BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Peoria City and County, Illinois
The S. J. Clarke Publ. Co.
1912
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NICHOLAS
R. DAY.
In 1875, a little Irish lad fourteen years old, came to the old C.
B. & Q. depot in Peoria, and applied to Mr. Lucas Merkle,
then in charge of the station restaurant, for a position. He
was put to washing dishes, and doing other odd chores around the
station. Today, that little boy, grown up, Nicholas R. Day
is owner of the restaurants in both the large railroad stations in
this city, the Union and Rock Island depots. It is an
undoubted fact that the success of a man is not measured so much by
the position he has gained in life, as by the position from which he
has risen. But Nicholas Day has gained success of both
sorts. He has attained a high place in the city of his birth,
and he has risen from a very low one. The qualities which made
him a good dishwasher in the little old C. B. & Q. station, when he
was fourteen years of age, have made him a successful hotel and
restaurant owner today. Promptness in execution, thoroughness
in every undertaking, cleanliness, willingness to work, are
qualities which are inevitably dominant influences in the life of
the man who possesses them. Nicholas R. Day's success
was based upon their presence in his character. He was born in
St. Louis, Missouri, June 1, 1861. He was of direct Irish
descent, his father, Patrick Day having come from Ireland
with his father to America when but fourteen years of age. His
mother, Ann Neyton was two years old when she was brought
from Ireland. The family moved from Missouri to Illinois, when
Nicholas Day was very young, and settled near Farmdale, and
in the country schools around this village, their son acquired his
education. He left school at the age of fourteen, and washed
dishes in the railroad restaurant for a number of years. When
the Rock Island station was built, Nicholas Day entered the
restaurant there where he served in various capacities until 1888.
All during his business career, he had carefully saved his earnings,
until in that year, the little dishwasher was able to buy the
restaurant privileges in the Rock Island depot, where he carried on
a very successful business for a number of years and where he is
still owner. He is also owner and manger of the lunch counter
and restaurant in the Union station of this city, and his energy,
ability and knowledge of his business, have taken the departments of
which he has control, out of the class of ordinary station
restaurants. Mr. Day is prominent in business circles
of the city in other directions. He is vice president and a
director of the Peoria Artificial Ice Company, and is active and
prominent in the Peoria Association of Commerce. He votes a
consistently republican ticket on national issues, but keeps himself
independent of party lines and political partisanship in local
affairs. He is prominent in the Knights of Pythias, and Elks
and the Modern Woodmen of America, and is a member of the Creve
Coeur Club.
Nicholas R. Day was married in Peoria in 1885,
to Miss Amelia Schleicher, daughter of George Schleicher
of this city, and they have two children: Eva, the wife of
Fred Seifert, Jr., of Peoria; and Arthur L. who is associated
with his father in business. Mr. Day is essentially a
self made man, who by his indefatigable energy, unswerving
determination, and rare ability has carved out an honorable career
for himself, in a city where he began at the bottom rung of the
ladder.
Source:
Peoria City and County, Illinois - The S. J. Clarke Publ. Co. - 1912
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RT.
REV. EDMUND MICHAEL DUNNE, D. D., Catholic bishop of Peoria,
is a native of Chicago. He attended the parochial school of
Holy Name parish and later with a student in St. Ignatius College
before entering Niagara University. He afterward pursued his
studies in seats of learning in Belgium and in Rome, completing his
course at the Gregorian University with high honors. His first
pastorate was at St. Columbkills, where he remained for eight years.
He speaks seven languages and is a man of scholarly attainments and
keen philosophical trend of mind. On the 1st of September,
1909, he was consecrated bishop of Peoria in Holy Name Cathedral by
his Grace Most Rev. Diomede Falconio, D. D., apostolic delegate to
the United States.
Source:
Peoria City and County, Illinois - The S. J. Clarke Publ. Co. - 1912
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