Charles Olin Bailey Biography This biography appears on pages 1819-1821 in "History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. CHARLES OLIN BAILEY was born at Freeport, Stephenson county, Illinois, July 2, 1800. His ancestry is English on the paternal and Welsh on the maternal side. All of his ancestors living at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence were residents, and the most of them natives of the colonies. His father was Joseph M. Bailey, formerly chief justice of Illinois, and his mother, Anna O. Bailey, he being their oldest son and child. He was educated in the public schools at Freeport and entered the University of Rochester in the fall of 1876 as a member of the class of 1880, being graduated from the university in June, 1880, a few days before he became twenty years of age. He is a member of the Alpha Delta Phi college fraternity. Mr. Bailey commenced the study of law in the office of Neff & Stearns, at Freeport, in July, 1880, and in March, 1881, he became a student in the office of Rosenthal & Pence in Chicago, where he had remained but a short time when he was offered and accepted the position of garnishee clerk in the law department of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company in Chicago. He continued his legal studies while occupying this clerkship under Burton C. Cook, the general solicitor, and Augustus M. Herrington, the assistant general solicitor of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, until the spring of 1882, when he was admitted to the bar. In March, 1883, Mr. Bailey removed to Eagle Grove, Iowa, where he occupied the position of division attorney for the Northern Iowa division of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company. In 1884 he was elected the member of the Iowa Democratic state central committee for the tenth congressional district and upon the election of President Cleveland had charge of the distribution of the federal patronage for the thirteen counties comprised in his district. In 1885 he was re- elected a member of the state central committee and was also elected mayor of the city of Eagle Grove. In January, 1886, Mr. Bailey removed from Iowa to Chicago, where he engaged in the law practice in partnership with Allan C. Story and William H. Witherell. This partnership lasted for one year, when it was dissolved. Mr. Bailey then came to the territory of Dakota, locating in Sioux Falls, April 1, 1887. He opened a law office, practicing alone for a few months, and in August, 1887, forming a partnership with H. T. Root, which lasted until February, 1888. In the fall of 1888 he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for district attorney of Minnehaha county, and was elected to that office in November, running about fifteen hundred votes ahead of his ticket. He held the office until the summer of 1890, when he resigned, on account of the refusal of the county commissioners to make a sufficient appropriation for the enforcement of the prohibition law. Since that time he has not held, or sought any public office. In January, 1889, he became associated with Captain William H. Stoddard and with William H. Wilson in law practice under the firm name of Bailey, Stoddard & Wilson. This partnership continued until May, 1890, when Mr. Wilson retired from the firm and the business was continued under the name of Bailey & Stoddard. This firm was dissolved in January, 1892, and Bailey entered into a partnership with John H. Voorhees under the firm name of Bailey & Voorhees. In July, 1895, Judge F. R. Aikens became a member of the firm, which was then known as Aikens, Bailey & Voorhees. Judge Aikens withdrew from the firm on October 25, 1897, and the old firm name of Bailey & Voorhees was resumed and has continued up to the present time. Mr. Bailey has been admitted to the bar of the states of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and the territory of Dakota. He was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the United States in October, 1893, and has since that time been employed in a number of important cases before that court. He has the largest law library in either of the Dakotas, and one of the largest private law libraries in the United States, it consisting of some eight thousand and over volumes of reports, text-books and statutes. He also possesses a private general library of over six thousand volumes. His firm represents in a legal capacity the Illinois Central Railroad Company in the state of South Dakota and also the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the Mercantile Agency of R. G. Dun & Company. Mr. Bailey was married at Chicago, Illinois, on March 28, 1887, to Mary Emma Swan. They have had four children, of whom three, Theodore Mead, Charles Olin, Jr., and Anna Elida, are living, and one, Joseph Mead Bailey III, is dead. Mr. Bailey is a member of the various Masonic bodies and is also a Knight of Pythias, an Odd Fellow and an Elk. He is prominent in Masonic circles and has been high priest of Sioux Falls Chapter, No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, eminent commander of Cyrene Commandery, No. 2, Knights Templar, master of Minnehaha Lodge, No. 5, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, thrice illustrious master of Alpha Council, No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, and venerable master of Khurum Lodge of Perfection, No. 3, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. He has also occupied the positions of grand warden, grand sword bearer and grand standard bearer, and is now (1904-5) grand senior warden of the grand commandery, Knights Templar, of South Dakota. Mr. Bailey is a member of the Iroquois Club of Chicago and of the Dakotah Club of Sioux Falls. He has been for many years a member of the American Bar Association and during several years has been the vice- president of the association for the state of South Dakota.