David Daley

     David Daley was born on 2 March 1735/36 at York, York Co, Maine; This record which was found in an old transcription by the Town Clerk is not found with published York Vital Records.¹ He was the son of John Daley and Mary Diggin. David Daley filed a marriage intention to an unknown person on 1 November 1755 at York, York Co, Maine.² He married Mehitable Webber on 18 November 1755 at York, York Co, Maine.³ David Daley died after 30 July 1785 at presumably New Brunswick;
     David Dailey and wife Mehitable of St Andrews, Charlotte Co, sold to James Turner for 15 pounds seven shillings a tract of land near the head of Passamaquoddy Bay. It was Lot #18 in the Penobscot Association and contained 100 acres. His signature was David Daley, and Mehitable made her mark. The payment was to be made in lumber by the 20th of September, 1785.⁴
     In 1757 the first complete list of York's town militia includes both John Daley and David Daley, as well as Jonathan Stover. Many men were there representing the Webber family. Capt. Ichabod Goodwin's company from York in 1758 which had been present for the campaign of Ticonderoga during July included a John Dailey. In 1762, Capt. Johnson Moulton's company (he had been Ensign in Capt. Goodwin's company in 1758), John Daley was listed as a private.
     The only land record I find within York County for David Daley is dated 18 May 1758. Joseph Stover, Jr. of York sold David Daley, "mariner" of York, a half acre of land in York situated on the southwest side of "Cape Nedick River" for "five pounds six shillings & eight pence". A Jonathan Stover married a Mary Daley in 1757 at York...likely a sister to David.⁵ The History of York, Vol 1., indicates that about a dozen families left York:"Stovers, Prebles, Hutchins, westcotts and Perkins to Penobscot, Castine and Sedgewick". David Daley had to be among them, as they were soon enumerated in Penobscot.⁶ David Daley, of York, had a letter in the Portsmouth Post Office on 28 October 1761.⁷
     On 30 Oct 1761, a notice was printed in the Hampshire Gazette paper that David Daley, of York, had a letter waiting at the Portsmouth Post Office.⁸
     A Petition dated 3 Oct 1763, of Penobscot inhabitants to Governor Francis Bernard included two John Dalys and a David Daly.^9,10 In 1779, many inhabitants of the area helped to build Fort George, Penobscot. The original records of all those listed are preserved at the Public Record Office. The citation would be AO 3/141, Account Books, 1764-1783. These records are discussed in the Maine Genealogist, 2004. The only reference made about David Daley was a listing of those inhabitants whose Yokes of Oxen were employed from June to December 1779. Listed were two yokes belonging to David Dailey.¹¹
     A list of the inhabitants with their "familys" who propose to Remove from Penobscot to Nova Scotia included David Dailey, with a family of six, all over the age of 10, dated 4 July 1783. I assume any older children may have been listed on their own, but none are noted on this listing. The Return of Men, Women and Children of the Penobscot Loyalists settled in the District of Passamaquoddy, 10 Jun 1784, lists David Daily, Mehitable, and children over 10, Mary, Sarah, Joseph and George.     
          On 3 Aug 1784, 100 acres farm lots were granted and David Dailey received his in St Patrick division surrounding Bobabec Cove, about 7 miles north of St Andrews.^12,13,14
     A July 1784 listing for present inhabitants of the settlement at Penobscot shows the only Dailey still there was John Dailey, on 100 acres of land, 40 rods of this on the water. he was living there alone. The original settler of this lot had been David Dailey in 1765. Other lots showing Dailey ownership:

     Widow Rhodes 100 acres settled 1762 by Jonathan Stover

     Jos Stover heirs 100 acres settled 1762 by John Dailey

     John Bray & Jr 100 acres settled 1761 by David Dailey [next to one another]

     John Grindal 100 acres settled 1762 by John Dailey

     John Dailey 100 acres settled 1765 by David Dailey


     From this, it appears that John Dailey remained at Penobscot. By this time, in 1784, David Daley was gone, as was Jonathan Stover. Perhaps David Daley and family left with the fleet of vessels which sailed from Penobscot in late September 1783 and arrived at St Andrews on October 3rd. About half of the refugees sailed at this time. Others must have come by private vessel, or had been among those who made the journey over land by wagon-train. Included on a list of 599 refugees who had been waiting to go were Zebedee Hammond and David Dailey. Jonathan Stover was not located. He was also not among the listing taken 10 June 1784 of Loyalists settled at Passamaquoddy, although Zebedee Hammond and David Dailey were both listed, as well as their wives and children. One hundred acre farm lots were granted under the title "Penobscot Association - Stephen Roberts and 189 others". David Dailey received one of the twenty 100 acre lots [#18] surrounding Bobabec Cove, about seven miles north of St Andrews. He did not receive a town lot.¹³
     On 30 July 1785 David and Mehitable "Dailey" of Saint Andrews sold Lot #18 to James Turner for 15 pounds 7 shillings. The tract was "situated near the head of Passamaquoddy Bay bounded...on the North easterly side by James Turner aforesaid and being Lot no. Eighteen in the Penobscot Association and running on said North easterly line at North westerly Course 50 rods thence a South westerly course fifty rods thence a South easterly course to said Bay thence up said Bay to the first mentioned bounds and contains one hundred acres." The notation: "To be paid in lumber by the twentieth" followed signatures. David Daley signed his name, and Mehitable's signature was an "X", her mark. The lumber was presumably to be used in their new dwellings at Saint Andrews.¹⁵