David Day (September 19, 1825 – 1896) was a politician from

Minnesota Territory The Territory of Minnesota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1849, until May 11, 1858, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Minnesota and the w ...

and a former member of the Minnesota Territory House of Representatives, representing

Long Prairie, Minnesota Long Prairie is a town in Todd County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,458 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. By the 2020 United States census, 2020 Decennial Census the population had grown to 3,661. It is the coun ...

. He was born in

Burke's Garden, Virginia Burke's Garden is an upland valley and unincorporated community in Tazewell County, Virginia, United States. It is surrounded by the Garden Mountain Cluster, wild areas in the national forest recognized by the Wilderness Society as "Mountain Tre ...

. In 1846 he moved to

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

to work as a lead miner. In his spare time and during winters he studied medicine, graduating from the

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine The Perelman School of Medicine (commonly known as Penn Med) is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private, Ivy League research university located in Philadelphia. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of M ...

in 1849. After graduating he relocated to

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...

where he worked in the drug business. Upon arriving in St. Paul on April 25, 1849, he secured lodgings and roomed with John H. Stevens who had arrived just the day before. They were both suffering from "lung difficulties." Mr. Stevens wrote, "he could scarcely walk up the bluff from the old landing," but the climate in Minnesota made them both "strong, healthy men." Day was elected to the Minnesota Territory House of Representatives in 1851. When the fourth legislature met in Jan. 1853, the house failed to secure a speaker. Two to three weeks were spent in deadlock. It was decided to all meet at the home of John H. Stevens to see if they could come to a decision. Those in attendance included Dr. Day, Hon. Justus C. Ramsey, Hon. John D. Ludden, and other members of the house and territorial senate, as well as prominent St. Paul citizens. The next day, upon opening the session, they elected Dr. David Day as speaker. At the time, he was the resident physician of the Indian department in Long Prairie. He served as speaker from 1853 to 1854. While he did not serve in the state legislature again, he was appointed to several different state commissions and committees and retired from his medicine business in 1866. He died in St. Paul in 1896.

References

1896 deaths 1825 births Members of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature People from Tazewell County, Virginia Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni {{Minnesota-politician-stub