U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dayton, Spencer (1820-1903) ------------------------------------------------------------------- The History of Barbour County, West Virginia, From its Earliest Exploration and Settlement to the Present Time by Hu Maxwell The Acme Publishing Company, Morgantown, W.Va., 1899 Note: There are 5 footnotes, marked with [*] Pages 368-372 Spencer Dayton, born in Litchfield County, Connecticut, January 22, 1820, is a son of Henry and Lavina (Culver) Dayton. His father was a tanner and shoemaker. When about twelve years old Spencer Dayton left home in order to live with a relative where school facilities were better. He was at home occasionally afterward; but while yet young he became an apprentice to learn the mill wright trade, and succeeded so well that he was able, in a few years, to command the highest wages, ($300 a year.) While learning his trade he was a constant reader, at all leisure hours; and the habits then formed have remained with him through life. Believing that he could do better for himself than to remain a mill wright, he began the study of law, and in 1846 successfully passed the examination required by the laws of Connecticut, and was admitted to practice. The family to which he belongs is one of the oldest in New England. The earliest members of the Dayton family came to America before 1640, and Samuel Dayton, the great, great, great grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was one of the founders of Setauket, Long Island. His descendants established themselves in Connecticut, where the Honorable Isaac Dayton, of New Haven, son of Samuel, was married December 29, 1708, to Elizabeth, daughter of Michael Tod,[*1] of New Haven, and had twelve children, as follows: Rebecca married Ebenezer Gilbert; Hannah married Stephen Jacobs; Elizabeth married Daniel Doolittle; Charity married Jehiel Tuttle; Sarah married Benjamin English, of New Haven, who gave his life in defense of his native city when attacked by the British, July 5, 1779;[*2] Deborah married Nathan Mansfield, from whom was descended Rear Admiral Hull Foote, of the U. S. Navy, whose '-Unconditional Surrender" message at Port Henry was duplicated a few hours later by General Grant to Port Donaldson. The sons of Isaac Dayton were, Giles, who served in the Revolution and settled at Blandford, Massachusetts; Jonathan, who married Mary Yale,[*3] and was captain in the Revolution, commanding the New Haven troops when the city was attacked by the British. Isaac, another son, lived at Newport and fought in the Revolution, and was several months a prisoner of war; Israel married Widow Dinah Clark, and his son, Israel, was a Revolutionary soldier, and the ancestry of Hon. H. B. Warner, of Washington, D. C, and Michael, youngest son of Hon. Isaac Dayton, married Mehitable Doolittle, settled at Watertown, Connecticut, and had thirteen children, viz: Charles, David, Miriam, Michael, Justus, Mehitable, Polly, Elizabeth, Isaac, Samuel, Lyman, Abel and Olive. The father was a Revolutionary soldier and officer, and died in the service. He was born June 4, 1722, married, January 29, 1749. His son, Justus, (sometimes spelled Justice) was the grandfather of Spencer Dayton, and was born June 30, 1754, was married June 10, 1777, to Hannah Titas, and had eleven children, viz: Spencer, Russell, Rhoda, Jonah,[*4] Mehitable, Beulah, Henry, Justus, Chester, Archibald, Elizabeth. Of the above named children, Michael and Justus served in the Revolutionary "War; the former in the ill-fated expedition against Quebec in the winter 1775-6, but survived for other fields; the latter as captain in the Twenty- sixth Connecticut Regient. In 1777 he was one of 300 volunteer who marched from Connecticut under General Oliver Walcott and took part in the capture of General Burgoyne's army. He was wounded, but recovered, and died in 1825.[*5] Thus the ancestors of Spencer Dayton are traced: Spencer the son of Henry; Henry the son of Justus; Justus the son of Michael; Michael the son of Isaac; Isaac the son of Samuel, the first in America. Spencer Dayton was married in Upshur County, November 12, 1849, to Mrs. Sarah Barrett, widow of Samuel Barrett. Children, Eldon Lee, born March 31, 1851; Imogene L., born December 2, 1853; Ida V., born October 19, 1855, and Alston Gordon, born October 18, 1857. Mrs. Dayton's maiden name was Bush, she being a daughter of Zadock and Abigail (Dewey) Bush, and was born October 3, 1819. She belongs to the same family as Admiral George Dewey, who, on May 1, 1898, in a two hours engagement, destroyed the Spanish fleet in the harbor of Manila. The ancestry of Mrs. Dayton is traced as follows: She is a daughter of Abigail Dewey (Bush), who was born October 3, 1777, at Westfield, Massachusetts; Abigail was a daughter of Timothy Dewey, born January 24, 1755, at Westfield, Massachusetts; Timothy was a son of David Dewey, born July 20, 1725, at Westfield, Massachusetts; David was a son of David Dewey, born January 28, 1700, at Westfield, Massachusetts; David was a son of David Dewey, born January 11, 1676, at Windsor, Connecticut; David was a son of Israel Dewey, born September 25, 1645, at Windsor, Connecticut; Israel was a son of Thomas Dewey, born in Sandwich, England, and came to Dorchester, Massachusetts, about 1633. All the Deweys in America, now numbering about 15,000, are descendants from Thomas Dewey. The admiral is descended from Josiah Dewey, who married Hepzibah Lyman, and who was a son of Thomas Dewey. The Lyman family is traced, without a break, from Hepzibah back thirty-two generations to Charlemagne, emperor of France, in the year 742. Having thus briefly traced the ancestry of Spencer Dayton, and also of his wife, a brief account of his life, after he became a man, will now be given. Having completed his law studies in Connecticut and having decided that the South offered a field for those practicing the legal profession, Mr. Dayton set out for Virginia in 1847, carrying in his pocket a few hundred dollars, the sum of his savings, and in a valise an extra suit of clothes. At Winchester he was admitted to practice in the court of Frederick County; but not wishing to locate there, he crossed into Greenbrier, traveling part of the distance by stage, and part leisurely on foot. He had not decided where he would locate, but hearing that court would soon be in session in Nicholas County he proceeded from Lewisburg to that county. There he met for the first time Edwin S. Duncan, judge of the court; and the acquaintance there commenced grew into a friendship which was never interrupted. However, it is proper to relate that the first few meetings were not calculated to promote strong feelings of mutual attachment; but each learned to respect the other. The court of Nicholas County was held at Summersville, and Mr. Dayton applied for license to practice law, and Judge Duncan ordered the license issued. The next court of the circuit was at Sutton in Braxton County, and Mr. Dayton proceeded to that point and applied for license to practice in that county, and the license was ordered. But a few minutes later Judge Duncan recalled the applicant and informed him that the laws of Virginia required one year's residence in the State before license to practice law be issued, and therefore, if he wanted to practice in Virginia he must first reside here a year. Johnson N. Camden was clerk at Sutton at that time. Finding that the judge would not admit him to practice, and believing that it was in a measure due to prejudice against him because he was from the North, he turned about and retraced his steps to Summersville. Some of the residents and visitors at Sutton did not conceal their pleasure at what they supposed was the discomfiture of the young Yankee. But he kept his counsel and bided his time. At Summersville he procured from the clerk, John Hamilton, a certified copy of the order of Judge Duncan admitting him to practice, and with this document in his pocket he set out for Weston, passed through Clarksburg and Fairmont, on foot, and crossed into Pennsylvania. There was at that time an understanding (which amounted to a law) between Virginia and Pennsylvania that each would admit to its courts lawyers from the other State. Knowing this, Mr. Dayton proceeded to Somerset County, where Judge Jere S. Black was on the bench, and presented the certificate that he had been admitted to practice in Nicholas County, Virginia. Thereupon he was admitted to practice in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania license, in its turn, and under the rules of reciprocity, would give him the right to demand license in Virginia, and no judge would feel at liberty to refuse the demand. Thus he set out for Virginia to hunt Judge Duncan. By that time the Randolph Court was in session and Mr. Dayton went thither, and through Colonel David Goff presented his papers and asked to be admitted to practice. Judge Duncan examined the papers, in evident impatience and ill-humor, but seeing that he had been trapped, he ordered the clerk to make the entry admitting Mr. Dayton to practice; and then addressing the members of the bar and the people in the courthouse, he said: "If any of you have any dealings with this young Yankee, I would advise you to lookout for yourselves. He played a genuine Yankee trick on me, and I cannot help myself." Mr. Dayton, from that incident, became known in the vicinity as "the young Yankee who outwitted Judge Duncan." Not having yet decided on a place to locate, but being favorably (impressed with Clarksburg, Mr. Dayton returned from Beverly to Philippi and there met John S. Carlile who then resided in Philippi and who persuaded Mr. Dayton to become his law partner. This business arrangement caused Mr. Dayton to locate in Philippi where he made his permanent home and extended his practice to Randolph, Upshur, Lewis, Tucker, Taylor, Grant, and to other counties, as well as to the higher courts. His care in the preparation of cases, and the information at his disposal, soon gave him a high rank among lawyers. On one occasion in Tucker County, some attorney objected to a paper in the suit, claiming that it was improperly drawn. Judge Samuel Woods (who was not interested in the suit) glanced at the writing and exclaimed: "Why, that cannot be so! Spencer Dayton wrote this paper, and in matters of law and forms he is as infallible as the Apostle Paul." As the trouble leading up to the Civil War thickened, Mr. Dayton became the champion of the Union cause in Barbour, and he upheld that cause at the risk of his life. His acquaintance with the people of the North and South convinced him that, in the war, the South must ultimately be crushed beneath the weight of the moral and physical courage, the wealth and the perseverance of the North. He knew that the North would be slow to begin, but would never turn back nor hesitate when once in the field. The chapter in this book, concerning the war in Barbour County, details the part taken by Mr. Dayton, and it need not be repeated here. It should be stated, however, for the truth of history, that he did all he could to alleviate the hardships of the war while it was in progress, and when it was ended, he was among the first to say, let us have peace. He was many times in a position to do acts of kindness to his political enemies during the war and immediately after its close; and he never let such an opportunity pass. More than one proscribed man, in danger of his life or liberty because of his actions or opinions, was helped by Mr. Dayton without ever knowing the source from which the help came. He assisted in the Wheeling Convention in 1861 in reorganizing the State of Virginia, which reorganization ultimately led to the formation of West Virginia. That convention and the part which he took in it is spoken of elsewhere in this book. Iii 1869 he was elected to the State Senate and took a formost place in the movement at that time looking to the re-enfranchisement of those who had lost their civil rights because of taking part against the government in the war. The leaders who acted with him were W. H. H. Flick and William M. Welch. They were called "Let-up Republicans" to distinguish them from the radical and extreme Republicans who still insisted upon keeping the heel upon the necks of those who had assisted the South in the rebellion five years before. In that contest in the Legislature upon the question of removing the restrictions which then existed against Southern men, Mr. Dayton was the pivotal member, and his vote and influence turned the scale and led to the repeal of the restrictive measures. The Flick Amendment was opposed in the Legislature by the extreme Republicans and the extreme Democrats, and its passage and the good results from it were due to the moderate members who championed the cause of political toleration. Mr. Dayton was always a careful and extensive reader, and by that means acquainted himself with the leading authors of the English language. He also, as a recreation, learned French and Greek, and has read the entire Bible in those languages, as well as in English. He has held the office of Prosecuting Attorney in more counties, perhaps, than any other man in the State, having been elected to that position in Barbour, Randolph, Pocahontas and Tucker, and in all he was elected on the same day. ------------------------------------------------------------------- FOOTNOTES ------------------------------------------------------------------- [*1] Elizabeth Tod was born in 1690. Her father was born in 1653, son of Christopher Tod, who was born in Ireland. Governor Tod, of Ohio, is a descendant of Christopher: When Governor Tod was asked why he did not spell his name with two d's, he replied. "The Author of all never spelled his name with two d's, and 1 don't propose to put on more style than God Almighty." [*2] One of their grandsons, Hon. James E. English, was twice Governor of Connecticut and in 1875 was elected United States Senator. Another grandson was Hon. E. D. Mansfield of Cincinnati, a noted author, and a son of Jared Mansfield, Surveyor General of the Northwest under President Jefferson, and long a professor at West Point. [*3] A near relative of Elihu Yale, the founder of Yale University. [*4] Jonah Dayton was a noted inventor, particularly of musical instruments. At Daytonville. Connecticut, (named in his honor) thousands of organs have been built at his factories, and many of the ablest workmen employed in the largest factories in the United States learned their trade under him. [*5] The Samuel Dayton, named as the oldest known ancestor, had a brother from whom are descended other Daytons of prominence, including General Elias Dayton of the Revolutionary army. His son, Jonathan, was a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, and his name ("Jona. Dayton") is signed to it. He was subsequently Speaker of the House of Representatives and U. S. Senate. The city of Dayton, Ohio, was named in his honor. His son, William L. Dayton, was one of the founders of the Republican party, and in 1856 was a candidate for vice-president on the ticket with John Fremont, and was a candidate for President in 1800 and received a respectable vote against Lincoln and who subsequently made him Minister to France. He died in 1864. ------------------------------------------------------------------- DEATH-REGISTER, Barbour County WV Page 128, No. 855 Spencer Dayton died Sept 6, 1903 at age 83y-7m-14d Occupation: Lawyer Marital-status: Widower Where-born: Litchfield, Mass. #Years resident in this state: 41 Place of Death: Philippi, W.Va. Cause of Death: Paralysis of Heart Place of Burial: Fraternity Cemetery ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Barbour County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/barbour/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------