Synopsis:
Jesse Bailey (1836_1923) Family History
PERRY COUNTY, INDIANA
1. JESSE BAILEY was born in 1836 in VA, according to 1860
Census index for PERRY CO, IN. He married CHARLOTTE A.
BEARD in about 1857. As she was born in KY, according to the
same census index, we assume they were married in KY. Since their
first child, ROBERT M. BAILEY, was born in PERRY CO, IN in
1858 (birth records, and named in 1860 Census) we also assume they
moved to INDIANA about 1857_8. The couple had two sons, Robert
M. and George A., and five daughters, whose names are unknown to
us. CHARLOTTE BAILEY died in PERRY CO, IN, on 5/14/1904
(headstone and obituary). JESSE BAILEY died there in 1923. Both
are buried in Greenwood Cemetery, in PERRY CO, IN.
We have little information on the specifics of JESSE’s or CHARLOTTE’s birthplaces, their parents, or siblings. There is a family tradition that both came from southwestern KY, around Horse Cave, which is now in HART CO, KY, but was then part of HARDEN CO, KY. JESSE gave his occupation in 1900 PERRY CO Census as teamster, a trade his sons and grandsons followed in the mills around the river towns of southern INDIANA. The 1900 Census data indicate that he had two grandsons living with him: probably the children of the daughters, Clif(f)ord (b. 1879, possibly in KY, occupation teamster) and Leonard (b. 1881, also possibly in KY, occupation laborer). Would the daughter(s) have gone back to KY to marry, or am I simply reading the Census data wrong? (There is also some indication that a previous marriage may have occurred, to MARY C. VARNER.)
2. ROBERT M. BAILEY was JESSE’s oldest child. Born in 1858 in PERRY CO, IN, he was married a first time, to a person whose identity is lost to us. He married ZURILDA (Schrilda, Surilda, “Rilly”) POWELL (b. 1868, d. 1932) on 6/22/1887. Her parents were Malichi(ah) Powell (b. 1822 in Westmoreland Co PA, d. PERRY CO, IN in 1907) and Cinderella Reed (b. 1827, d. In PERRY CO, IN in 1907). ROBERT and ZURILDA BAILEY raised six children from 1892 through 1907. The fifth was my grandfather.
ROBERT BAILEY labored a lifetime as a teamster, sometimes self_ employed and sometimes on the payroll of the local mills. In 1910 he reported to the US Census that his family lived in rented space in Tell City, PERRY CO, IN. He was known as a hulking teamster, noted for his strength. He drove a two_horse team to clear roads, drag logs, and haul timber. A legend had traveled back from Otwell, IN where ROBERT had apparently, on a bet, lifted a draft horse by squatting beneath it. He became unmanageable in his later years, while living with the family of his son ORVAL LAWRENCE BAILEY (my grandfather). He died in the State Hospital in Evansville, Vanderburgh Co, IN, on 2/28/1933 __ less than a year after ZURILDA had died in Tell City, IN. He was 75 years of age.
2. JAMES A. BAILEY was born 1862, four years after ROBERT. He married LAURA B. BEARD in 1887, the same year ROBERT BAILEY married Zurilda Powell. His identity is confusing, and he may not be related at all, since there are only references to two BAILEY sons. But the gap between ROBERT’s birth and GEORGE’s (28 years) suggests that JAMES, not GEORGE, was JESSE’s second son.
2. GEORGE A. BAILEY married NANCY E. BEARD on 3/9/1898. There is no known record of the end of this marriage. GEORGE BAILEY married WRIGHT M. SWEAT in 1904. They had a daughter, Mary M. BAILEY, in 1908.
2. FIVE DAUGHTERS of JESSE and CHARLOTTE BAILEY are unknown.