Professor Dayton Reed (1841 - 1895) - Educator

Pioneers' Cemetery Association

Dayton Reed was born on 22 Dec 1841 in Millbrook, Wayne County, Ohio. He was one of seven children born to James and Mary Ann Reed. 

Dayton became a teacher and moved to Belleville, Ohio where he was a high school principal from 1866 to 1873.  During that time, his sister Eliza Douglass came to live with him bringing her son Beach.  Her marriage to William Douglass had ended in divorce. 

Dayton married Sarah Ordway on December 27, 1871 in Richland, Ohio.  That marriage seems to have ended with each one going their own way.  Sarah was living with her widowed father in Belleville, Ohio in 1880. 

Dayton moved to Los Angeles, California around 1873 where he continued to teach for 12 years.  He then moved to Arizona where he became principal for the Phoenix Public Schools in 1885.  He resigned that position in 1887 to enter into the more lucrative real estate and banking business in Phoenix.   

On June 28, 1890, Dayton became the third principal of the Arizona Territorial Normal School (Arizona State University) where he taught language, mathematics and pedagogy.During his short ten month tenure as principal, he supervised improving the appearance of the campus by having fencing, trees and plumbing installed.  His salary was $200 a month.

Dayton was forced to resign his position because he was suffering from consumption.  A long-time member of the Masons, he was elevated to Grand Master of the Phoenix lodge prior to his death.  He died July 12, 1894 and is buried in the Masons Cemetery of Phoenix Military and Memorial Park. 

Dayton’s sister, Eliza Douglass, died February 3, 1895 of cancer and is buried next to her brother.