Person:Ira Ordway (1)

His middle name was reported as Jacob and as James. Ira married into the Seventh Day Baptist Church and was a fervent well-respected member of the church. Around 1870 he and his family including his father Samuel Ordway moved from West Edmeston New York to to Chicago. Here Ira opened a tailor shop and school for budding tailors. Because the Seventh Day Baptist members went to church on the Sabbath Ira had a special affinity for Jewish persons and began his tailoring school as a mission activity to help young Jewish men learn a trade. He always had other people living (boarding)with him -- lots of missionaries, religious and people with no place to stay. In Chicago he lived at 1447 W. Monroe and had a tailor shop at 205 W. Madison. His first home in Chicago was at 51 S.Carpenter. The Seventh Day Baptist Sabbath Recorder says that the neighborhood became bad and the family moved farther west.The family also lived at 360 Randolph and lastly at 516 W. Monroe but address later changed to

An 1868 atlas shows Ira as a merchant and postmaster in West Edmeston New York. Per the Utica Morning Herald 1871 Ira invented and had patented a cutting device. The article said, "He has for years been a successful merchant in West Edmeston, and in connection with his store had a tailoring establishment. The cutting of garments by the old tedious method of measuring and making mathematical calculations, specially attracted his attention, and he set about devising some means for getting at the practical results by direct measurement alone. For this purpose he invented a very ingenious but simple and efficient apparatus for drafting all kinds of garments, the apparatus itself, on the application of the measure, showing at a glance the figures desired and hitherto often dubiously reached by close calculation. He has for some time past been giving instructions to a large number of pupils In drafting and cutting by his new patent method, which all tailors who have tried it pronounce mathematically correct In all cases. As he will leave for his new home in the West, in a few days, his pupils and others have availed themselves of the opportunity to testify their appreciation of his new method of drafting and cutting, and of himself as an estimable gentleman and friend."

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 The Journal-Telephone
   July 30, 1914.

   Ira James Ordway was born in West Edmeston, N. Y., Aug. 25, 1831. He was of sturdy, God-fearing stock. His father, born in 1800, covered with his son, the span of the Nineteenth century and fourteen years of the Twentieth. Ira entered DeRuyter Institute in the spring of 1848. He was converted and baptized while there in the spring of 1849. He was married in 1853 to Eliza Ann Clarke, who died in 1894. She was the mother of his children and the companion of his pioneer days. He was married to Amelia Crandall Peckham March 17, 1898. After her death in 1902, he was married to his present wife, Didema Merchant, June 21, 1905. He leaves a wife; a daughter, Mrs. J. Murray Maxson; a granddaughter, Mrs. Joseph Schurtz, daughter of his son, Albert, who died in 1889; and a little great-grandchild.
   He came to Chicago in March, 1871, a few months before the big fire of Oct. 9, and all his later life was identified with that city. He was a prominent member of the Chicago S. D. B. church, and active in the work of his denomination, his greatest service perhaps being the inauguration of the student quartet movement. He was the corresponding secretary of the S. D. B. Tract society during several of the earlier years of its existence. In 1889 he was president of the S. D. B. General Conference.
   He died July 20, 1914. Funeral services were conducted at his late home in Chicago July 22 by Rev. D. B. Coon, and in the S. D. B. church at Milton, Wis., July 23 by his former pastor, Rev. L. C. Randolph. E. M. Holston, Rev. H. N. Jordan, Rev. L. C. Randolph and L. A. Babcock, all of whom have served in the Student Volunteer movement promoted by Mr. Ordway, sang "The Wayside Cross," "All Will be Well" and "Good Night." The body was laid beside that of his first love in the Milton cemetery. L. C. R.

2.   The Sabbath Recorder . (New York City, New York; later Plainfield, N. J.)
   77, August 10, 1914, p. 190.
3.   Patent: Improvement in Devices for Measuring and Laying out Garments