John Bliss Day (1836-1914)

DAY, ORR, HUGHSON, JIPSON, DAVIS, RIPLEY

Posted By: Dorothy Gosse (email)
Date: 5/4/2005 at 11:49:10

From the West Union, Iowa, newspaper of April 27, 1914.
Obituary of John Bliss Day
Death of John B. Day

Fayette, April 27.--John B. Day died a little after 2 o'clock Thursday morning, April 23. He was up town Wednesday and seemed as well as usual when he went to bed. About 2 o'clock Mrs. Day was awake and noticed that he was breathing hard. She tried to awaken him, but was unable to do so. A physician was called, but Mr. Day passed away without regaining consciousness. John B. Day, the youngest son of Samuel and Lucy Orr Day, was born Nov. 7, 1836, at Underhill Flats, Chittenden county, Vt. As a boy he with his sister Miranda and brothers Seymour W., George E. and Hollis S., who have all preceded him in death, played at the foot of Green Mountains, and in their early years used to accompany their father, who was very patriotic, to the top of the mountain on the morning of July 4 to fire the early sunrise salute from the cannon. Later he moved with his parents to St. Lawrence county, N. Y., where he lived until he was eighteen years of age, when he came west via the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence river with his father's stock and goods to Maquoketa, Jackson county, Iowa, his parents coming on before. On Jan. 1, 1860, he was united in marriage to Miss Emma Louisa Hughson. Their first venture was in the hardware business in Andrew, Jackson county. In 1862 they moved to Fayette county and settled at Otsego, about three miles southeast of where Oelwein now is, and engaged in farming. In 1868 they moved to Winthrop, where he conducted a mercantile business, returning to Fayette county in 1871, and again engaged in farming till 1883, when he went to South Dakota. He was janitor at the University of South Dakota in Mitchell. Afterwards he ran a restaurant and lunch counter in Mitchell until coming to Maynard in 1889, where they conducted a hotel until the spring of 1909, when the hotel was burned. They then went west and held down a claim near Lemmon, S. D., going from there to Filer, Id., where they made their home for a year and a half with their daughter, Mrs. E. B. Ripley, coming to Fayette in April last year. He leaves a widow and six children to mourn his death:
E. E. Day of Fayette; George H. of Lemmon, S. D.; Mrs. J. S. Jipson of Fort Stockton, Tex.; Mrs. George L. Davis and Mrs. E. B. Ripley of Filer, Id.; and Miss Maud of Fayette. One daughter Mabel is dead. He was converted and joined the Methodist church on probation at Fairfield, Jackson county, Iowa, in 1860. Afterward while in Mitchell, S. D., he was taken into full membership. He was of a religious nature and for many years sang in choirs of the different places of residence. He was very fond of music, being considered one of the best bass singers of his time. He was of a cheerful disposition, generous to a fault, had a good word for everyone and always wanted everyone to have a good time, and did what he could to help. The funeral services were held from the Methodist church at w o'clock Sunday afternoon, conducted by Rev. T. H. Temple, Music by Mesdames Temple and Neff, Profs. J.S. McIntosh and Werner, with Miss Ruth Searles at the organ. interment was in the Otsego cemetery in the family lot.