yale, 1885); M.D. (Columbia, 1888)

Albert married Maude Louise Merchant on 7 Oct 1891 in Rochester, Monroe County, NY. Maude (daughter of George Eugene Merchant and Frances Sherburne) was born on 6 Sep 1868 in Rochester, Monroe County, NY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In 1877 they were living in Elyria, OH.

Heman married Mary Frances Day on 27 May 1850 in Hartford, Hartford County, CT. Mary (daughter of Hon. Thomas Day and Sarah Coit) was born on 7 May 1826 in Hartford, Hartford County, CT; died on 15 Sep 1895. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

George married Frances Sherburne. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Heman married Celia Belden on 8 Oct 1818/1819 in West Springfield, Hampden County, MA. Celia (daughter of Colonel Ezekiel Porter Belding and Mary Parsons) was born on 5 Oct 1796 in West Springfield, Hampden County, MA; died on 7 Jan 1827 in Elyria, Lorain County, OH. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Thomas pursued his preparatory studies with his father, his brother Jeremiah, Barzillai
Slosson of Kent, Conn., and at New Milford academy, and graduated at Yale College in 1797.
He commenced immediately his legal studies under Judge Reeve of Litchfield, Conn. He was,
from Sept. 1798, to Sept, 1799, a tutor in Williams College, continuing at the same time the
study of the law with Hon. Daniel Dewey of Williamstown, Mass. After three months' study at
Hartford, Conn., under Theodore Dwight, in December 1799, he was admitted to the bar. He
immediately commenced practice in Hartford, where he continued to reside until his death. In
1810, he was elected by the people of Connecticut, secretary of state, and was continued in office
by twenty-five successive elections, until May 1835. He was appointed in May 1815, associate
judge for the county of Hartford, and annually afterwards, with the exception of one year, until
May 1825, when he was made chief judge of that court, and retained the office until June 1833.
From March 1818, until March 1831, he was one of the judges of the city court of Hartford. Mr.
Day was one of the committee who prepared the edition of the "Statutes of Connecticut",
published in 1808. He himself compiled the notes, made the index, and wrote the introduction.
He was one of the committee, who in 1821, revised the "Statutes of the State", and also one of
the committee appointed to prepare and superintend a new edition in 1824. In 1805, he began to
report the decisions of the Supreme Court of Errors in Connecticut, and when provision was
made by law, in 1814, for the appointment of a reporter, received that office, and retained it until
his resignation in 1853. The report of the decisions from 1802 to 1813, published by him, makes
five octavo volumes, and those from 1814-53, inclusive, twenty-one octavo volumes. He also
edited, with copious notes, about forty volumes on English law. As a deserved recognition of
these services, his Alma Mater, in 1847, conferred upon him the degree of doctor of laws.
Mr. Day's name stands connected, as vice-president or trustee, with most of the
benevolent and literary institutions of Hartford, as the Hartford Grammar school, Hartford
Female seminary, American Asylum for the education of the deaf and dumb, and Retreat for the
Insane. He was also an original member of the Connecticut Historical society, and its first
recording secretary. On the revival of the institution, in 1839, he became its president, and
retained that position for more than fifteen years.
A man of dignified presence, uncommon courtliness of manner, and great kindness of
heart, he secured alike the love, respect, and veneration of his fellow citizens. A life-like portrait
of him, taken towards the close of life, by Emmons of Norwich, Conn., adorns the wall of the
rooms of the Connecticut Historical society in Hartford. (Source: Family of Thomas Noble of
Westfield, Mass., by Lucius M. Boltwood, 1878, pp.104-105)

Thomas married Sarah Coit on 18 Mar 1813 in Preston, New London County, CT. Sarah (daughter of Wheeler Coit and Sibyl Tracy) was born on 27 Sep 1786 in Preston, New London County, CT; died on 21 Jul 1865 in Hartford, Hartford County, CT. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Sarah was from Preston, now Griswold, CT.