Bailey, James E.

BAILEY, ROWE, DEMPSEY, HALL, REAGAN, COE, CHAFFIN

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/11/2009 at 08:52:30

~ James E. Bailey ~

James E. Bailey, one of the leading old settlers of Poweshiek, Jasper County, Iowa, was born in De Kalb County, Ind., March 25, 1842. His parents were Benjamin and Katherine (Rowe) Bailey, both natives of New York, who came to Indiana soon after their marriage. In 1850 they removed to Poweshiek Township, when this country was still inhabited by Indians, and at a time when game of all kinds, including buffaloes, was abundant. They located one hundred and sixty acres of the best prairie land and at once energetically set about making a home in the new country; they soon added by purchase to their original holdings, and in an incredibly short time were possessed of a comfortable farm and surrounded with all the luxuries to be had in the region. Neighbors were few and far between, and the nearest mill, thirty-five miles distant, at Red Rock, afforded the only means of procuring flour, and required a journey of three or four days to make the round trip. Mrs. Bailey died in 1869; her husband survived her sixteen years and died in 1885, at the age of eighty- four. Only two of their ten children lived to maturity, James E. (the subject of this sketch) and Thomas B.

James E. Bailey was educated in the country schools of this (Poweshiek) township, and remained at home in the family of his parents until the organization of the Fortieth Iowa Infantry, in 1862; when he enlisted in Company D of that regiment under Captain Cozad and Col. E. G. Garrett. His regiment served mostly in the Western Division, in the Sixteenth Army Corps. He participated first in the siege of Vicksburg, later in the battles about Little Rock, Ark., and finished his services in the army at Jenkins' Ferry in Arkansas. He volunteered as a private and served in that capacity throughout the war, and was discharged at Davenport, Iowa, in August 1865. He now draws a pension of $30 per month. Previous to entering the army, he had purchased eighty acres of prairie land for $250, and to this he returned as soon as his country no longer needed his services, and devoted himself to the improvement of his land. He still owns and occupies this property, but has doubled his holdings. He now has a finely improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres, with a dwelling house and home conveniences that compare favorably with any of his neighbors, while his barns and farm outbuildings bespeak the successful farmer and careful husbandman.

In 1866, after his return from the army, he married Miss Jane Dempsey, a native of Indiana and a daughter of Perry and Sarah (Hall) Dempsey, farmers, who came to Iowa in 1864 and settled in Polk, the adjoining county, where they still reside. Besides Mrs. Bailey, the members of Mr. Dempsey's family were Annie, wife of William Reagan; William H.; Mary, deceased, who was the wife of Milton Coe; Lydia A., the present wife of Milton Coe, and Eugene.

Mr. and Mrs. Bailey lost their eldest son, William P., by a distressing accident on the railroad at Colo, Story County, Iowa, in 1892. They have ten living children: George, a resident of Story County; Lucy, wife of William Chaffin, of Polk County; Myra, Marion, Jesse, Mary, Elzada V., Sarah, Harriett and Laura. Mr. Bailey is a member of E. D. Duncan Post, G. A. R., at Colfax. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA
Page 354.