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.

Surname

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.

Origins

You can find claims about Arthur’s parents on the Internet. Some are obviously wrong, but the claim that his parents are William Monday^ref and Lettice Foster may have merit, although I have not seen proof.

I have a DNA match to a male surnamed Monday who is tested in haplogroup R1b-U152. This is a large group, and he has not to my knowledge been tested any deeper. Also, while common matches are consistent with descent from Arthur, I have not been able to prove his descent. Thus, this is weak evidence for not much information.

There is a Munday DNA project, but their results do not appear to be public.^ref They have their own website with little concrete information.^ref They mention an Arthur Munday born about a century before this one, who may be a forebear, but may not be.

More data is needed here.

Records

Arthur is found on a few early Federal censuses, which however provide only counts by age ranges and sex:

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.

Rebecca

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.^ref 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.^ref 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.

Family

Here is a tentative, sketchy list of Arthur’s identified children:

• Lavina M. “Viney” (1791-06-15 – 1893-01-11)^ref, married first Hiram Burnett, second a man surnamed Scott, who died in the 1840s.
• William (c.1796 – 1879?)^ref, married Lucinda Jones.
• Francis “Frank” (c.1805 – 1863-05-01)^ref, married first Rebecca Hawkins, second Elizabeth Hill. A common error is to mix up his wife Rebecca with his likely mother Rebecca. Bandits attacked the home of Jon Tollett Jr. while Frank was visiting, and tortured the two of them to death overnight to learn the location of Jon’s chest of money and gold (which Jon had given to his son). Some report his death date as April 30, presumably because he was killed overnight. Frank’s gravestone reads, “He was tortured & killed in Sesquatchie Valley during the Civil War.”
• (?) Elizabeth (* c.1805), claimed to be the wife of Hiram or Henning Mathis, but I’ve not seen evidence for this.
• Jane (c.1811 – after 1850), married a man surnamed Hill, probably died before 1860 (see Rebecca above). Some have her born c.1805, and it’s certainly possible her reported age in 1850 was inaccurate, especially as it would make her son Alexander only 15 years younger than her.
• Nancy (c.1812 – after 1870), my 4th-great-grandmother as the husband of Merril Brady.
• (?) Young, married Rebecca Eveline Ingram, moved to Arkansas. Not clearly a child of Arthur’s.
• Shelby (* c.1815), married Matilda Miller.
• (?) Timothy. Claimed son but I can find no evidence.

Based on the early census counts, there are probably more.

DNA connections

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.