Craft Masonry in Albany County, New York - Onondaga and Oswego ...

3. Stephen, b. 06 Apr 1766, and bapt. 13 Apr 1766. He marr. 12 July 1787 to Sophia Bagg.
4. Simeon, b. 26 Mar 1768, and bapt. 17 Apr 1768; d. 5 May 1768.
5. Lydia, b. 15 Apr 1769, and bapt. 23 Apr 1769. She marr. 21 December 1786 to Alexander Cooley.
6. (stillborn child), b. and d. 11 March 1771.
7. Horace, b. 11 May 1772, and bapt. 1 Nov 1772. He married Theodsia Ely.
8. (stillborn child), b. and d. 17 Dec 1774.
9. Kelsey, b. 12 Sep 1776.
10. Luke, b. 5 Apr 1779, and bapt. 18 Nov 1781.
http://shaysrebellion.stcc.edu/shaysapp/person.do?shortName=luke_day
Luke Day, Jr. 1743-1801
On July 21, 1743, Luke Day, Jr., was born in Springfield, MAs, the third child of seven born to Luke Day, Sr., and Jerusha Skinner.
The Days were one of West Springfield, MAs' most prominent families. Scarcely a year passed without a member of the Day family
holding a town office. Luke's father's cousin, Benjamin Day, was well known as the town's first moderator, selectman, and town
representative to the General Court. Another cousin, Josiah Day, owned the property that today serves as a museum and memorial
to the family.
Luke, Jr., married Lydia Kelsey of Killingworth, CT, on August 20, 1762, in Westfield, MA. Both were 19 years old. Over the next 17
years, Luke and Lydia had 8 children; 2 died in infancy, and another died at age 13. All of the remaining children—four sons and a
daughter—survived to adulthood, and all five married.
When news reached West Springfield of the fighting at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, Luke marched to Boston with a local
militia company. Luke was soon promoted to first lieutenant and, along with 1,100 other men, volunteered to take part in Benedict
Arnold's epic, failed Quebec expedition in 1775. Luke was later promoted to Captain. He served in the Continental Army through the
Revolution, although illness furloughed him at home for the most of the latter part of the war.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Continental army, George Washington had encouraged his officers to assume the marks of
distinction and behavior that signaled their military and accompanying social status as gentlemen. This typically included officers
wearing elegant dress, hiring servants, buying better food than what was issued to the common soldiers, and assuming the
expenses of equipping and maintaining a horse. Luke resisted assuming this lifestyle, believing he would maintain better
camaraderie with his soldiers if he retained habits more akin to theirs. Even though his family owned substantially more property
than did the families of ordinary soldiers, he realized that living beyond what his infrequent pay could cover would only bring on
financial woes for the future. Like other officers and enlisted men during the long war, Luke was paid infrequently or in notes that
initially had little market value and then quickly depreciated.
In the late spring of 1782, while on a medical leave at home, Luke helped put down an uprising against the Massachusetts wartime
government. Known as "Ely's Rebellion," the movement was spearheaded by the Reverend Samuel Ely. Ely urged Massachusetts
citizens to overthrow the new Massachusetts Constitution of 17870 and establish what he and his followers considered more
representative republican government. As in the years leading up to the American Revolution, the courts and judges became targets
for those protesting what they saw as government corruption and injustice. When a mob threatened the Court of Common Pleas at
Northampton, Captain Day responded to the government's call for troops to protect the court. Luke and other soldiers successfully
defended the judges by standing on the courthouse steps and defying the demands of the mob.
In 1783, Luke joined the exclusive and newly-formed Society of the Cincinnati. Membership in this fraternal organization was open
only to veteran officers of the Continental Army and their firstborn sons. One of the Society's goals was to lobby the governments to
ensure that veteran Continental Army officers received half-pay pensions for life, as retired British officers did. Luke donated one
month of his pay to join this organization, most likely hoping that in return, he would "rub shoulders with great men" and get
preferential treatment from the state or national government after the war. Society of Cincinnati members lobbied extensively for
positions, land, and pensions. The Society was deluged almost immediately with angry criticism by those who condemned it as an
aristocratic institution at odds with the egalitarian ideals of the new republics. Despite the promises by the Continental Congress to
Luke and other commissioned officers, the policy was soon commuted to just five years' full payment to veteran officers of
government securities bearing six percent interest. Worse, by the time the states approved the settlement in 1784, the notes had
depreciated to about one-eighth of their face value.
Following his official discharge in 1783, and in the face of rising state and local taxes, the farms belonging to Luke and his
immediate family deteriorated. Before the war Luke's father was listed in the top five percent of town taxpayers. The demand for
farm goods increased during the war. Unfortunately, with Luke and one of his brothers serving in the army, the family lacked the
manpower to produce what the farms needed to in order to thrive. By the war's end the Day family paid in taxes four times what they
had before the war and were no longer in the top five percent of town taxpayers. Luke incurred more and more debt as he struggled
to resuscitate his deteriorating farm and pay the tax collector. By 1785 Luke was in debtor's prison in Northampton. Like other
imprisoned debtors, Luke was permitted to leave the jail during the day as long as he stayed within certain set boundaries and
returned each night. After two frustrating months, Luke "broke his bond" by leaving Northampton and heading home to his farm and
family.
In the months that followed, Luke met with local people to discuss their financial plight and their anger with the government that
seemed so obstinately opposed to serving the people. Many of them, like Luke, believed that scripture as well as natural rights
justified, even demanded, the active resistance they contemplated. It is said that Luke believed God might speak directly to him
through the Bible, and that he discovered a passage in Ecclesiastes (4:1) that seemed to speak directly to the times: "Behold the
tears of such were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of the oppressor there was power." That summer, a
number of residents attended a convention in Hatfield, MA, where they voiced their grievances and demanded radical changes to
the state government, including the creation of a new state constitution.
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