Francis T. Day


Francis Day painting in front of the Mill houses in 1902.


Woodcut portrait by Francis Day

Francis T. Day and his family arrived with William Price and his family in 1901. Day lived in one of the mill houses across from the Guest House. He was a portrait painter and illustrator and maintained a studio in Guild Hall. According to Nathan Kite in “Chronicles of the Folk” (Dec. 12, 1901), Day was “so deft in putting children on his canvas that the mothers all say when looking at [the] pictures, ‘it is the essence of the kid’” He, Carl DeMoll, Nathan Kite and Will Price drew up the charter for the Rose Valley Folk. He is reputed to have designed the Rose Valley Association seal of the rose and V.

Source: Exhibition of Rose Valley Art and Handicrafts 2001
History of Rose Valley, vol.1 Chronicles of the Folk, Dec. 1901