The Dayley Families

Just before James' birth, his father Jacob died in a drowning accident. On Feb 10, 1834, James was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 23. Soon after, James married Isabelle McBride on March 18, 1834 in Lancaster, Ohio. 

The Dayley family, along with many of Isabelle's family members, moved to Pike County, Missouri in June of 1835. While in Missouri, James became acquainted with Church President Joseph Smith and would sometimes be his bodyguard. 

The Dayley family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, on February 24, 1839. They left Nauvoo in April 1846 and settled in Farmington, Iowa, to make plans to move west to the Rocky Mountains. They stayed in the county working the land and with other settlers in the area until May 1850, when they finally had what they needed to keep going west. The Dayleys made it to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where the large body of saints stayed.

On June 26, 1852, the Dayley family joined the John B. Walker Company. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on Oct 2. By invitation by his son Enoch who was called to settle the area, James and his family moved to Richmond in 1862.