Arthur Monday (c.1770 – after 1840) was my 5th-great-grandfather, being the father of Nancy, wife of Merril Brady. His wife was almost certainly a woman named Rebecca born c.1774. They are both my X chromosome ancestors, and I have DNA matches corroborating my descent from them. Arthur moved from North Carolina to Rhea County, Tennessee.
The name was likely the one more commonly spelled Mundy. In many accents of English, the ending -day, as in days of the week, holiday, and so on, is pronounced with a reduced vowel as in tidy. This pronunciation is rare in American English today, but used to be more widespread. Thus, it is not surprising that the familiar word Monday, possibly a homophone of the surname, would be used to spell it. However, the pronunciation of the surname today generally matches the spelling.
There are many claims about Arthur’s parents on the Internet. Some are obviously wrong, but the claim that his parents are William Monday⟮1⟯Find a Grave memorial for William Monday and Lettice Foster is plausible, but I have not seen proof.
I have one autosomal DNA match to a male Monday who is tested in Y haplogroup R1b-U152 (aka R-S28, etc.), a large grouping, and he has so far as I know had no deeper testing. I have not been able to trace a relationship to Arthur, but nor I can’t find how else we might be related.
A WikiTree descendant of Arthur reports being tested only as far as R1b.⟮2⟯Monday-93 on WikiTree
There is a Munday DNA project, but their results are, obnoxiously, not public as of 2026.⟮3⟯ Instead, they have a website with vague information.⟮4⟯
However, some facts are known. Many other Mondays seemingly centered around Virginia have been tested as the completely different haplogroup G; this includes the above William husband of Lettice. Meanwhile, a large grouping identified as haplogroup R1b-BY11110 appears to be the result of a descent from a Hoare/Hord family. This is a subgroup of R1b-U152 and so Arthur could be a descendant, although the dating of this non-paternity event seems rather late to be able to include him.
Their website mentions an Arthur Munday born about a century before this one, who may be a forebear, since names often recur in families. However, no Y information is available, and also I can’t find concrete records of this person’s existence.
Overall, this is a confused situation.
Arthur is found on a few early Federal censuses, which however provide only counts by age ranges and sex:
| Year | Location | Counts | Inferred births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1800⟮5⟯FamilySearch | Montgomery Co., NC | 1 ♂ <10, 1 ♂ 26–44, 2 ♀ <10, 1 ♀ 26–44 | 1755–1774 ♂♀ 1790–1800 ♂♀♀ |
| 1830⟮6⟯FamilySearch | Rhea Co., TN | 1 ♂ 10–14, 1 ♂ 15–19, 1 ♂ 20s, 1 ♂ 50s, 1 ♀ 5–9, 1 ♀ 10–14, 1 ♀ 50s | 1770–1780 ♂♀ 1800–1810 ♂ 1810–1815 ♂ 1815–1820 ♂♀ 1820–1825 ♀ |
| 1840⟮7⟯FamilySearch | Rhea Co., TN | 1 ♂ 10–14, 1 ♂ 70s, 1 ♀ 15–19, 1 ♀ 60s | 1760–1770 ♂ 1770–1780 ♀ 1820–1825 ♀ 1825–1830 ♂ |
There is a second Arthur Monday in 1800 in NC, but he is listed with no sons and so must be someone else (or recorded twice).
These records suggest at least 8 children, but the 30-year gap where he was apparently missed by the census is easily enough time to have more children who grew up and moved out. Indeed, my ancestor Nancy is such a person, born well after 1800 (around 1812) and married in 1826. Given Arthur’s wife’s age, the younger children in 1840 are probably grandchildren or other relatives. My guess is that the girl born in the early 1820s was their last child.
The first two place both Arthur and his wife (and children’s mother)’s birthdate as 1770×1774, assuming it’s the same woman in 1800 and 1830. The 1840 census suggests he may have been born exactly in 1770. His wife may have been alive as late as 1860; see next section.
In 1830 Arthur is living next door to Merril Brady, affirming the connection between them.
No record so far names Arthur’s wife. However, in the 1860 census there is a Rebecca Monday aged 85 born in NC living in Cumberland County, TN.⟮8⟯FamilySearch Everything reported about her matches up: she was born 1774×5, in range of above; her birthplace matches Arthur’s earliest known residence; and Cumberland County is adjacent to Rhea County and many Monday children moved there.
She is living in a household with the much younger Rebecca, Arthur, Jane, and Thomas Hill, ages from 17 to 26. In the 1850 census, a 38-year-old Jane Hill is living in Rhea County with (inter alia) Rebecca, Arthur L., Sarah J. (Jane?), and Thomas G. Hill, whose ages line up with above.⟮9⟯FamilySearch Jane was next door to Francis Monday, a son of Arthur; and there was also a Francis Hill in her household.
All these connections and recurrent names make it fairly certain that Rebecca was Arthur’s wife and the mother of his children. Her consistent age range from 1800 to 1860 is additional evidence that it was the same woman.
Likely, Jane Hill was a widowed daughter of Arthur, living with her children in 1850, and in 1860 Rebecca was living with four of her then-orphaned grandchildren.
Here is a tentative, sketchy list of Arthur’s identified children:
Based on the early census counts, there are probably more.
I have DNA matches to descendants of Arthur, including at least three from Francis above. Two of the latter are on the X chromosome.
DNA suggests a relationship between Arthur’s wife Rebecca and John McClendon’s wife Nancy, which see.