Biography - E Day
E. R. DAY. The endorsement of his fellow citizens is an earnest of the esteem in which our subject is held in the city of Raymond, Montgomery County, Ill., where he is Mayor and an extensive manufacturer. He was born in Marion County, Ind., October 22, 1845, and was the ninth of ten children born to Joseph N. and Ellen (Riley) Day, of whose early ancestry little can be learned; but it is known that the maternal grandfather of our subject was born in Pennsylvania, and had Irish ancestors, and that the latter must have emigrated to America in the old Colonial days. This grandfather was one of the pioneers of Marion County, Ind., where the mother of our subject was born, spent her entire life and finally died, in 1886. Our subject's Grandfather Day was born in Ohio, but at an early day located on Government land, about twelve miles from Indianapolis, where the father of our subject was born and still lives. Of the ten children born to Joseph N. Day and wife, five boys and five girls, three brothers and two sisters are living, and all have remained in their native State except our subject and a brother living at East St. Louis.
Our subject grew up on his father's farm, receiving a limited education; still it was all that the public school afforded. At the outbreak of the war, although a mere lad, he fairly burned to enter the army. His father objected because of his youth, but promised that he might be a soldier if the war lasted until he was eighteen. Not a day did our young hero wait beyond the time fixed by his father; for on October 23, 1863, twenty-four hours after he was eighteen, we find his name on the rolls of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Indiana Infantry, which was organized into the Ninth Indiana Cavalry. He was sent to Tennessee and did duty in that State and in Alabama until September 25, 1864. He was taken prisoner in the last-named State by Forrest's troops and thrown into a prison at Cahaba, Ala., where he endured great suffering and deprivation of food, horrible accounts of which he gives, and was held there until the close of the war. After his release he was transferred up the Mississippi River in the boat that blew up near Vicksburg, and fourteen hundred and fifty out of twenty-one hundred of his comrades lost their lives. Our subject was badly scalded, and in this condition clung to a floating log for some hours, until succor arrived. Taken thence to Indianapolis, he was discharged in May, 1865. He then went into the wagon-making business at Oaklandon, Ind., continuing in it for two years.
Mr. Day then went to Carlinville, Ill., where he worked at his trade for four years, and then spent one year in travel through the West. He afterward came to Raymond and established himself in the carriage manufacturing business, the town then having just been located. His building was one of the first erected and he has since been a most important factor in the building up of the now prosperous city, of which he was the first Mayor, serving at that time for two years; he was again elected in the spring of 1892, being in the high tide of popular favor. Politics have not spoiled Mr. Day for business; on the contrary, he is a thorough man of business and is one of the largest manufacturers of carriages and buggies in this section of the State. Mr. Day was married in 1872 to Miss Susan Peak, a native of Kentucky, who came to Macoupin County in her childhood with her parents. This union has been blessed with five children, namely: Blanche, Carrie, Mabel, Susan and Ruth. Mr. Day is an active and well-known member of the Masonic brotherhood. He adheres strongly to the Presbyterian Church, in which he holds membership. In politics he is a Democrat, and is also a stanch friend of the temperance cause. A kind husband and father, a prosperous business man, a popular and highly prized citizen, he is a most fortunate person, and more, he is extremely happy in his family.
Extracted 10 Jan 2017 by Norma Hass from 1892 Portrait and Biographical Record of Montgomery and Bond Counties, Illinois, pages 437-438.
