Joseph S. Dailey

Joseph S. Dailey was born on May 31, 1844 in Wells County, Indiana. After graduating from the Wells County Public Schools, he studied law with a local attorney while teaching school to raise enough money to attend Indiana University at Bloomington. He graduated from the law department in 1866, and was admitted to the bar. In his first year of practice he was elected district attorney of the Wells County common pleas court. In 1868, Dailey was elected prosecutor for the Tenth Judicial District, for Adams, Allen, Huntington, Wells, and Whitley counties. He served in this office until 1876, and then in 1878 he was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives. In 1882 he ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1888 he was elected judge of the circuit court for Huntington and Wells counties, where he served until his appointment to the Indiana Supreme Court in 1893. Justice Dailey was appointed to the court to fill out the term of Justice Walter Olds. He served on the court from July 25, 1893 to January 7, 1895. He was defeated for a full term in the 1894 election. During his brief tenure on the Court, he authored more than 80 opinions. On leaving the Court, he returned to Wells County to practice law with his son. He died at his home on October 9, 1905 and was buried in the Elm Grove Cemetery in Wells County.https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/notablealumni/1039/thumbnail.jp