James A. DAY, M.D., was born near his present home February 11, 1840, the son of Samuel B. and Winnie (Evans) DAY, the former of Scotch-Irish stock, born January 15, 1800 in Albemarle County, Va., and deceased December 19, 1875, and the latter born in May, 1804, in this county, and deceased August 6, 1886. They lived on Sycamore Creek as farmers all their married lives. He was a Democrat, and both were Primitive Baptists.
Our subject, the ninth of eleven children, and the only living one, was educated at Tazewell College, and began the study of medicine under Dr. McNEIL, of that place. In 1862 he enlisted in the Twelfth Battalion Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, commanded by his brother, Maj. G.W. DAY, and became hospital steward and assistant surgeon, and served in that capacity during the war. He quit the service after Johnston surrendered in North Carolina.
In 1864-65 he attended Richmond Confederate Medical College, established for undergraduates, and in 1865-66 attended the University of Nashville, graduating with first honors. He then located at Tazewell, and at once got a big practice, but the country being so impoverished during the war the pay was small. Hence, in October, 1867, he moved west and located at Halleck, northwest Missouri, where he had a lucrative practice for four years. But on account of bad health he returned to East Tennessee, in 1872, and in 1876 bought the old homestead, a farm of about 1,280. Since then he has been a planter, besides practicing. He has made quite a local reputation as a surgeon and practitioner.
In 1867 he married Sallie EPPES, a daughter of William EPPES, and has had eight sons and one daughter, two of the former and the latter being deceased. Our subject is a Democrat and Prohibitionist, and a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, while his wife is a Methodist.
Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of from Twenty-Five to Thirty Counties of East Tennessee. Chicago: Goodspeed, 1887.