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Chase County Sketches
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Bailey, Augustus Stone
THE FAMILY OF AUGUSTUS STONE BAILEY
Augustus Stone Bailey, son of Seth and Polly James Bailey, was born in Ohio on Vienna Island, November 19, 1819, and died at Elindale, Kansas, January 27, 1899. Vienna Island, in the Ohio River, was a wedding gift to Polly James from her father, Captain John James, who had come to Ohio from Stonington, Connecticut, as a pioneer right after the Revolutionary War.
Seth and Polly Bailey had eleven children of whom Augustus was the tenth. While he was still young the family moved to nearby Marietta. It was in this Ohio area that he grew to manhood. On April 13, 1852, he married Julia Ann Johnson. The story is told that Julia Ann’s fame as an excellent cook and housekeeper had gone out over the township and although he had never met her, Augustus saddled a horse, journeyed several miles, and called at the Johnson homestead, announcing that he had liked what he had heard of Julia and had come with matrimonial intentions. They made their home at Pebbly Beach Landing, on the Ohio River, near Constitution, Ohio.
During the Civil War, Augustus served as an officer in an Ohio Company.
Two daughters were born to this couple. Emma, born February 8, 1860, and Clara Katherine, born March 18, 1862. In 1874 the family came to Chase County, Kansas, where they bought a farm from J. S. Shipman and J. S. Doolittle. This farm was known as the N. E. ¼ & E. 1/2 of the E. 1/2 of the N. W. 1/4 of Sec. 24 - 19 - 7. The Old State Road Crossing was on this farm.
A. S. Bailey also bought a block of land in Elmdale, where he built a comfortable home. This home later became known as the L. B. Breese home. Mr. Bailey spent most of his time on his farm, going back and forth from his Elmdale home. He had great success in raising Irish potatoes, raising some 3,000 bushels a year and became known as the “Potato King”.
Augustus Bailey was large hearted and generous and an upright man in every sense of the word, firm in his sturdy convictions of right and wrong. He not only helped organize the Congregational Church in Elmdale, but was faithful in attendance and support of the church in all its needs. His wife truly bore out her reputation as an able housewife and proved an excellent mother and true helpmeet in all that faced this family as pioneers in a new country, trying to carry out a few of the cultures they had known in a more settled area in the east.
It was due to Mrs. Bailey’s determination and work that they were able to help their daughters secure a college education. Mrs. Bailey died at Elmdale, at the home of her daughter Clara, March 9, 1902.
Emma Bailey came with her parents to Kansas when she was fourteen years old. She attended the Elmdale school for three years, then spent two years at Kansas University, after which she taught school in the Blackshere district. She then went back to Ohio and attended Glendale College for a year, after which she returned to Chase County and taught two years each at the Balch school and the Elmdale school. Though she had in each instance a large and crowded school with all grades and ages from five to twenty years, she showed great ingenuity and patience and was acclaimed as one of the most successful of teachers.
On April 7, 1886, Emma Bailey was married to Clarence D. Wood, son of Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Wood of Elmdale. They lived on a farm near E.lmdale for four years and then decided to go into religious work. In October, 1890, they with their two children, Rhuy and Howard, moved to Abilene, Kansas, where they lived another four years. Two more children were born to them here—Paul and Rachel. In 1894 they took up work under the Presbyterian Sabbath School Board, having for their field the Larned Presbytery, comprising thirty-four counties in Southwestern Kansas. At this time they moved to Hutchinson, Kansas.
Here their daughter Carrie was born. In 1907 they returned to the farm at Elmdale, which had been homesteaded by Clarence’s parents. Here at Pine Ridge Farm, they lived until after En-fma’s death, which occurred October 1, 1919. Their son, Paul Bailey Wood, and family now live on this farm.
Emma Bailey Wood was an unusual woman. Though never very strong physically, her faith and her spirit carried her through. She walked side by side with her husband in his Sunday School work, raised their five children, was given to hospitality, and took a constructive part in community affairs. A friend said of her, “I think she came in contact with more people during her useful life and did more good than any other one woman.”
Their five children:
Rhuy, born June 15, 1888, died November 1, 1940. She married Clyde Holmes. Their children are John Allison. and Catherine Louise. Catherine married Don Evans. They have two children, Roger and Carol.
Howard Bailey, born April 13, 1890. Killed June 23, 1918, at Belleau Wood, France, where he fought with the Marines during the First World War.
Paul Bailey, born March 16, 1892. Married Olive Cope, August 18, 1920. Their children are: Ruth Emma, Howard Cope, Janet Jessie, Earl Cope, Stanley Cope and Olive Pauline.
Rachel Wood married Arthur Owens. Their children: David Arthur, Mary Elizabeth (married Lawrence Marshburn), Wallace Wood, Ann Louise, Boone Campbell.
Carrie Wood married Andrew Drummond. Their children: Carrie Jean (married Wayne Ward—they have one child, Virginia Lee), Mar¬garet Louise, and Andrew Howard.
Clara Bailey came to Elmdale with her parents and sister in 1874 and spent the rest of her life there. On June 19, 188~, she was married to L. Budd Breese. (See L. B. Breese History.) They had one daughter, Julia, born February 1~, 1887. She died at the age of seventeen, on March 4, 1904.
Clara had an artistic nature, loving all that was beautiful. She was generous and open heared, always on the alert to help friends and strangers alike. She died in August, 1918.
Transcribed by Makayla Tanner
by your Chase County Host, Lorna Marvin.
Please submit your historical sketches.
| Chase County Host Lorna Marvin | 
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Last updated 11/10/2003
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