Clues to the Mystery of Clara–Verle Aaron Day (Part 8)

(Please feel free to start at the beginning of this series if you need to catch up! The link for Part 1 is here.)

Verle Aaron Day
(Originally uploaded to Ancestry by Elizabeth Day Martin –
no copyright infringement intended or implied)

Clara Margaret Badger and her second husband, Howard William Day, had a two year old daughter (Clara Marie Day) and a one year old son (Howard Harold Day) when they welcomed their twin sons into the world on May 25, 1924. The couple named their sons Verle and Earl.

The birth certificate for Verle shows the spelling for his name to be Verle Arron Day. Clara’s birthplace is listed as Ohio and Howard’s as Indiana. The place of birth for Verle is listed as Marion county, Indiana.

As I mentioned in a previous post that it was reported on a Family Group Sheet shared on Ancestry by “sonyabayles1”, Earl died at 6 months presumably because he wasn’t able to absorb nutrition – whether it was because he was bottle-fed instead or because he had a physical issue that caused this – and he died at the age of six months.  Soon after his death, Clara died.

Howard Day had three children all under the age of three that he had to provide for both emotionally and financially. He turned to his surrogate “adopted” mother, Anne Chilian. She took the children in to her home and raised them.  Verle, along with his sister and brother, are listed in her household in the 1930 census in Beech Creek, Indiana. In 1940, Verle is listed under his father’s “new” surname of Daley living in Chicago, Illinois along with his father, step-mother Ella, his brother Harold, and several half-siblings.

One of the public trees on Ancestry has a photo of Verle in a sailor uniform but I do not have the dates or information as to when he joined the service.  In another photo, he is in a dressier uniform and standing next to a Marine enlistment sign.

Verle married in the early 1940s and had five daughters – three are still living. Verle died on February 8, 1993 in Taylor, Michigan where he had moved many years previous.  He is buried in Wolfe Cemetery located in Georgetown, Indiana.