Saturday, June 21, 2008

Frederick L. Day

Frederick L. Day was born October 31, 1840, in Moreau, Saratoga County, New York, the son of Perry E. (b. 1797) and Martha (b. 1800).

Vermont-born Perry and Martha were married, probably in Vermont sometime before 1823 when their son Aurelius was born but by 1830 had settled in Saratoga County, New York where they lived for many years. By 1850 Frederick was attending school with his siblings and living with his family in Moreau, Saratoga County, New York, where his father worked as a carpenter.

Frederick moved to Michigan from New York, possibly along with or joining his older brother Aurelius and his family. In any case, by 1860 Frederick was working for and/or living with Vermont native John H. Standish (b. c. 1818), a lawyer in Brooks, Newaygo County. It is possible that Fred had been married sometime before the war, but this is not known for certain. (Aurelius and his wife and child were also living in Brooks that same year.)

Frederick was 22 years old and probably living in Newaygo County when he enlisted as Third Corporal of Company K on May 13, 1861.

He was left sick at Grand Rapids when the Regiment departed for the east on June 13, 1861, and subsequently reported as having deserted.

David Robinson, chronicler of the men of Company K, claims that “As the trains pulled out [of Grand Rapids on June 13] 22-year old Corporal Frederick Day of Company K lay sick in a Grand Rapids hospital. On June 16, he deserted the hospital and rejoined his company and Regiment. He got sunstroke in July of 1861 and was finally discharged at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia in July 1862. He wanted to be with his comrades, but he couldn’t take the hot weather.”

However, according to his pension records, Fred was reported in the hospital in Grand Rapids until December 8, 1861, but then his name disappears from the company rolls until April 10, 1863. He was subsequently reported as a deserter on November 1, 1861, and was officially returned from desertion on April 7, 1863, at Camp Sickles, Virginia, under the President’s proclamation of amnesty for deserters.

Frederick was listed as absent sick in a general hospital in Washington, DC, from June 30, 1863 and again from December 30, 1863. In fact, he had apparently been treated for “intermittent fever” and diarrhea from April 28 to June 2, 1863, following which he returned to duty. Additional medical treatments took place on June 6 and again from June 14 to 17, 1863. He was reported sick from June of 1863 to June 24, 1864, suffering from, among other things, varicose veins of his left leg.

Although Fred was reported as having eventually returned to duty, in fact he was transferred to (originally) Company H, Fourteenth Veterans’ Reserve Corps, later changed to Fifty-third Company, Second Battalion, Veterans’ Reserve Corps, on either February 17 or April 30, 1864, possibly at Washington, DC or perhaps at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In any case Frederick was eventually discharged on June 9, 1864, at Mower hospital in Philadelphia.

It is not known if Fred ever returned to Michigan after the war.

By 1870 his brother Aurelius was living with his family in Newaygo, Newaygo County; also living in Newaygo was another brother, Albert. (John H. Standish had moved his family to Grand Rapids, Kent County and by 1870 was the U.S. District Attorney.)

By 1880 Fred was working as a lawyer and boarding at Ann Runnicle's boarding house on South Eighth Street Eastside, in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. By November of 1890 Frederick was residing at 734 Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia, but by early 1891 Fred was living in Glens Falls, New York (possibly with a brother Henry), and by the end of the year he had moved back to 734 Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia. He was still living on Spring Street in 1896.

He was reportedly never married, and worked for some years as a lawyer after the war.

In 1891 Frederick applied for and received a pension (no. 807,584).

Frederick died on January 22, 1902, in Glens Falls, and was presumably buried there (or possibly in Philadelphia).

No comments: