Monday, November 03, 2008

Veterans Day, November 11: Corporal Isaac F. Mack and Sergeant Selden A. Day of Company C, 7th O.V.I.

Selden A. Day is pictured in his uniform from the Spanish American War, in which he served as an officer in the Artillery. The photograph was a gift to Sandusky newspaper publisher, Isaac F. Mack. During the Civil War, Selden A. Day and Isaac F. Mack both served in Company C of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Isaac F. Mack was a Corporal and Selden A. Day served as both a Corporal and a Sergeant while in the 7th infantry.

Selden A. Day had a long record of military service to his country. He served in the Civil War as well as the Spanish American War. His monument at Arlington National Cemetery bears the inscription: “Breveted First Lieutenant, 3 June 1864 for gallant and meritorious service in the battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia; Breveted Captain, 13 March 1865 for gallant and meritorious services during the war. “

Selden Day’s wife was quite well known in her own right. Alice Chenoweth was born in 1853 in Winchester, Virginia. When she began writing, Alice legally took the pen name of Helen Hamilton Gardener. She authored seven books, was a vice president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and was the first female member of the United States Civil Service Commission. President Wilson appointed her on April 13, 1920. Upon her death (subscription required), Helen willed her brain to science .

Isaac F. Mack was one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Sandusky, Ohio. He was associated with the Sandusky Register from 1869 until 1909. He was a charter member of the Western Associated Press, which went on to become the Associated Press.
Mack was elected Commander of the Ohio Department of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1892. He was very influential in securing Erie County as the home of the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home, now the Ohio Veterans Home. The I.F. Mack building at the Ohio Veterans Home honors his memory.

To read more about the life of Isaac F. Mack, read Sandusky's Editor, by Charles E. Frohman, available at the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library.

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