Michael O. Day was born in England around 1815 and immigrated to the United States in the mid-1840s. He settled in Lake County, Illinois, and purchased a 40-acre farm on the south side of what is now Warren, where he grew corn and potatoes and kept cattle and sheep. His brother Francis lived near Lowesmoor Farm in Gloucestershire, England, and financially supported Day's efforts in the United States. Michael Day and his wife Elizabeth, a native of Wales, married before 1854 and had nine children: Sarah (b. 1854), William (b. March 1859), Francis (b. April 1861), Fanney, Alfred, Edward, Susan, Lilly, and Ellen.
From the guide to the Michael Day collection, Day, Michael collection, 1803-1877, 1846-1860, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
