Dayton Reed was born on 22 Dec 1841 in Millbrook, Wayne County, Ohio. He was one of seven children born to James Reed and Mary Ann Keister. Since Dayton’s father was a millwright, young Dayton learned this craft along with farming.
Dayton had married Sarah Ordway on December 27, 1871 in Richland, Ohio. However, the marriage seems to have ended with each party going his own way. By 1880, Sarah was living with her widowed father back in Belleville, Ohio. Since the census describes Sarah’s father as consumptive, she may have gone there to care for him. No evidence of divorce has been found, and Sarah did not remarry until after Dayton’s death.
Around 1873, Dayton moved to Los Angeles, California, where he continued to teach for 12 years. He then moved to Arizona where he became a principal for the Phoenix Public School system 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 (now Arizona State University) where he taught language, mathematics and pedagogy. During his brief, ten-month tenure as principal, he improved the appearance of the campus by having fencing, trees and plumbing installed. His salary was $200 a month, a generous sum for the time.
Eventually, Dayton was diagnosed with consumption and was forced to resign his position because of ill health. 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 was buried in the Masons Cemetery (now part of the Phoenix Military and Memorial Park).
Dayton’s sister, Eliza Jane Douglass, succumbed to cancer on February 3, 1895, and was buried next to him in the Masons Cemetery.
- by Patricia
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