Edgerton W. Day

Edgerton Winnett Day (November 26, 1863 – February 11, 1919) was a Canadian politician and pioneer settler in the area that became the Canadian province of Alberta.

Born in 1863 in Canada West, Day completed his education, and took up a job as a stagecoach driver. Soon after, he would find employment at the Massey-Harris company, an agricultural equipment manufacturer. During this time, Day first surveyed the land that he would eventually settle later on in his life. After briefly working as a loan company, Day moved to the west, after having aspirations of doing so since his youth. As the Canadian Pacific Railway gained entitlement to a portion of land in the prairies, Day became interested in purchasing a large portion, and did so in 1904. He then completed plans for what would later become the town that bears his name, Daysland, in present-day Flagstaff County, Alberta. His father, Louis owned a hotel in Inverary. He completed his education in Inverary, and got his first job as a stage driver on the run between Inverary and Kingston. Day then worked for the Massey-Harris company, starting as an office worker, eventually becoming chief clerk,

After "always longing to go to the west", When the Canadian Pacific Railway gained entitlement to the land in 1901, Day became interested in purchasing a large section of it. In 1903, as managing director of the Alberta Land Corporation, Day asked J. A. O'Neil of Wetaskiwin to guide him in purchasing sections of land. In 1904, he moved his family to the Wetaskiwin area and Day and his wife, Ina lived in a "cold shack" from March to June 1906, when their own house was completed. On the farm, he raised mules and purebred Ayreshire bulls to contribute to the dairy industry. He also owned purebred stallions, and a Spanish jack, named Carnots, which he kept in his barn.

A post office opened in September 1906, and Daysland was officially incorporated as a town on April 2, 1907, with Day acclaimed as the first mayor, and the first council was elected, consisting of C. A. MacLoed, James Stacey Orr, H. Bentley, S. V. B. Crowell, G. Wardstrom, J. E. Vanderburgh, and E. H. Dawson as secretary and treasurer. A district court began regularly sitting in the area in April 1907. The Daysland Post, a local newspaper, began publication in May 1907, and funding for a hospital was also raised. This caused Day, on behalf of the Board of Trade to travel to Kingston, Ontario and extend an invitation to the members of the Sisters of Providence to settle in the town. The Sisters later went on to establish a 3-storey, 25-bed hospital along with living accommodations for the staff. Also in 1907, a display of the town was arranged to be presented at the Dominion Fair in Calgary. Day resigned as mayor of Daysland on November 1, 1910, citing his excessive absences from the town.

The Day family moved to Edmonton in January 1912. Day would also be a personal friend of future Prime Minister of Canada Arthur Meighen.

Personal life, death and legacy

Day married Alexanderina "Ina" Sutherland (born c. 1863) in 1887. The elder son, George Sutherland, born 1894, attended college in Toronto, and served in World War I overseas for four and a half years. While overseas, he served for almost 2 years at the London Administration Office as paymaster for all Canadian Forces. Upon his return to Canada, he worked at the Soldier Settlement Board, and then as an insurance adjuster.

Edgerton W. Day died at 9:15 a.m. on February 11, 1919, at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton after an illness of several months.

Day had considered himself a colonizer. He was described to had done "all in his power to promote welfare and to improve the conditions of the town and district". An article from the Weekly British Whig in 1907 said of Day, "Mr. Day went into the business with his whole heart and soul, studying all the conditions of the country, etc., and it was in this way that he was able to accomplish what he did. He started life as an ordinary man, with no capital whatever, but he had the grit and perseverance, and this is almost sure to win out in the long run. Mr. Day's many friends are more than pleased to learn of his great success."