John Bailey Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 977-978

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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JOHN BAILEY, the oldest settler in Clark county, is proprietor of as 
pleasant a farm home as is to be found in that region. He is one of the 
substantial members of the farming community of Woodland township, and 
takes an active interest in the development of his locality. It is a 
pleasure to meet with the pioneers of any state or county, and hear 
them recount their experiences amid frontier surroundings, and draw the 
comparisons between the wild lands of the early days, and the highly 
cultivated fields of the present time. The subject of this review has 
struggled through the discouragements of pioneer life and finds himself 
today surrounded by the comforts, and even the luxuries of life, in his 
pleasant home. When he located in Dakota, Gary was the nearest point, 
and that was eighty miles distant, and provisions were obtained from 
Gary, Canby, Dakota, and Marshall, Minnesota. Their post office was at 
Kampeska, about thirty-five miles distant, and no mail was received 
during the first winter. Their residence was the first white man's home 
in the county, and for about two years the only neighbors, aside from 
the brother of our subject, and the family of Mr. Woodland, who settled 
in the county at the same time as Mr. Bailey, were the Indians, who 
used the lake near their home, known as Bailey's Lake, as a camping 
place, and paid occasional visits to the home of our subject. They were 
peaceably inclined and were welcome visitors, doing no damage, except 
on one occasion, when they run off four head of cattle and killed and 
ate one. This loss was afterward adjusted however by the Indian Agent. 
No flour was to be had for the winter of 1880-81, and tour subject's 
wife beginning in December ground wheat in a coffee mill, furnishing 
wheat to many neighbors, some coming from Oak Gulch, eighteen miles 
distant, to obtain a supply. Our subject sold all the wheat he could 
spare at one dollar per bushel, and potatoes at the same price. 

Mr. Bailey is a native of Lincolnshire, England, and was born March 18, 
1836. He was the second in a family of eleven children born to Wright 
and Harriet (Codling) Bailey. Until he reached his majority he worked 
on a farm, and after leaving his home went to work in the iron ore 
mines in Yorkshire, and afterward on tunnel work in Scotland near the 
foot of Ben Lomand. The family came to America in 1859, joining the 
uncles of our subject in Green Lake county, Wisconsin. Our subject 
there engaged in farming and digging wells, and in 1861 went to Iowa 
and purchased a farm in Cerro Gordo county. In May, 1878, our subject 
and family, accompanied by J. Woodland, started by team with all their 
effects for Ottertail county, Minnesota, but upon arrival at New Ulm 
they heard discouraging reports of Minnesota and favorable reports of 
Dakota, and this, together with the cheap land to be found in Dakota, 
decided them in changing their course and going direct to the western 
state. Arriving at Lake Kampeska they heard of a small wooded lake 
about thirty-five miles west of that point and hired a settler to guide 
them there. Both our subject and Mr. Woodland chose land bordering on 
the lake, and filed claims at Gary, July 1, 1878, and were the first to 
enter claim on land in Clark county. Our subject built a sod house 
twenty feet square on the southwest bank of the lake, and it was the 
first habitation in that locality until the spring of 1881. In July our 
subject had spent one day in breaking land, when twelve head of his 
horses strayed away, leaving but two or three other horses and one span 
of mules. He immediately started in pursuit, and spent four weeks in 
effecting their capture, returning too late for land breaking that 
season, and the first crop raised was in 1879, and the following year 
the crops were excellent. After one year a frame dwelling, 12 x 16 
feet, was erected, in which they resided two years. They moved to their 
homestead in Woodland township in 1881, since which time our subject 
has improved and beautified the property, and his home is all that 
could be desired, and he has met with financial success in the vocation 
in which he has engaged. His residence, 24 x 26 feet; with 16-foot 
posts, is convenient in: every detail and furnishes a comfortable 
dwelling for the family. 

Our subject was married in 1860, Miss Julia Ann Hubbard, a native of 
Indiana, becoming his wife. Mrs. Bailey is a lady of much force of 
character, whose counsel and weeds of cheer did much to aid her husband 
over the more troublous places attendant to life on a western prairie. 
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bailey, both deceased, but 
they have adopted two sons, John W., engaged in farming near our 
subject, and Joseph W. a resident of North Dakota. Mr. Bailey was one 
of the first county commissioners of Clark county, and served two terms 
in that capacity. He has been active in matters of local import and is 
well known and enjoys the respect of his acquaintances. In political 
views he is a Populist, favors high license and equal suffrage. He is a 
gentleman who keeps abreast of the times and is strong in his 
convictions. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.