Two Families, A History of the Lives & Times of the Families of Isaac Newton Day & Lucilla Caroline Blachley, 1635-1954 - Reed B. Day

TWO FAMILIES: A HISTORY OF THE LIVES AND TIMES OF THE FAMILIES OF ISAAC NEWTON DAY AND LUCILLA CAROLINE BLACHLY 1635-1954. 2004 by Reed B. Day. This book is not just an ordinary family history, but U.S. history through the experiences of two families. For over a period of twenty years, Mr. Day has meticulously researched and written the chronicle of his family's journey from Puritan life in the 1600s to life in Washington County, Pennsylvania, after the Revolutionary War. The story begins in Connecticut, prior to 1666, when the confluence of two family streams united a relationship. They joined in a movement of Puritan families from Connecticut to Newark, New Jersey in 1666, in order to maintain "cultural orthodoxy." The early history of the two families touches the English Civil War, the Puritan migration, the first Indian wars in North America, the French and Indian War, and slave ownership. The families moved west into central New Jersey to Morris County. The story continues with their combined experiences with the Revolutionary War and the First Continental Congress. This was followed by the movement beginning in 1773, by approximately twenty Morris County families, to western Pennsylvania, called the "Jersey Migration." They carried the name of their old home into Washington County, PA, calling it Morris Township. The experience of the two families describes the difficulties of settling in a new country, and attempting to form a church, "by reason of the incursion of the savages." The Louisiana Purchase enters the picture as one ancestor heads for this new frontier only to be turned away by the threat of yellow fever. It tells of the development of the National Road, and life in New York City in 1824 and 25 through the eyes of a homesick sixteen year old boy. As the family settled in Washington County, Pennsylvania, its problems were sometimes mundane, typical of all those who both preceded and followed, and sometimes so serious as to cause a member to move from the area due to litigation. Their problems and experiences included the Civil War, the financial panic of 1893, and the World's Colombian Exposition Fair of the same year. This book details personal relations between older and younger generations and the cost of education of a son when there was only one dollar to spare. It describes agricultural life in the 19th Century, medical experience and practice from pre-Revolutionary days into the 20th Century, the coal mining industry both from the perspective of the coal baron and of those living and working in mining camps during the hand-loading days. Prohibition, depression, and World War II follow rural life in the early 20th Century. The story continues with accounts from both the European and Pacific theaters of war, coupled with life on the home front. The book concludes with the author's military experiences during the Korean War. Even if these families are not relatives of the reader, their saga can be a mirror of the lives of their own. This book has received recognition from retired Supreme Court Judge Sandra Day O'Connor as well as historian David McCullough. (See article "Books By Alumni" in PITT LAW MAGAZINE, Fall 2006 issue.) LOC 2004114117. ISBN 0-9760563-1-3. 285 pages, 8 1/2 x 11 Soft cover