SAMUEL S. DAY

DAY

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/20/2020 at 13:31:50

SAMUEL S. DAY, deceased, was one of Douglas township’s honored and esteemed citizens. He came here in 1874 and made this place his home until the time of his death, in 1888.

Samuel S. Day was born in Dearborn county, Indiana, August 14 , 1834 , son of Stephen M. Day, a native of Morristown, New Jersey, and a descendant of English ancestry. One of his ancestors, Mahlan Day, was a Quaker minister, and was lost at sea when on his return from England. Stephen M. Day married Emily 0 . Wilson, who was born in Maine, and was taken to Ohio when a child two years old. Her parents, Ira and Sarah (Clark) Wilson, both died in Ripley county, Indiana.

The subject of our sketch grew to manhood on a farm in his native country and received a good education at Manchester Academy, after which he engaged in teaching and proved himself a successful and popular teacher. August 12 , 1862, he enlisted in Company A, Eighty-third Indiana Infantry Volunteers, and August 19 of the following year was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps. He served until the close of the war, and was honorably discharged at Indianapolis, July 5 , 1865. Returning to Dearborn county, he remained there until the spring of
1867, when he went to Fayette county, Illinois. The latter place he made his home until 1874. At that time he located on eighty acres in Adams county, Iowa, improved a farm and resided here until the time of his death.

Mr. Day was married. November 15 , 1865, to Miss Mary S. Arndor, also a native of Dearborn county, Indiana. Her father, Bennett Arndor, was born in Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Germany, and was eighteen years old when he came to this country and located in Indiana; her mother, Sophrona (Manley) Amdor, was a native of Ohio, and a daughter of James and Mary (Yaughn) Manley, natives of Vermont. The three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Day are Fannie L., Frank P. and Eda May. Both the daughters are efficient and popular teachers and the son conducts the farming operations.

Mr. Day was a man whose influence was felt for good in the vicinity where he lived. He was a worthy and active member of the Baptist Church from his youth up, and was superintendent of the Sabbath-school at Middle valley school house. Politically he was a Republican and for a time served as Justice of the Peace. Always interested in educational matters, he was a member of the School Board for many years. Few men stood higher in the estimation of the community than he. His death occurred July 9, 1883 . Mrs. Day and her family reside at the old
homestead.