A pioneer Baptist missionary in India. Read more about her life and that of her husband in his memorial (Rev. Samuel Stearns Day), link below.
[NOTE: If anyone has a photo of Roenna Clark Day, I would very much like to add it to this memorial.]
In 1835, less than a month after her marriage to the Rev. Samuel Stearns Day on 23 Aug 1835 in Homer, Cortland NY, Roenna Clark Day was fighting debilitating seasickness and heart-rending homesickness on a masted sailing ship bound for India, where she and her new husband would begin their much-anticipated missionary work with the Telagu people at what would come to be known as the Lonestar Mission, which they are credited with founding. While shipboard for 150 days between America and India, she wrote a very long letter/journal to her parents, Rhoda and Thomas Clark, then living in Freetown, Cortland County NY [later moved to Fulton County OH and even later to Lenawee County MI, where they died].
This personal and heartfelt letter covers the time period October 8, 1835, through May 10, 1836, and details Roenna's shipboard travel and a bit of her arrival in India. The beginning focuses on her extreme seasickness, seen by her as a trial of her faith. Later, as she is recovering, she describes life aboard the ship and finally recounts details of their arrival in India and her fears of childbirth. Things were vastly different than today. Ships sailed with only the wind to generate movement. Harpooning, e.g., was a way of life, and missionaries saw the heathen as wanting to be saved. That was very normal life in the early 1800's. Roenna's intelligence and kind and empathetic nature is fully on view in the letter.
Excerpts...from the Ship 'Louvre' in the Atlantic Ocean
[Oct 8, 1835]..."My ever dear Parents: Being far removed from you and those I love on earth I sit down to recount the loving kindness of the Lord manifested to one in the least deserving of all...We have now been out 10 days and are about 17 hundred miles from Boston. We sailed Tuesday, Sep. 22, 1835...Today we are going on very well at the rate of 6 miles an hour...O that propitious gales may waft us speedily to our destined shores. For, my dear parents, I assure that a voyage at sea is not very pleasant. It is only that I have taken it in the name of the Lord that I can support it, yet I am not as sick as some of the others. But I cannot describe to you the deathly feeling it produces on those not accustomed to the sea. We lose all desire to be active, we look dull and stupid, and for the most part the mind suffers equally or more...Our food is cooked well, but it does not taste like sitting down at Father's table...the captain and officers and crew pay good attention but appear very thoughtless. May the spirit of God affect their hearts...For 20 days I have not been able to write or study. 15 days I was confined to bed, vomiting up all that I took...I became so weak I could not walk alone...Often, my dear Mam-ma, did I think of you and my dear quiet home and sometimes almost long for one hour where I might cease rocking and be at rest from sickness...the vessel either rocks from side to side or pitches fro end to end, so you cannot rest a moment...night or day...You cannot tell how we have been delighted today. Early this morning we espied a vessel behind us...a large ship from England...bound for South Wales...She had 160 convicts on board...taking them thither for their punishment...We have so little variety at sea that this was a great treat...[she notes that there are 10 'sisters' on board; presumably missionary women]...[She asks a rhetorical question...]...And is it truth, my dear Parents, that I shall never again gaze upon your countenances on earth? Must I never behold Marilla [sister] when arrived to womanhood, or dear little Henry and Charles when they shall be men (if death shall spare them) [child mortality ever present]...though I have chosen to part with you all, you were never dearer to me, as at this moment...then I retire to our little room which is so small that it is with difficulty two can kneel [for prayer] in it, and when the door is closed so tight and warm that I can breath in it but a few moments...The deck is large and clean, and canvas is hung overhead so that we are entirely screened from the rays of the sun, and the sea-breezes renders it cool even in this lattitude (about 7 north)...My dear Parents know me so well that they will perfectly understand me when I tell them that it is exceedingly difficult for me to be patient, and cheerful, and happy, when I am sick...But I do not pray to be delivered from it but that the Lord would sanctify this affliction. I need the trial...I am not insensable to the would which was made in your hearts...I know they were torn with anguish and bled at every pore, but you had given us to the Lord. You wished not to recall the offering, painful as it was to part with us...Tell Marilla and Gilbert [siblings] and the little boys that their sister desires above all things that they will prepare themselves for that holy, happy home [Heaven], that we may meet one whole, happy family there to be separated no more...About noon we spoke a vessel and found her to be an American bound for Boston...we all made our letters ready in a moment...I sent one to yourselves, another to James [brother who also trained as a missionary]...We have a strong trade wind for many days...at the rate of 180 miles in 24 hours...We had a rare dinner today and the first I have relished in a long time. It has been roast ducks; they were stuffed nice, and tasted like roasted fowl at home...It is eight weeks tomorrow evening since we sailed...[Nov 24]...advancing around the Cape. The weather quite cold. This morning I put on dress and flannel waist coat next to me...it will probably be cold a number of weeks...[The crew and passengers had to eat on such a long voyage, so some descriptions of dolphins and whales...]...Before I was dressed this morning some that were on deck came running down...'Come see the porpoise'...they were playing around the ship like so many tame ducks; they look exceeding beautiful in the water and glide swiftly near the surface, occasionally leaping above the water...Soon the Captain succeeded in taking one...with a harpoon...and as it fastens itself in the poor animal they are drawn by it into the ship...about 6 feet 3 inches in circumference...The skin looks smooth but it is rough to the feel. The head is large and resembles a hog's head...teeth are small and thickly set. They are considered good for food; they are dressed much like a pig, only the skin, which is called the blubber...an inch and a little more thick, is taken off and tried for the oil. It has a liver and a heart and all other parts like the pig; indeed you know they are called the sea hog. We had the liver fried and other parts stuffed which was very nice. The flesh is much like the flesh of venison, not at all like fish...There are regions where whaling ships go...Soon after breakfast we saw one of these ships...The ships laid to [exchange of personnel]...they sent a boat with 5 sailors to our ship, when the captain and 5 or 6 others of our company got into their boat...they returned saying that they had just taken a whole and secured the blubber (the skin) while they left the body to float in the sea...The captain also gave them a pair of beautiful albatrosses...large as any two geese you ever saw...measured 11 feet 8 inches from the end of one wing to the other...killed and stuffed to preserve...They are eaten sometimes...There have been many birds from the Island flying about us. [Dec 1]...Weather remarkably calm; indeed it has been so all the way; we have not had even a gale...expected it to be dreadful blustry and rough...we are 8 or 900 miles from the longitude of the Cape...[she is invited to go onto another ship they met up with]...It was a novelty to see the manner in which an English vessel is fitted up...conveniences were many...state rooms are large and airy...elegant...but what I admired most of all was what I never expected to see--an English cow with her calf; they had plenty of milk, also good fresh bread. They milked the cow and sent us some nice loaves of bread...They had many vegetables growing in earth; almost every fresh article...a wonderful day...[Dec 4]...I look away to Hamilton [NY] and see you all this morning shaking with the cold, making on a good fire, and drawing close to it. Perhaps the snow is flying...This is the season of the year that used to bring all the dear children to their loved home and to the embrace of one another...But now you gather around the fireside, the frugal board, and the family altar, but there is a vacancy, some come not...three of your eldest are scattered to return no more to dwell with you...We can sympathize with you for the wind changed and became high in the night and it is so cold this morning that I am writing with my bonnet and shawl on...[Jan 6]...now in the midst of the Indian Ocean...heat is becoming very oppressive...I can scarcely think that while I am in my coolest garb, panting with the heat, you are clothed in flannel, sitting by a good fire...Sometimes I imagine I see the fields and roads covered with the drifted snow and the sleighs flying swiftly about the streets, and the bells sounding merrily. Then I see the dear little boys, and Marilla, wrapping themselves in their cloaks and caps, while they almost choose to stay from school, rather than face the blustering wind and falling snow But these native scenes I shall witness no more...We are rapidly drawing near the heathen shores we so much desire to see...three or four more weeks will terminate our journey at Calcutta...It is indeed pleasant to think of once more treading upon the land, and beholding the foliage of nature, and being able to sit and sleep quietly...My health is generally pretty good...[Feb 6, 1836 - CALCUTTA]...One month has elapsed, my dear Parents, since I could indulge myself in the privilege of writing to you...[a man called a pilot came to guide them up the Hooghly River]...the boat that brought him from his own vessel was manned by natives of India...I cannot describe the emotions I felt on beholding them. They were naked except a piece of cloth around their middle. Some of them had a strip of cloth about their heads; others had nothing. The hair of some was short, even shaved, except a small tuft on the crown; others had long hair which they tied in a bunch and cued up. Their external appearance was indeed striking but my heart was more affected by the reflection that they were hastening to the Judgement of the great day, without any knowledge of Him who will be their Judge...O that I could speak to them! But many months must pass ere I can tell them of the way of Salvation through our blessed Redeemer...[Feb 4] We anchored near Keolgeree, 90 miles from Calcutta...Those going to C. were to be sent up in [steam]boats...we parted with those who for many years had been our warm and endeared friends...opened anew the wounds this [parting] inflicted. But it is done. We took the last view of them and gave them the last token of love after the boat was under full motion. We shall see them no more, but we hope to meet in our Father's kingdom when our work is done...[Feb 5]...The scenery is delightful..exceedingly delightful to an eye that for many months has beheld nothing but a waste of water...forest is not thick like that in America, but the trees are scattered; here and there a tall cocoa surrounded with low dates and palms, with much other shrubbery which I cannot name...banks which were thickly lined with native huts; these have the walls of clay, with thatched roofs...stand chiefly in clusters, perhaps 50 or a hundred...large fields where rice had been cut...on every side of us were native fishing boats, and there a larger kind loaded with rice in the bundle..large herds of cows were feeding on the shore...[in the afternoon] we came to the famous place, spoken of by all who sail up this river, called Garden-Reach...7 miles from Calcutta. The inhabitants are all Europeans. Their dwellings are the most superb I ever beheld...like palaces...surrounded with elegant gardens [which came down to the shore of the river to open up the estates for disease prevention]...there are a great number of Europeans living in elegant buildings all over Calcutta. But these are contrasted with thousands of native hutts, and the most degrading and appalling spectacle a person ever beheld...I stood 15 minutes on deck...saw the bodies five dead men floating in the water with large birds preying upon them, such as vultures or crows. But the horror of this inhuman appearance was in a great degree lost in the more dreadful, and appalling reflection that they died ignorant of the living God...Could I once more stand among the dear brethren and sisters in America I would lift my feeble voice to tell them what I already know of the misery and deep degradation of multitudes of our fellow men. But I forbare: I know nothing yet of the idolatry of the heathen...[Feb 5 1836]...we set our feet again upon the solid land after a voyage of 135 days...[2 weeks later, on Feb 20, 1836, they were again on the high seas bound for their assigned missionary destination 500 miles from Calcutta, in Telugu country, which was to be their home for another 10+ years.]...[Mar 3, 1836]...Yesterday we landed at this place, after a voyage of fifteen days...On the first day of March...anchored off this place [supposedly their destination]...but the morning undeceived us, and to our great disappointment we found it to be a little village 20 miles north of Vizagapatem. The anchor was soon weighed and the Capt. endeavored to procede. But a strong head wind setting in rendered it impossible, and after toiling the whole day we found ourselves not over five miles from the place we left in the morning...we were informed that the entire place was inhabited by natives, and they would not permit us to enter their dwellings on any account...found a European family residing about 2 miles from the village...received a kind invitation to stop with them...O my dear Mother I cannot express the gratitude I feel in once more being permitted to sit quietly on the land...I look around me, on the right hand and left. On one side I see the distant hills topped with the marble white Pagoda (or idol temple), on the other the populous villages scattered over the plain. I stand gazing at them; I say to myself. "Among these hills, and in these vallies am I to live, and labor, and die. Among these degraded sons of India am I to spend my days, whether few or many...[May 10, 1836]...Many cares, the heat of the weather, and ill health have prevented [me from writing]...[and more news....she is expecting]...I expect to be confined in the very hottest part of the season...My dear husband's health has been pretty good since we landed, though complaining some. I too have been well as could be expected for one in my circumstances, constantly exposed to danger and fatigue...We are now engaged in studying the Telagoo language...I will not attempt a description of my feelings, while I look forward to the time of my sufferings [childbirth]. You my dear Mother who have passed many such trying hours know better than I...More than this is the thought of becoming a mother, not in America, but in India, presses heavy on my spirits. If I could now speak to you I would ask your prayers that I may be prepared for the hour of suffering; but long ere this can reach you I shall have passed that trial either in safety or sunk into my everlasting rest. O my heavenly Father thy will be done...Sister Penney in Calcutta had all my small things prepared before I left...This, I find to be a great convenience, for all such articles are very dear at this place, even many cannot be procured at any price, and a child requires many more clothes in this country than in America; owing to the perspiration and the necessity of all the clothes being 7 days at the wash-mans. A child must have a fresh suit every day at least. But farewell for the present..."
[Here the journal/letter ended]
Her first child, Howard "Malcomb" Day was born shortly afterward. All of her other children were also born in India. Daughter Mary Marilla Day, who never married, also became a renowned Baptist missionary in India. Daughter Ellen Roenna Day married a widower from Cortland County, Amos Lamb Kinney. James Bacon Day became a dentist; both Malcomb and Samuel "Clark" Day served in the Civil War. Mary Marilla's twin sister, Martha Sophia, had an unhappy marriage to a sea captain.
____________
[PHOTO AT RIGHT]
While reading the transcribed notes of this letter, I saw a note about a stained glass window which was later installed in the Homer NY Baptist Church in memory of Rev. Day and his wife Roenna (Clark). With some help from the Homer NY historian and the Director of The Homer Center for the Arts, I have included a photo of the stained glass window which once graced the church where many of the earliest Clarks and Kinneys worshiped. It is now located in the lower level of the Center, preserved by some history-minded people in Homer. What endurance!
Note of thanks:
This letter, and other photos and letters and general information, were shared with me by J. Long, a descendant.]
The administrator's husband is a Clark descendant from Roenna's oldest brother, Hosea Clark [who named his only daughter after his sister]. The entire family was historically Baptist for many generations, both back and forward.
[NOTE: If anyone has a photo of Roenna Clark Day, I would very much like to add it to this memorial.]
In 1835, less than a month after her marriage to the Rev. Samuel Stearns Day on 23 Aug 1835 in Homer, Cortland NY, Roenna Clark Day was fighting debilitating seasickness and heart-rending homesickness on a masted sailing ship bound for India, where she and her new husband would begin their much-anticipated missionary work with the Telagu people at what would come to be known as the Lonestar Mission, which they are credited with founding. While shipboard for 150 days between America and India, she wrote a very long letter/journal to her parents, Rhoda and Thomas Clark, then living in Freetown, Cortland County NY [later moved to Fulton County OH and even later to Lenawee County MI, where they died].
This personal and heartfelt letter covers the time period October 8, 1835, through May 10, 1836, and details Roenna's shipboard travel and a bit of her arrival in India. The beginning focuses on her extreme seasickness, seen by her as a trial of her faith. Later, as she is recovering, she describes life aboard the ship and finally recounts details of their arrival in India and her fears of childbirth. Things were vastly different than today. Ships sailed with only the wind to generate movement. Harpooning, e.g., was a way of life, and missionaries saw the heathen as wanting to be saved. That was very normal life in the early 1800's. Roenna's intelligence and kind and empathetic nature is fully on view in the letter.
Excerpts...from the Ship 'Louvre' in the Atlantic Ocean
[Oct 8, 1835]..."My ever dear Parents: Being far removed from you and those I love on earth I sit down to recount the loving kindness of the Lord manifested to one in the least deserving of all...We have now been out 10 days and are about 17 hundred miles from Boston. We sailed Tuesday, Sep. 22, 1835...Today we are going on very well at the rate of 6 miles an hour...O that propitious gales may waft us speedily to our destined shores. For, my dear parents, I assure that a voyage at sea is not very pleasant. It is only that I have taken it in the name of the Lord that I can support it, yet I am not as sick as some of the others. But I cannot describe to you the deathly feeling it produces on those not accustomed to the sea. We lose all desire to be active, we look dull and stupid, and for the most part the mind suffers equally or more...Our food is cooked well, but it does not taste like sitting down at Father's table...the captain and officers and crew pay good attention but appear very thoughtless. May the spirit of God affect their hearts...For 20 days I have not been able to write or study. 15 days I was confined to bed, vomiting up all that I took...I became so weak I could not walk alone...Often, my dear Mam-ma, did I think of you and my dear quiet home and sometimes almost long for one hour where I might cease rocking and be at rest from sickness...the vessel either rocks from side to side or pitches fro end to end, so you cannot rest a moment...night or day...You cannot tell how we have been delighted today. Early this morning we espied a vessel behind us...a large ship from England...bound for South Wales...She had 160 convicts on board...taking them thither for their punishment...We have so little variety at sea that this was a great treat...[she notes that there are 10 'sisters' on board; presumably missionary women]...[She asks a rhetorical question...]...And is it truth, my dear Parents, that I shall never again gaze upon your countenances on earth? Must I never behold Marilla [sister] when arrived to womanhood, or dear little Henry and Charles when they shall be men (if death shall spare them) [child mortality ever present]...though I have chosen to part with you all, you were never dearer to me, as at this moment...then I retire to our little room which is so small that it is with difficulty two can kneel [for prayer] in it, and when the door is closed so tight and warm that I can breath in it but a few moments...The deck is large and clean, and canvas is hung overhead so that we are entirely screened from the rays of the sun, and the sea-breezes renders it cool even in this lattitude (about 7 north)...My dear Parents know me so well that they will perfectly understand me when I tell them that it is exceedingly difficult for me to be patient, and cheerful, and happy, when I am sick...But I do not pray to be delivered from it but that the Lord would sanctify this affliction. I need the trial...I am not insensable to the would which was made in your hearts...I know they were torn with anguish and bled at every pore, but you had given us to the Lord. You wished not to recall the offering, painful as it was to part with us...Tell Marilla and Gilbert [siblings] and the little boys that their sister desires above all things that they will prepare themselves for that holy, happy home [Heaven], that we may meet one whole, happy family there to be separated no more...About noon we spoke a vessel and found her to be an American bound for Boston...we all made our letters ready in a moment...I sent one to yourselves, another to James [brother who also trained as a missionary]...We have a strong trade wind for many days...at the rate of 180 miles in 24 hours...We had a rare dinner today and the first I have relished in a long time. It has been roast ducks; they were stuffed nice, and tasted like roasted fowl at home...It is eight weeks tomorrow evening since we sailed...[Nov 24]...advancing around the Cape. The weather quite cold. This morning I put on dress and flannel waist coat next to me...it will probably be cold a number of weeks...[The crew and passengers had to eat on such a long voyage, so some descriptions of dolphins and whales...]...Before I was dressed this morning some that were on deck came running down...'Come see the porpoise'...they were playing around the ship like so many tame ducks; they look exceeding beautiful in the water and glide swiftly near the surface, occasionally leaping above the water...Soon the Captain succeeded in taking one...with a harpoon...and as it fastens itself in the poor animal they are drawn by it into the ship...about 6 feet 3 inches in circumference...The skin looks smooth but it is rough to the feel. The head is large and resembles a hog's head...teeth are small and thickly set. They are considered good for food; they are dressed much like a pig, only the skin, which is called the blubber...an inch and a little more thick, is taken off and tried for the oil. It has a liver and a heart and all other parts like the pig; indeed you know they are called the sea hog. We had the liver fried and other parts stuffed which was very nice. The flesh is much like the flesh of venison, not at all like fish...There are regions where whaling ships go...Soon after breakfast we saw one of these ships...The ships laid to [exchange of personnel]...they sent a boat with 5 sailors to our ship, when the captain and 5 or 6 others of our company got into their boat...they returned saying that they had just taken a whole and secured the blubber (the skin) while they left the body to float in the sea...The captain also gave them a pair of beautiful albatrosses...large as any two geese you ever saw...measured 11 feet 8 inches from the end of one wing to the other...killed and stuffed to preserve...They are eaten sometimes...There have been many birds from the Island flying about us. [Dec 1]...Weather remarkably calm; indeed it has been so all the way; we have not had even a gale...expected it to be dreadful blustry and rough...we are 8 or 900 miles from the longitude of the Cape...[she is invited to go onto another ship they met up with]...It was a novelty to see the manner in which an English vessel is fitted up...conveniences were many...state rooms are large and airy...elegant...but what I admired most of all was what I never expected to see--an English cow with her calf; they had plenty of milk, also good fresh bread. They milked the cow and sent us some nice loaves of bread...They had many vegetables growing in earth; almost every fresh article...a wonderful day...[Dec 4]...I look away to Hamilton [NY] and see you all this morning shaking with the cold, making on a good fire, and drawing close to it. Perhaps the snow is flying...This is the season of the year that used to bring all the dear children to their loved home and to the embrace of one another...But now you gather around the fireside, the frugal board, and the family altar, but there is a vacancy, some come not...three of your eldest are scattered to return no more to dwell with you...We can sympathize with you for the wind changed and became high in the night and it is so cold this morning that I am writing with my bonnet and shawl on...[Jan 6]...now in the midst of the Indian Ocean...heat is becoming very oppressive...I can scarcely think that while I am in my coolest garb, panting with the heat, you are clothed in flannel, sitting by a good fire...Sometimes I imagine I see the fields and roads covered with the drifted snow and the sleighs flying swiftly about the streets, and the bells sounding merrily. Then I see the dear little boys, and Marilla, wrapping themselves in their cloaks and caps, while they almost choose to stay from school, rather than face the blustering wind and falling snow But these native scenes I shall witness no more...We are rapidly drawing near the heathen shores we so much desire to see...three or four more weeks will terminate our journey at Calcutta...It is indeed pleasant to think of once more treading upon the land, and beholding the foliage of nature, and being able to sit and sleep quietly...My health is generally pretty good...[Feb 6, 1836 - CALCUTTA]...One month has elapsed, my dear Parents, since I could indulge myself in the privilege of writing to you...[a man called a pilot came to guide them up the Hooghly River]...the boat that brought him from his own vessel was manned by natives of India...I cannot describe the emotions I felt on beholding them. They were naked except a piece of cloth around their middle. Some of them had a strip of cloth about their heads; others had nothing. The hair of some was short, even shaved, except a small tuft on the crown; others had long hair which they tied in a bunch and cued up. Their external appearance was indeed striking but my heart was more affected by the reflection that they were hastening to the Judgement of the great day, without any knowledge of Him who will be their Judge...O that I could speak to them! But many months must pass ere I can tell them of the way of Salvation through our blessed Redeemer...[Feb 4] We anchored near Keolgeree, 90 miles from Calcutta...Those going to C. were to be sent up in [steam]boats...we parted with those who for many years had been our warm and endeared friends...opened anew the wounds this [parting] inflicted. But it is done. We took the last view of them and gave them the last token of love after the boat was under full motion. We shall see them no more, but we hope to meet in our Father's kingdom when our work is done...[Feb 5]...The scenery is delightful..exceedingly delightful to an eye that for many months has beheld nothing but a waste of water...forest is not thick like that in America, but the trees are scattered; here and there a tall cocoa surrounded with low dates and palms, with much other shrubbery which I cannot name...banks which were thickly lined with native huts; these have the walls of clay, with thatched roofs...stand chiefly in clusters, perhaps 50 or a hundred...large fields where rice had been cut...on every side of us were native fishing boats, and there a larger kind loaded with rice in the bundle..large herds of cows were feeding on the shore...[in the afternoon] we came to the famous place, spoken of by all who sail up this river, called Garden-Reach...7 miles from Calcutta. The inhabitants are all Europeans. Their dwellings are the most superb I ever beheld...like palaces...surrounded with elegant gardens [which came down to the shore of the river to open up the estates for disease prevention]...there are a great number of Europeans living in elegant buildings all over Calcutta. But these are contrasted with thousands of native hutts, and the most degrading and appalling spectacle a person ever beheld...I stood 15 minutes on deck...saw the bodies five dead men floating in the water with large birds preying upon them, such as vultures or crows. But the horror of this inhuman appearance was in a great degree lost in the more dreadful, and appalling reflection that they died ignorant of the living God...Could I once more stand among the dear brethren and sisters in America I would lift my feeble voice to tell them what I already know of the misery and deep degradation of multitudes of our fellow men. But I forbare: I know nothing yet of the idolatry of the heathen...[Feb 5 1836]...we set our feet again upon the solid land after a voyage of 135 days...[2 weeks later, on Feb 20, 1836, they were again on the high seas bound for their assigned missionary destination 500 miles from Calcutta, in Telugu country, which was to be their home for another 10+ years.]...[Mar 3, 1836]...Yesterday we landed at this place, after a voyage of fifteen days...On the first day of March...anchored off this place [supposedly their destination]...but the morning undeceived us, and to our great disappointment we found it to be a little village 20 miles north of Vizagapatem. The anchor was soon weighed and the Capt. endeavored to procede. But a strong head wind setting in rendered it impossible, and after toiling the whole day we found ourselves not over five miles from the place we left in the morning...we were informed that the entire place was inhabited by natives, and they would not permit us to enter their dwellings on any account...found a European family residing about 2 miles from the village...received a kind invitation to stop with them...O my dear Mother I cannot express the gratitude I feel in once more being permitted to sit quietly on the land...I look around me, on the right hand and left. On one side I see the distant hills topped with the marble white Pagoda (or idol temple), on the other the populous villages scattered over the plain. I stand gazing at them; I say to myself. "Among these hills, and in these vallies am I to live, and labor, and die. Among these degraded sons of India am I to spend my days, whether few or many...[May 10, 1836]...Many cares, the heat of the weather, and ill health have prevented [me from writing]...[and more news....she is expecting]...I expect to be confined in the very hottest part of the season...My dear husband's health has been pretty good since we landed, though complaining some. I too have been well as could be expected for one in my circumstances, constantly exposed to danger and fatigue...We are now engaged in studying the Telagoo language...I will not attempt a description of my feelings, while I look forward to the time of my sufferings [childbirth]. You my dear Mother who have passed many such trying hours know better than I...More than this is the thought of becoming a mother, not in America, but in India, presses heavy on my spirits. If I could now speak to you I would ask your prayers that I may be prepared for the hour of suffering; but long ere this can reach you I shall have passed that trial either in safety or sunk into my everlasting rest. O my heavenly Father thy will be done...Sister Penney in Calcutta had all my small things prepared before I left...This, I find to be a great convenience, for all such articles are very dear at this place, even many cannot be procured at any price, and a child requires many more clothes in this country than in America; owing to the perspiration and the necessity of all the clothes being 7 days at the wash-mans. A child must have a fresh suit every day at least. But farewell for the present..."
[Here the journal/letter ended]
Her first child, Howard "Malcomb" Day was born shortly afterward. All of her other children were also born in India. Daughter Mary Marilla Day, who never married, also became a renowned Baptist missionary in India. Daughter Ellen Roenna Day married a widower from Cortland County, Amos Lamb Kinney. James Bacon Day became a dentist; both Malcomb and Samuel "Clark" Day served in the Civil War. Mary Marilla's twin sister, Martha Sophia, had an unhappy marriage to a sea captain.
____________
[PHOTO AT RIGHT]
While reading the transcribed notes of this letter, I saw a note about a stained glass window which was later installed in the Homer NY Baptist Church in memory of Rev. Day and his wife Roenna (Clark). With some help from the Homer NY historian and the Director of The Homer Center for the Arts, I have included a photo of the stained glass window which once graced the church where many of the earliest Clarks and Kinneys worshiped. It is now located in the lower level of the Center, preserved by some history-minded people in Homer. What endurance!
Note of thanks:
This letter, and other photos and letters and general information, were shared with me by J. Long, a descendant.]
The administrator's husband is a Clark descendant from Roenna's oldest brother, Hosea Clark [who named his only daughter after his sister]. The entire family was historically Baptist for many generations, both back and forward.
A pioneer Baptist missionary in India. Read more about her life and that of her husband in his memorial (Rev. Samuel Stearns Day), link below.
[NOTE: If anyone has a photo of Roenna Clark Day, I would very much like to add it to this memorial.]
In 1835, less than a month after her marriage to the Rev. Samuel Stearns Day on 23 Aug 1835 in Homer, Cortland NY, Roenna Clark Day was fighting debilitating seasickness and heart-rending homesickness on a masted sailing ship bound for India, where she and her new husband would begin their much-anticipated missionary work with the Telagu people at what would come to be known as the Lonestar Mission, which they are credited with founding. While shipboard for 150 days between America and India, she wrote a very long letter/journal to her parents, Rhoda and Thomas Clark, then living in Freetown, Cortland County NY [later moved to Fulton County OH and even later to Lenawee County MI, where they died].
This personal and heartfelt letter covers the time period October 8, 1835, through May 10, 1836, and details Roenna's shipboard travel and a bit of her arrival in India. The beginning focuses on her extreme seasickness, seen by her as a trial of her faith. Later, as she is recovering, she describes life aboard the ship and finally recounts details of their arrival in India and her fears of childbirth. Things were vastly different than today. Ships sailed with only the wind to generate movement. Harpooning, e.g., was a way of life, and missionaries saw the heathen as wanting to be saved. That was very normal life in the early 1800's. Roenna's intelligence and kind and empathetic nature is fully on view in the letter.
Excerpts...from the Ship 'Louvre' in the Atlantic Ocean
[Oct 8, 1835]..."My ever dear Parents: Being far removed from you and those I love on earth I sit down to recount the loving kindness of the Lord manifested to one in the least deserving of all...We have now been out 10 days and are about 17 hundred miles from Boston. We sailed Tuesday, Sep. 22, 1835...Today we are going on very well at the rate of 6 miles an hour...O that propitious gales may waft us speedily to our destined shores. For, my dear parents, I assure that a voyage at sea is not very pleasant. It is only that I have taken it in the name of the Lord that I can support it, yet I am not as sick as some of the others. But I cannot describe to you the deathly feeling it produces on those not accustomed to the sea. We lose all desire to be active, we look dull and stupid, and for the most part the mind suffers equally or more...Our food is cooked well, but it does not taste like sitting down at Father's table...the captain and officers and crew pay good attention but appear very thoughtless. May the spirit of God affect their hearts...For 20 days I have not been able to write or study. 15 days I was confined to bed, vomiting up all that I took...I became so weak I could not walk alone...Often, my dear Mam-ma, did I think of you and my dear quiet home and sometimes almost long for one hour where I might cease rocking and be at rest from sickness...the vessel either rocks from side to side or pitches fro end to end, so you cannot rest a moment...night or day...You cannot tell how we have been delighted today. Early this morning we espied a vessel behind us...a large ship from England...bound for South Wales...She had 160 convicts on board...taking them thither for their punishment...We have so little variety at sea that this was a great treat...[she notes that there are 10 'sisters' on board; presumably missionary women]...[She asks a rhetorical question...]...And is it truth, my dear Parents, that I shall never again gaze upon your countenances on earth? Must I never behold Marilla [sister] when arrived to womanhood, or dear little Henry and Charles when they shall be men (if death shall spare them) [child mortality ever present]...though I have chosen to part with you all, you were never dearer to me, as at this moment...then I retire to our little room which is so small that it is with difficulty two can kneel [for prayer] in it, and when the door is closed so tight and warm that I can breath in it but a few moments...The deck is large and clean, and canvas is hung overhead so that we are entirely screened from the rays of the sun, and the sea-breezes renders it cool even in this lattitude (about 7 north)...My dear Parents know me so well that they will perfectly understand me when I tell them that it is exceedingly difficult for me to be patient, and cheerful, and happy, when I am sick...But I do not pray to be delivered from it but that the Lord would sanctify this affliction. I need the trial...I am not insensable to the would which was made in your hearts...I know they were torn with anguish and bled at every pore, but you had given us to the Lord. You wished not to recall the offering, painful as it was to part with us...Tell Marilla and Gilbert [siblings] and the little boys that their sister desires above all things that they will prepare themselves for that holy, happy home [Heaven], that we may meet one whole, happy family there to be separated no more...About noon we spoke a vessel and found her to be an American bound for Boston...we all made our letters ready in a moment...I sent one to yourselves, another to James [brother who also trained as a missionary]...We have a strong trade wind for many days...at the rate of 180 miles in 24 hours...We had a rare dinner today and the first I have relished in a long time. It has been roast ducks; they were stuffed nice, and tasted like roasted fowl at home...It is eight weeks tomorrow evening since we sailed...[Nov 24]...advancing around the Cape. The weather quite cold. This morning I put on dress and flannel waist coat next to me...it will probably be cold a number of weeks...[The crew and passengers had to eat on such a long voyage, so some descriptions of dolphins and whales...]...Before I was dressed this morning some that were on deck came running down...'Come see the porpoise'...they were playing around the ship like so many tame ducks; they look exceeding beautiful in the water and glide swiftly near the surface, occasionally leaping above the water...Soon the Captain succeeded in taking one...with a harpoon...and as it fastens itself in the poor animal they are drawn by it into the ship...about 6 feet 3 inches in circumference...The skin looks smooth but it is rough to the feel. The head is large and resembles a hog's head...teeth are small and thickly set. They are considered good for food; they are dressed much like a pig, only the skin, which is called the blubber...an inch and a little more thick, is taken off and tried for the oil. It has a liver and a heart and all other parts like the pig; indeed you know they are called the sea hog. We had the liver fried and other parts stuffed which was very nice. The flesh is much like the flesh of venison, not at all like fish...There are regions where whaling ships go...Soon after breakfast we saw one of these ships...The ships laid to [exchange of personnel]...they sent a boat with 5 sailors to our ship, when the captain and 5 or 6 others of our company got into their boat...they returned saying that they had just taken a whole and secured the blubber (the skin) while they left the body to float in the sea...The captain also gave them a pair of beautiful albatrosses...large as any two geese you ever saw...measured 11 feet 8 inches from the end of one wing to the other...killed and stuffed to preserve...They are eaten sometimes...There have been many birds from the Island flying about us. [Dec 1]...Weather remarkably calm; indeed it has been so all the way; we have not had even a gale...expected it to be dreadful blustry and rough...we are 8 or 900 miles from the longitude of the Cape...[she is invited to go onto another ship they met up with]...It was a novelty to see the manner in which an English vessel is fitted up...conveniences were many...state rooms are large and airy...elegant...but what I admired most of all was what I never expected to see--an English cow with her calf; they had plenty of milk, also good fresh bread. They milked the cow and sent us some nice loaves of bread...They had many vegetables growing in earth; almost every fresh article...a wonderful day...[Dec 4]...I look away to Hamilton [NY] and see you all this morning shaking with the cold, making on a good fire, and drawing close to it. Perhaps the snow is flying...This is the season of the year that used to bring all the dear children to their loved home and to the embrace of one another...But now you gather around the fireside, the frugal board, and the family altar, but there is a vacancy, some come not...three of your eldest are scattered to return no more to dwell with you...We can sympathize with you for the wind changed and became high in the night and it is so cold this morning that I am writing with my bonnet and shawl on...[Jan 6]...now in the midst of the Indian Ocean...heat is becoming very oppressive...I can scarcely think that while I am in my coolest garb, panting with the heat, you are clothed in flannel, sitting by a good fire...Sometimes I imagine I see the fields and roads covered with the drifted snow and the sleighs flying swiftly about the streets, and the bells sounding merrily. Then I see the dear little boys, and Marilla, wrapping themselves in their cloaks and caps, while they almost choose to stay from school, rather than face the blustering wind and falling snow But these native scenes I shall witness no more...We are rapidly drawing near the heathen shores we so much desire to see...three or four more weeks will terminate our journey at Calcutta...It is indeed pleasant to think of once more treading upon the land, and beholding the foliage of nature, and being able to sit and sleep quietly...My health is generally pretty good...[Feb 6, 1836 - CALCUTTA]...One month has elapsed, my dear Parents, since I could indulge myself in the privilege of writing to you...[a man called a pilot came to guide them up the Hooghly River]...the boat that brought him from his own vessel was manned by natives of India...I cannot describe the emotions I felt on beholding them. They were naked except a piece of cloth around their middle. Some of them had a strip of cloth about their heads; others had nothing. The hair of some was short, even shaved, except a small tuft on the crown; others had long hair which they tied in a bunch and cued up. Their external appearance was indeed striking but my heart was more affected by the reflection that they were hastening to the Judgement of the great day, without any knowledge of Him who will be their Judge...O that I could speak to them! But many months must pass ere I can tell them of the way of Salvation through our blessed Redeemer...[Feb 4] We anchored near Keolgeree, 90 miles from Calcutta...Those going to C. were to be sent up in [steam]boats...we parted with those who for many years had been our warm and endeared friends...opened anew the wounds this [parting] inflicted. But it is done. We took the last view of them and gave them the last token of love after the boat was under full motion. We shall see them no more, but we hope to meet in our Father's kingdom when our work is done...[Feb 5]...The scenery is delightful..exceedingly delightful to an eye that for many months has beheld nothing but a waste of water...forest is not thick like that in America, but the trees are scattered; here and there a tall cocoa surrounded with low dates and palms, with much other shrubbery which I cannot name...banks which were thickly lined with native huts; these have the walls of clay, with thatched roofs...stand chiefly in clusters, perhaps 50 or a hundred...large fields where rice had been cut...on every side of us were native fishing boats, and there a larger kind loaded with rice in the bundle..large herds of cows were feeding on the shore...[in the afternoon] we came to the famous place, spoken of by all who sail up this river, called Garden-Reach...7 miles from Calcutta. The inhabitants are all Europeans. Their dwellings are the most superb I ever beheld...like palaces...surrounded with elegant gardens [which came down to the shore of the river to open up the estates for disease prevention]...there are a great number of Europeans living in elegant buildings all over Calcutta. But these are contrasted with thousands of native hutts, and the most degrading and appalling spectacle a person ever beheld...I stood 15 minutes on deck...saw the bodies five dead men floating in the water with large birds preying upon them, such as vultures or crows. But the horror of this inhuman appearance was in a great degree lost in the more dreadful, and appalling reflection that they died ignorant of the living God...Could I once more stand among the dear brethren and sisters in America I would lift my feeble voice to tell them what I already know of the misery and deep degradation of multitudes of our fellow men. But I forbare: I know nothing yet of the idolatry of the heathen...[Feb 5 1836]...we set our feet again upon the solid land after a voyage of 135 days...[2 weeks later, on Feb 20, 1836, they were again on the high seas bound for their assigned missionary destination 500 miles from Calcutta, in Telugu country, which was to be their home for another 10+ years.]...[Mar 3, 1836]...Yesterday we landed at this place, after a voyage of fifteen days...On the first day of March...anchored off this place [supposedly their destination]...but the morning undeceived us, and to our great disappointment we found it to be a little village 20 miles north of Vizagapatem. The anchor was soon weighed and the Capt. endeavored to procede. But a strong head wind setting in rendered it impossible, and after toiling the whole day we found ourselves not over five miles from the place we left in the morning...we were informed that the entire place was inhabited by natives, and they would not permit us to enter their dwellings on any account...found a European family residing about 2 miles from the village...received a kind invitation to stop with them...O my dear Mother I cannot express the gratitude I feel in once more being permitted to sit quietly on the land...I look around me, on the right hand and left. On one side I see the distant hills topped with the marble white Pagoda (or idol temple), on the other the populous villages scattered over the plain. I stand gazing at them; I say to myself. "Among these hills, and in these vallies am I to live, and labor, and die. Among these degraded sons of India am I to spend my days, whether few or many...[May 10, 1836]...Many cares, the heat of the weather, and ill health have prevented [me from writing]...[and more news....she is expecting]...I expect to be confined in the very hottest part of the season...My dear husband's health has been pretty good since we landed, though complaining some. I too have been well as could be expected for one in my circumstances, constantly exposed to danger and fatigue...We are now engaged in studying the Telagoo language...I will not attempt a description of my feelings, while I look forward to the time of my sufferings [childbirth]. You my dear Mother who have passed many such trying hours know better than I...More than this is the thought of becoming a mother, not in America, but in India, presses heavy on my spirits. If I could now speak to you I would ask your prayers that I may be prepared for the hour of suffering; but long ere this can reach you I shall have passed that trial either in safety or sunk into my everlasting rest. O my heavenly Father thy will be done...Sister Penney in Calcutta had all my small things prepared before I left...This, I find to be a great convenience, for all such articles are very dear at this place, even many cannot be procured at any price, and a child requires many more clothes in this country than in America; owing to the perspiration and the necessity of all the clothes being 7 days at the wash-mans. A child must have a fresh suit every day at least. But farewell for the present..."
[Here the journal/letter ended]
Her first child, Howard "Malcomb" Day was born shortly afterward. All of her other children were also born in India. Daughter Mary Marilla Day, who never married, also became a renowned Baptist missionary in India. Daughter Ellen Roenna Day married a widower from Cortland County, Amos Lamb Kinney. James Bacon Day became a dentist; both Malcomb and Samuel "Clark" Day served in the Civil War. Mary Marilla's twin sister, Martha Sophia, had an unhappy marriage to a sea captain.
____________
[PHOTO AT RIGHT]
While reading the transcribed notes of this letter, I saw a note about a stained glass window which was later installed in the Homer NY Baptist Church in memory of Rev. Day and his wife Roenna (Clark). With some help from the Homer NY historian and the Director of The Homer Center for the Arts, I have included a photo of the stained glass window which once graced the church where many of the earliest Clarks and Kinneys worshiped. It is now located in the lower level of the Center, preserved by some history-minded people in Homer. What endurance!
Note of thanks:
This letter, and other photos and letters and general information, were shared with me by J. Long, a descendant.]
The administrator's husband is a Clark descendant from Roenna's oldest brother, Hosea Clark [who named his only daughter after his sister]. The entire family was historically Baptist for many generations, both back and forward.
[NOTE: If anyone has a photo of Roenna Clark Day, I would very much like to add it to this memorial.]
In 1835, less than a month after her marriage to the Rev. Samuel Stearns Day on 23 Aug 1835 in Homer, Cortland NY, Roenna Clark Day was fighting debilitating seasickness and heart-rending homesickness on a masted sailing ship bound for India, where she and her new husband would begin their much-anticipated missionary work with the Telagu people at what would come to be known as the Lonestar Mission, which they are credited with founding. While shipboard for 150 days between America and India, she wrote a very long letter/journal to her parents, Rhoda and Thomas Clark, then living in Freetown, Cortland County NY [later moved to Fulton County OH and even later to Lenawee County MI, where they died].
This personal and heartfelt letter covers the time period October 8, 1835, through May 10, 1836, and details Roenna's shipboard travel and a bit of her arrival in India. The beginning focuses on her extreme seasickness, seen by her as a trial of her faith. Later, as she is recovering, she describes life aboard the ship and finally recounts details of their arrival in India and her fears of childbirth. Things were vastly different than today. Ships sailed with only the wind to generate movement. Harpooning, e.g., was a way of life, and missionaries saw the heathen as wanting to be saved. That was very normal life in the early 1800's. Roenna's intelligence and kind and empathetic nature is fully on view in the letter.
Excerpts...from the Ship 'Louvre' in the Atlantic Ocean
[Oct 8, 1835]..."My ever dear Parents: Being far removed from you and those I love on earth I sit down to recount the loving kindness of the Lord manifested to one in the least deserving of all...We have now been out 10 days and are about 17 hundred miles from Boston. We sailed Tuesday, Sep. 22, 1835...Today we are going on very well at the rate of 6 miles an hour...O that propitious gales may waft us speedily to our destined shores. For, my dear parents, I assure that a voyage at sea is not very pleasant. It is only that I have taken it in the name of the Lord that I can support it, yet I am not as sick as some of the others. But I cannot describe to you the deathly feeling it produces on those not accustomed to the sea. We lose all desire to be active, we look dull and stupid, and for the most part the mind suffers equally or more...Our food is cooked well, but it does not taste like sitting down at Father's table...the captain and officers and crew pay good attention but appear very thoughtless. May the spirit of God affect their hearts...For 20 days I have not been able to write or study. 15 days I was confined to bed, vomiting up all that I took...I became so weak I could not walk alone...Often, my dear Mam-ma, did I think of you and my dear quiet home and sometimes almost long for one hour where I might cease rocking and be at rest from sickness...the vessel either rocks from side to side or pitches fro end to end, so you cannot rest a moment...night or day...You cannot tell how we have been delighted today. Early this morning we espied a vessel behind us...a large ship from England...bound for South Wales...She had 160 convicts on board...taking them thither for their punishment...We have so little variety at sea that this was a great treat...[she notes that there are 10 'sisters' on board; presumably missionary women]...[She asks a rhetorical question...]...And is it truth, my dear Parents, that I shall never again gaze upon your countenances on earth? Must I never behold Marilla [sister] when arrived to womanhood, or dear little Henry and Charles when they shall be men (if death shall spare them) [child mortality ever present]...though I have chosen to part with you all, you were never dearer to me, as at this moment...then I retire to our little room which is so small that it is with difficulty two can kneel [for prayer] in it, and when the door is closed so tight and warm that I can breath in it but a few moments...The deck is large and clean, and canvas is hung overhead so that we are entirely screened from the rays of the sun, and the sea-breezes renders it cool even in this lattitude (about 7 north)...My dear Parents know me so well that they will perfectly understand me when I tell them that it is exceedingly difficult for me to be patient, and cheerful, and happy, when I am sick...But I do not pray to be delivered from it but that the Lord would sanctify this affliction. I need the trial...I am not insensable to the would which was made in your hearts...I know they were torn with anguish and bled at every pore, but you had given us to the Lord. You wished not to recall the offering, painful as it was to part with us...Tell Marilla and Gilbert [siblings] and the little boys that their sister desires above all things that they will prepare themselves for that holy, happy home [Heaven], that we may meet one whole, happy family there to be separated no more...About noon we spoke a vessel and found her to be an American bound for Boston...we all made our letters ready in a moment...I sent one to yourselves, another to James [brother who also trained as a missionary]...We have a strong trade wind for many days...at the rate of 180 miles in 24 hours...We had a rare dinner today and the first I have relished in a long time. It has been roast ducks; they were stuffed nice, and tasted like roasted fowl at home...It is eight weeks tomorrow evening since we sailed...[Nov 24]...advancing around the Cape. The weather quite cold. This morning I put on dress and flannel waist coat next to me...it will probably be cold a number of weeks...[The crew and passengers had to eat on such a long voyage, so some descriptions of dolphins and whales...]...Before I was dressed this morning some that were on deck came running down...'Come see the porpoise'...they were playing around the ship like so many tame ducks; they look exceeding beautiful in the water and glide swiftly near the surface, occasionally leaping above the water...Soon the Captain succeeded in taking one...with a harpoon...and as it fastens itself in the poor animal they are drawn by it into the ship...about 6 feet 3 inches in circumference...The skin looks smooth but it is rough to the feel. The head is large and resembles a hog's head...teeth are small and thickly set. They are considered good for food; they are dressed much like a pig, only the skin, which is called the blubber...an inch and a little more thick, is taken off and tried for the oil. It has a liver and a heart and all other parts like the pig; indeed you know they are called the sea hog. We had the liver fried and other parts stuffed which was very nice. The flesh is much like the flesh of venison, not at all like fish...There are regions where whaling ships go...Soon after breakfast we saw one of these ships...The ships laid to [exchange of personnel]...they sent a boat with 5 sailors to our ship, when the captain and 5 or 6 others of our company got into their boat...they returned saying that they had just taken a whole and secured the blubber (the skin) while they left the body to float in the sea...The captain also gave them a pair of beautiful albatrosses...large as any two geese you ever saw...measured 11 feet 8 inches from the end of one wing to the other...killed and stuffed to preserve...They are eaten sometimes...There have been many birds from the Island flying about us. [Dec 1]...Weather remarkably calm; indeed it has been so all the way; we have not had even a gale...expected it to be dreadful blustry and rough...we are 8 or 900 miles from the longitude of the Cape...[she is invited to go onto another ship they met up with]...It was a novelty to see the manner in which an English vessel is fitted up...conveniences were many...state rooms are large and airy...elegant...but what I admired most of all was what I never expected to see--an English cow with her calf; they had plenty of milk, also good fresh bread. They milked the cow and sent us some nice loaves of bread...They had many vegetables growing in earth; almost every fresh article...a wonderful day...[Dec 4]...I look away to Hamilton [NY] and see you all this morning shaking with the cold, making on a good fire, and drawing close to it. Perhaps the snow is flying...This is the season of the year that used to bring all the dear children to their loved home and to the embrace of one another...But now you gather around the fireside, the frugal board, and the family altar, but there is a vacancy, some come not...three of your eldest are scattered to return no more to dwell with you...We can sympathize with you for the wind changed and became high in the night and it is so cold this morning that I am writing with my bonnet and shawl on...[Jan 6]...now in the midst of the Indian Ocean...heat is becoming very oppressive...I can scarcely think that while I am in my coolest garb, panting with the heat, you are clothed in flannel, sitting by a good fire...Sometimes I imagine I see the fields and roads covered with the drifted snow and the sleighs flying swiftly about the streets, and the bells sounding merrily. Then I see the dear little boys, and Marilla, wrapping themselves in their cloaks and caps, while they almost choose to stay from school, rather than face the blustering wind and falling snow But these native scenes I shall witness no more...We are rapidly drawing near the heathen shores we so much desire to see...three or four more weeks will terminate our journey at Calcutta...It is indeed pleasant to think of once more treading upon the land, and beholding the foliage of nature, and being able to sit and sleep quietly...My health is generally pretty good...[Feb 6, 1836 - CALCUTTA]...One month has elapsed, my dear Parents, since I could indulge myself in the privilege of writing to you...[a man called a pilot came to guide them up the Hooghly River]...the boat that brought him from his own vessel was manned by natives of India...I cannot describe the emotions I felt on beholding them. They were naked except a piece of cloth around their middle. Some of them had a strip of cloth about their heads; others had nothing. The hair of some was short, even shaved, except a small tuft on the crown; others had long hair which they tied in a bunch and cued up. Their external appearance was indeed striking but my heart was more affected by the reflection that they were hastening to the Judgement of the great day, without any knowledge of Him who will be their Judge...O that I could speak to them! But many months must pass ere I can tell them of the way of Salvation through our blessed Redeemer...[Feb 4] We anchored near Keolgeree, 90 miles from Calcutta...Those going to C. were to be sent up in [steam]boats...we parted with those who for many years had been our warm and endeared friends...opened anew the wounds this [parting] inflicted. But it is done. We took the last view of them and gave them the last token of love after the boat was under full motion. We shall see them no more, but we hope to meet in our Father's kingdom when our work is done...[Feb 5]...The scenery is delightful..exceedingly delightful to an eye that for many months has beheld nothing but a waste of water...forest is not thick like that in America, but the trees are scattered; here and there a tall cocoa surrounded with low dates and palms, with much other shrubbery which I cannot name...banks which were thickly lined with native huts; these have the walls of clay, with thatched roofs...stand chiefly in clusters, perhaps 50 or a hundred...large fields where rice had been cut...on every side of us were native fishing boats, and there a larger kind loaded with rice in the bundle..large herds of cows were feeding on the shore...[in the afternoon] we came to the famous place, spoken of by all who sail up this river, called Garden-Reach...7 miles from Calcutta. The inhabitants are all Europeans. Their dwellings are the most superb I ever beheld...like palaces...surrounded with elegant gardens [which came down to the shore of the river to open up the estates for disease prevention]...there are a great number of Europeans living in elegant buildings all over Calcutta. But these are contrasted with thousands of native hutts, and the most degrading and appalling spectacle a person ever beheld...I stood 15 minutes on deck...saw the bodies five dead men floating in the water with large birds preying upon them, such as vultures or crows. But the horror of this inhuman appearance was in a great degree lost in the more dreadful, and appalling reflection that they died ignorant of the living God...Could I once more stand among the dear brethren and sisters in America I would lift my feeble voice to tell them what I already know of the misery and deep degradation of multitudes of our fellow men. But I forbare: I know nothing yet of the idolatry of the heathen...[Feb 5 1836]...we set our feet again upon the solid land after a voyage of 135 days...[2 weeks later, on Feb 20, 1836, they were again on the high seas bound for their assigned missionary destination 500 miles from Calcutta, in Telugu country, which was to be their home for another 10+ years.]...[Mar 3, 1836]...Yesterday we landed at this place, after a voyage of fifteen days...On the first day of March...anchored off this place [supposedly their destination]...but the morning undeceived us, and to our great disappointment we found it to be a little village 20 miles north of Vizagapatem. The anchor was soon weighed and the Capt. endeavored to procede. But a strong head wind setting in rendered it impossible, and after toiling the whole day we found ourselves not over five miles from the place we left in the morning...we were informed that the entire place was inhabited by natives, and they would not permit us to enter their dwellings on any account...found a European family residing about 2 miles from the village...received a kind invitation to stop with them...O my dear Mother I cannot express the gratitude I feel in once more being permitted to sit quietly on the land...I look around me, on the right hand and left. On one side I see the distant hills topped with the marble white Pagoda (or idol temple), on the other the populous villages scattered over the plain. I stand gazing at them; I say to myself. "Among these hills, and in these vallies am I to live, and labor, and die. Among these degraded sons of India am I to spend my days, whether few or many...[May 10, 1836]...Many cares, the heat of the weather, and ill health have prevented [me from writing]...[and more news....she is expecting]...I expect to be confined in the very hottest part of the season...My dear husband's health has been pretty good since we landed, though complaining some. I too have been well as could be expected for one in my circumstances, constantly exposed to danger and fatigue...We are now engaged in studying the Telagoo language...I will not attempt a description of my feelings, while I look forward to the time of my sufferings [childbirth]. You my dear Mother who have passed many such trying hours know better than I...More than this is the thought of becoming a mother, not in America, but in India, presses heavy on my spirits. If I could now speak to you I would ask your prayers that I may be prepared for the hour of suffering; but long ere this can reach you I shall have passed that trial either in safety or sunk into my everlasting rest. O my heavenly Father thy will be done...Sister Penney in Calcutta had all my small things prepared before I left...This, I find to be a great convenience, for all such articles are very dear at this place, even many cannot be procured at any price, and a child requires many more clothes in this country than in America; owing to the perspiration and the necessity of all the clothes being 7 days at the wash-mans. A child must have a fresh suit every day at least. But farewell for the present..."
[Here the journal/letter ended]
Her first child, Howard "Malcomb" Day was born shortly afterward. All of her other children were also born in India. Daughter Mary Marilla Day, who never married, also became a renowned Baptist missionary in India. Daughter Ellen Roenna Day married a widower from Cortland County, Amos Lamb Kinney. James Bacon Day became a dentist; both Malcomb and Samuel "Clark" Day served in the Civil War. Mary Marilla's twin sister, Martha Sophia, had an unhappy marriage to a sea captain.
____________
[PHOTO AT RIGHT]
While reading the transcribed notes of this letter, I saw a note about a stained glass window which was later installed in the Homer NY Baptist Church in memory of Rev. Day and his wife Roenna (Clark). With some help from the Homer NY historian and the Director of The Homer Center for the Arts, I have included a photo of the stained glass window which once graced the church where many of the earliest Clarks and Kinneys worshiped. It is now located in the lower level of the Center, preserved by some history-minded people in Homer. What endurance!
Note of thanks:
This letter, and other photos and letters and general information, were shared with me by J. Long, a descendant.]
The administrator's husband is a Clark descendant from Roenna's oldest brother, Hosea Clark [who named his only daughter after his sister]. The entire family was historically Baptist for many generations, both back and forward.
Family Members
Siblings
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