John Purviance Day, B.1824 Preble Co., OH
Submitted by Becky Rittenhouse
From: 1892 Portrait and Biographical Record of Ford Co IL, 1892 pg 837
John Purviance Day, a pioneer business man of Paxton, Ford Co., who located here in March, 1857,
and for the past thirty-three years has been prominently identified with its
real-estate and other business interests, was born in Preble Co OH on the 8th of
Sept 1824. He is a son of Samuel and Peggy Purviance Day, a sketch of whom appears
elsewhere in this work, and was reared on his father's farm in the woods of Preble Co. OH.
He enjoyed the limited educational advantages of the public schools
of those days in that region, and was early inured to hard labor, clearing the heavy
timber and fitting the land for cultivation.
Having attained to man's estate, Mr. Day was united in marriage, in Miami Co IN on the 25th of Sept 1845,
to Miss Malinda Swisher, dau of George and Elizabeth Bassett Swisher. The lady was born in Ripley, IN
and was reared in Preble Co, where she was a neighbor and associate of her husband in childhood.
Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Day made their home on a farm
in a heavily timbered section of Miami Co IN. For seven years, Mr. Day swung the ax and tilled the soil, enjoying life
keenly in the possession of the substantials of life, where all were on a common footing, never longing for or missing
the luxuries of more modern civilization.
In the fall of 1853, he and his family, with teams and a portion of their household effects, joined his father and brothers
in their emigration to Eastern IL, and in November reached a point near Danville, where they located and bought land.
John P. Day and family remained on their farm at that place until March 1857, when they removed to Paxton, in what is now
Ford CO. He became interested in merchandising at that point and later sold his farm near Danville and concentrated his business
at Paxton. In June, 1859, Ford CO., was organized and at the first election of the county officers, which occurred the
following fall, Mr. Day was elected County Treasurer. He was re-elected at the two succeeding elections and subsequently
filled an unexpired term on the death of the Treasurer, serving from March 22, 1866 to November, 1867, making his entire
service in that office amount to nearly eight years. In politics, he was a Whig in early life and joined the Republican party
at its organization in IL in 1854. While serving as County Treasurer, he became very familiar with the land of
Ford County, and acted as agent for many non-residents in the settlement of taxes and in buying and selling real estate on
commission. On retiring from office, he naturally turned his attention to the real-estate business, which he has carried on
successfully ever since. His official and land business did not, however, occupy his time exclusively, as he has been interested
three different times with his brothers in merchandising, and at this writing is a partner of his brother N. B. Day, in one
of the largest dry goods and general stores in Paxton. He and his brother Samuel L., were associated in merchanising, farming,
real estate and general trading. Mr Day handled live stock extensively, buying, feeding and shipping. They began
merchandising in Paxton, in March, 1858, having the second general store in this place. In 1860, John P. Day embarked
in the land business, since which time he has bought and sold, either as principal or agent, many thousand of acres of land
in IL and other Western States. At this writing, he is the senior member of the real-estate and loan-agency firm of Day Brothers,
of Paxon. This firm does an extensive business, not only in IL, but KS, Iowa, and Missouri lands, and in city property.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Day:
Cordelia E., the eldest, now the wife of George Wright of Chicago, and the mother of three children,
two sons and a daughter.
Margaret died at the age of six years,
Alice M. married Theodore M. King, a leading druggist of Paxton;
they have one son Claude.
The parents and their daughters are memebers of the Congregational Church.
Mr. Day was the first President of the town of Paxton, to which office he was elected April 15, 1861, on the incorporation of
the town or village. He was also a member of the first Grand Jury of Ford Co. in November 1859, as well as the first County
Treasurer to serve a full term. His life has been an active and useful one, and his business relations have been such as to give
him an extended acquaintance throughout Ford and adjacent counties, where his opinion and good judgement, especially on
the subject of land values, are generally accepted as authority. It is generally conceded that no man has had a wider experience
or possesses more reliable information in that direction than Mr. Day. In all his intercourse with his fellow-citizens and the
world in general, he has always been found upright and reliable. While conservative and prudent in all his business transactions,
yet is enterprising and ready to venture where his good judgment sanctions investment and he seldom makes mistakes. Perhaps
that is one reason why he has been so successful in business and is so generally respected. It is now forty-six years
since Mr. Day began business on his own account and in all that time he has never sued or been sued in acourt of justice, a
record any man might be proud of.
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