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Edward Everett Day

Among the citizens of Oelwein, Fayette county, who have earned and retain the respect and confidence of the people generally, none stands higher than does the subject of this sketch. He is essentially a man of action, having for many years been energetic in the prosecution of his business affairs, in which he has met with a gratifying degree of success.

Edward E. Day is a native son of Iowa, having first seen the light of day in Andrew, Jackson county, on the 31st day of October, 1860, and is a son of J. B. and Emma Louisa (Hughson) Day. J. B. Day was a native of the state of Vermont, who came to Jackson county, Iowa, in about 1856. His wife was a daughter of Clement and _____(Alden) Hughson. [ Hepzibah Alden] They were the parents of eight children, namely; Edward Everett, Katie, Belle, Rosetta, Maud and Mabel (twins), George and one that died in infancy. In 1861 the family moved from Jackson county to Fayette county, where, near Otsego, the father followed the pursuit of farming. About 1867 they moved to Winthrop, but three years later they returned to the farm at Otsego. Again, in 1873, they moved, going to Fayette for a year, and then again returned to the Otsego home.

During these transitory years, the subject of this sketch attended schools in the various localities of the family residence, and being ambitious and studious, he made such rapid advance in his studies that at the age of seventeen years he began teaching school, though not old enough to secure a regular teacher's license. He first taught a term of summer school two and a half miles southeast of Oelwein, after which he taught two winter terms, the first one being three miles northeast of Oelwein and the next four miles northwest of that city. The following winter he attended as a student Miss McMullen's select school at Oelwein, and a year later was engaged as a teacher in a school on and a half miles north of that place.

Returning then to the home farm, Mr. Day remained there a year and was married and then took up agricultural affairs on his own account on a farm three and a half miles southeast of Oelwein, this being where the Otsego post office was formerly located. Two years later he located on a farm a mile farther southeast, where he remained eight years, meeting with splendid success the meanwhile. In 1893 Mr. Day bought a farm located two and three-quarters miles southeast of Oelwein, on which he resided until the spring of 1900, when he moved into the town of Oelwein, where he erected a handsome and attractive residence on the northeast corner of North Frederick and Third streets. His removal to this city was caused principally by the fact that he had accepted the position of secretary of the Oelwein Farmers' Creamery Company, which position he retained until 1904, performing the responsible duties of the position to the entire satisfaction of the stockholders. In addition to his original farm of two hundred and forty acres, Mr. Day has bought and sold several others, being now the owner of two others, one near Oelwein and the other one in Wisconsin, the latter consisting of five hundred and sixty acres of timber land.

On March 25, 1883, Mr. Day was united in marriage with Alice Smith, the daughter of Samwell and Hannah (Park) Smith. Mrs. Day and her parents were natives of Keighley, Yorkshire, England. The father came to the United States, locating near Oelwein, Fayette county, Iowa, in 1868, he being joined in 1870 by the other members of the family. In England Samwell Day was an expert machinist, but since locating in Fayette county he has followed the pursuit of agr8iculture exclusively and with a very gratifying degree of success. To Mr. and Mrs. Day have been born five children, namely: Everett Vernon, Mabel Alice, Shirley Louise, Inez Isabel and Gladys Hannah. Everett Vernon, after completing his elementary education in the public schools, graduated from the Upper Iowa University in 1909 and in the fall of the same year he became principal of the public schools at Kalona, Iowa. Mabel and Shirley are attending college at Fayette and the younger children are students in the high school at Oelwein.

Politically, Mr. Day was formerly a Republican, but of recent years he has rendered a stanch allegiance to the Prohibition party, believing that the temperance question is the greatest issue now before the American people. He is a member of the Oelwein school board and takes a keen intelligent interest in educational matters. Fraternally, he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, belonging to the camp at Oelwein. Religiously, the family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Oelwein, of which they are earnest and liberal supporters, and during the past five years Mr. Day has rendered effective service as superintendent of the Sabbath school, in the operation of which he is deeply interested. Mr. Day has had a large part in the advancement of the best interests of the community in which he lives, his support being given unreservedly to all worthy movements affecting the material, educational, moral or social welfare of the people generally. His efforts have been characterized by intelligence, industry and wise economy and he is today numbered among the leading citizens of the community in which he resides.

~transcribed for the Fayette Co IAGenWeb Project by Richard Smith