PHILLIP E. BAILEY

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Phillip E. Bailey and Mrs. Phillip E. Bailey

The year 1867 witnessed the arrival of Philip E. Bailey in Iowa township, and since that time he has been identified with the farming and stock-raising interests of this section. Born in Columbiana county, Ohio, on the 1st of November, 1854, he is a son of David and Alice (Wickersham) Bailey, natives of Chester county, Pennsylvania. In the county of their nativity the parents were reared and married, and three children were born unto them ere their removal from the Keystone state. Twenty-one years were spent in Ohio previous to the fall of 1852, when they came to Iowa. The father, who was a carpenter in early life, later took up the occupation of farming and was thus engaged at the time of his death. Both he and his wife passed away in Cedar county. The latter was reared in the faith of the Quaker church and Mr. Bailey, although not a member, was closely identified with the denomination, both using the Quaker mode of speech prior to their coming to Iowa.

In their family were eight children, of whom Philip E. of this review is the youngest. The others are as follows: Amos, Aaron and Eli, all deceased; Emma, the wife of Joseph Shaw, of Cass county, Iowa, both of whom have now passed away; David, residing in Taylor county, Iowa; Jesse, deceased; and William, who died in the Civil war. Four of the sons, including our subject, saw service in the war at the same time. David, a member of the One Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, served for three years. The service of Jesse, of the Fourth Indiana Battery, covered three years and six months. He responded to the first call for troops for three months, reenlisted at the end of that period for three years and served over that time. He was wounded in the engagement at Stone River, but did not return home until the close of hostilities. William, who enlisted at Tipton as a member of Company K, Thirty-fifth Iowa Infantry, had served nearly two years when he was taken ill during the siege of Vicksburg and passed away at Memphis, Tennessee.

Philip E. Bailey was a little lad of seven years when he left his native state and accompanied his parents to Iowa in the fall of 1852. Three months were spent at Marion, Linn county, but in February, 1853, the family took up their abode in Gower township, Cedar county, where the father purchased and improved what is now known as the Tucker farm. There the son was reared to manhood, early becoming familiar with the tasks that fall to the lot of the country lad as he assisted in the cultivation of the farm and continued to make it his home until the year 1867 when he came to Iowa township and here entered the business world on his own account, purchasing a farm of two hundred and twenty acres on section 19 and 30. To the further improvement and development of this property he has since directed his energies and with the passing of years has brought his fields under a high state of cultivation. The land, which he originally purchased at an average of about forty dollars per acres, is now worth two hundred dollars per acre, a fact indicative of his wise management and careful direction as well as the progressive methods and keen business insight which he has manifested. With the cultivation of the fields he has also engaged in the stock business, and both the raising of cereals and the raising of stock are proving a source of gratifying annual remuneration. Possessing that spirit of energy and determination which must underlie all successful accomplishment, he has labored on from year to year, his persistent effort and untiring perseverance bringing him success, and the degree of prosperity to which he has attained ranks him among the substantial and prosperous agriculturists of Iowa township.

In 1867 Mr. Bailey laid the foundation for a happy home life by his marriage to Miss Angeline Whitacre, who was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, in February, 1848, and came to Iowa in 1856 with her parents, Martin and Sarah (Wickersham) Whitacre, also natives of Columbiana county. In the Hawkeye state the father passed away, while the mother, who passed her eighty-second birthday in May, 1910, still survives and makes her home with her daughter Mrs. Bailey. The latter, by her marriage, has become the mother of one son, Walter O. Bailey, whose birth occurred on the old homestead on the 14th of July, 1877. His entire life has been spent on this farm, the operation of which he is largely superintending. He wedded Annie Weise and unto them has been born a son, Philip Arthur Bailey. The subject of this review has in his possession photographs which show four generations in both the paternal and maternal lines.

Mr. Bailey holds membership in Silas Jackson Post, No. 255, G. A. R. at West Liberty, having enlisted for service in the Civil war at the age of eighteen years on the 10th of May, 1864, when he became a member of Company G, Forty-seventh Iowa Infantry, responding to the call for troops for one hundred days’ service. Hostilities ceased, however, ere he had seen much active service. In politics he gives his support at the polls to the republican party, but has never sought nor desired offices, preferring to concentrate his attention upon his private interests. He is not unmindful, however, of the duties and obligations of citizenship but has ever been interested in those measures which have tended to enhance the prosperity and promote the development of the community in which he resides. Modest and unassuming in manner, he has led a quiet life, his interests centering around happy home ties and pleasant friendships, his manly principles and sterling worth winning for him the esteem and good-will of his fellowmen.