The Bailey Family


Richard Bailey the elder, was a soldier in the American Army 
during the War of the Revolution, and his residence was on the 
Black Water, in that portion of Bedford County, Virginia, which 
subsequently became a part of Franklin County. Richard Bailey 
married Miss Annie Belcher, and their family consisted of ten 
children, eight sons and two daughters. The sons were John, James, 
Eli, Micajah, Archibald, Reuben, Richard, and Henry. Mr.
Bailey came with his family to the Beaver Pond Spring in the 
year of 1780, and together with John G. Davidson, built the 
block-house or fort near that spring which was afterwards known 
as the "Davidson-Bailey Fort."

Aside from Mr. Davidson and his family, Mr. Bailey's neighbors 
were Captain James Moore, in Abb's Valley, some ten miles away; 
Mitchell Clay,on the Bluestone at the Clover Bottom, about twelve 
miles away; Joshua Day, at the mouth of Laurel Fork of Wolf Creek, 
about fifteen miles away; Hickman Compton, on Clear Fork of 
Wolf Creek, eight miles away, and Gideon Wright, at the head of  
the South Fork of Bluestone, twelve miles away. The
sons of Richard Bailey, especially the elder ones, were 
great Indian scouts and fighters, and were splendid specimens of 
physical strength and manhood and of great personal courage.

John Bailey, the eldest son, married Nancy Davidson, the 
daughter of John G. Davidson, and in 1789, he built a log house 
on the south side of Bowyer's Branch, on the farm now owned by 
Thompson Calfee--this building is still standing at this writing--
and in which Mr. Jonathan Bailey, their oldest son, was born in 
1790, and when he was but four days old an Indian
incursion into the neighborhood caused Mr. Bailey to take 
his wife and child on horseback to the fort at the Beaver Pond.

Henry Bailey, the youngest son of Richard the elder, married a Miss
Peters, daughter of John Peters, of New river. Among the sons 
of Henry were John P., Elijah, Colonel James M., Philip P., and 
Major William R. Bailey. John P. Bailey went to Texas in the 
forties. Elijah was quite a prominent citizen in his day, having 
been a member of the House of Delegates of Virginia from the 
Counties of Giles and Mercer, and was afterward Sheriff of 
Mercer County and long a Justice of the Peace of said
county. Colonel James M. also represented Mercer County 
in the House of Delegates, and was a Colonel of Militia; and 
William R. was likewise a Major in the Mercer Militia.

Nancy, one of the daughters of Henry, married Charles W. Calfee, 
who was long the Clerk of the Mercer County Court. Elizabeth 
first married William Ferguson and subsequently the Rev. 
Carroll Clark. Jane married Wilson D.
Calfee, and Polly first married James Bailey, and after his death, 
married John Bailey; she was a woman of strong good sense and 
intellect.

From the elder Richard Bailey, the first settler, descended all the
numerous families by that name, now scattered over several of 
the counties of West Virginia, particularly Mercer, McDowell, 
Wyoming, and Logan, and in Tazewell County, Virginia.

Robert H. Bailey, a great grandson of the elder Richard, has been
prominent in county affairs. Estill Bailey, another great 
grandson, is now the Clerk of the County Court of Mercer County. 
Many of this family are prominent citizens of adjacent counties; 
among them may be mentioned Theodore F. Bailey, of Wyoming. 
Nearly all who bore that name, during our great civil strife, 
were gallant and brave soldiers.