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WEST VIRGINIA BAILEYS
IRISH MOTTO
"NOTHING SHINES BRIGHTER THEN THE STARS"
ENGLISH MOTTO
"ONE'S COUNTRY IS WHERE ONE IS WELL"
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I ONCE READ THAT EVERY SEVEN GENERATIONS A BRANCH OF YOUR FAMILY TREE WILL DISCONTINUE. I STRONGLY BELIEVE THIS TO BE TRUE FOR THE FOLLOWING REASON:
ON MY MATERNAL SIDE, FREEDA MAE SHAFFER, MY MOTHER WAS AN ONLY CHILD. HER AUNTS AND UNCLES ON THE SHAFFER SIDE NEVER HAD KIDS OF THEIR OWN. THEREFORE, THE SHAFFER LINE ENDED WHEN MY MOTHER, FREEDA MAE SHAFFER SLOOP PASSED ON MAY 8th, 2008. ON MY PATERNAL SIDE, MY FATHER, LAWRENCE WOULDFORD BAILEY, HAD BROTHERS WITH MALE CHILDREN THAT WILL CARRY ON THEIR HERITAGE, HOPEFULLY FOR MANY YEARS TO COME. MY BROTHER, RALPH DANIEL HAS HAD TWO MALE SONS, BOTH OF WHICH DO NOT CARRY THE BAILEY NAME. MY SISTER SHELBY, HAS TWO CHILDREN THAT DON'T CARRY THE BAILEY NAME. MY NEPHEW JOSEPH CARRIES THE BAILEY NAME, BUT ONLY HAS TWO DAUGHTERS, SO THAT WON'T HELP. MY WIFE CINDY AND I, DON'T HAVE CHILDREN, THEREFORE, MY FATHERS LINEAGE WILL END.
PLEASE CHERISH YOUR FAMILY WHILE YOU HAVE THEM.
BAILEY HISTORY:
**WHEN READING THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION, PLEASE TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THAT VIRGINIA, WEST VIRGINIA, AND PARTS OF KENTUCKY WERE ALL THE SAME STATE. WEST VIRGINIA DID NOT BECOME A STATE UNTIL 1863. THEREFORE, SOME OF THE NAMES OF COUNTIES MAY REFLECT A DIFFERENT COUNTY OR STATE NAME.
This is information on the Origin of the Bailey Family name:
Traditionally Baillie is believed to be a corruption of the once illustrious name of Bailliol which was changed on account of the unpopularity of the two Scottish Bailliol kings. Most authorities agree, however, that Baillie is derived from the office of bailie or bailiff, being either an officer administering an estate or the equivalent of a magistrate in a burgh. The earliest record of this name in Scotland occurs in 1311-12 when one William de Bailli appears as a jury member at an inquest concerning forfeited lands; he is also recorded as one of the witnesses to a charter by John de Graham, Lord of Abercom in 1315. There are a number of prominent families of this name, most notably those of Lamington, Polkemett, Jerviswood, Dochfour and Dunain. The William de Bailli mentioned above is believed to be "Baillie of Hoperig", ancestor of the Baillies of Lamington, who granted the lands of Lamington by David II, with whom he fought at the Battle of Durham. The title, Bailllie of Lamington, having often been held by females, finally fell vacant in 1880. The Baillies of Dochfour and Dunain in the Inverness area are descended from a son of the lord of Lamington who fought at the Battle of Brechin in 1452. The Earl of Huntly awarded his gallantry with the Dochfour lands. In 1894 Col. James Baillie, member of Parliament of Inverness, married Nellie Lisa Bass and brought the title of Baron Burton into the Dochfour family.
The Baileys in the new Colonies
SAMUEL BAYLEY married SARAH DODGE on 28 October, 1713 in Wallgate Parrish, Wigan, Lancashire, England. They had a child named JAMES BAILEY on 24 October 1714 in the same Parish. Within the next 15 or so years they had moved to the American Colonies where James married LUCY SIMMS, who was also born in 1716 in the same Parish in 1730 in Chesterfield County, Virginia. Some would assume that the two families came to America together. Some sources state that the elder BAYLEY'S died in England in 1730 but this doesn't make much since to me. If this were true, then how would JAMES and LUCY have gotten to America. I guess it is possible that they came with LUCY'S parents but I have found no record of them coming to America. Just so you know, Chesterfield County, Virginia is where the city of Richmond, Virginia is today. SAMUEL and SARAH may have had many children, but the one that we will follow is JAMES BAILEY. He was born on October 24, 1714 in Lancashire, Wigan, England. He married LUCY SIMMS in 1730 in Chesterfield County, Virginia. She was also born in England. They had five children that I know of.
It is believed
that James Bailey was christened on October 24, 1714 at the All Saints
Church in Wigan, Lancashire, England. The following is quoted from the Bailey
Family Foundation Newsletter, December 2003 regarding this church: "The ancient
church has been well cared for over the centuries, featuring soaring arched
ceilings, gorgeous stained glass windows and classic gothic architecture with
stone spires and an imposing tower. The church also played a minor role in
England's civil war during the 1640's when a group of Royalist sharpshooters
fortified themselves in the church's tower and fought one of the last battles of
the British civil war against the Parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell. The
Royalists fell, the King submitted to the power of the Parliament, and the
Anglican religion lost its official power of the state of England."
Another record indicates James may have died on March 16, 1772. Laura
Larkin, HC 71, Box 227, Princeton, WV 24749 indicates James died on February 24,
1762. Settled in Henrico County, Virginia and was living there at the time with
his son Richard married Anna Belcher.
One record indicates that James brought an indentured servant from London to Virginia. This was a person who could not afford passage to America. In order to arrive here, a person in the colonies would pay the passage for this individual, and, in return for passage, this person was required to work for this sponsor until the passage was paid. Then they were free to pursue their own interest, making them different from slaves. In this case, the indentured servant was named Jamaica.
The true occupation of James Bailey was never actually recorded, even
though it was most likely associated with agriculture, particularly tobacco
farming. Another possible vocation of James could be tied to lumber mills. There
were many mills in the Henrico-Chesterfield region and James' son, Richard was
knowledgeable about the operation of mills when he moved to the western part of
Virginia. Did he perhaps learn this from his father?
During the last part of his life, James probably lived with one of his sons,
most likely James, Jr., in the Skin quarter area. James and Lucy probably
attended a church in this area known as the Swift Creek Church, built in 1736,
and which was located on the upper branches of Swift Creek. James wrote his will
on the 16th of March in 1762. In this will, James left each of his children one
shilling sterling, with the remainder of his estate going to his wife, Lucy.
Lucy presented her husband's will to the court on February 4, 1764, marking
James's date of death very shortly before this recorded date. James was buried
on the farm of James, Jr. in a small cemetery located there. After the death of
James in 1764, Lucy most likely began to live with her son, Benjamin, or near
her daughters, because in that same year, Richard and James, Jr. moved further
west in the Virginia Colony and Lucy did not move with them because of her
advancing years. She was still listed in the 1810 census.
RICHARD (PEYTON OR PAYTON) BAILEY, SENIOR born 1740 in England. He passed away in Tazewell County, Virginia in 1818. Richard was buried on Leatherwood farm, Bluefield, Virginia. He married a lady named MILLIE BELCHER. According to sources, he also married an ELIZABETH ANNE BELCHER (born 1749) in 1762 in Dale parish, Chesterfield County, Va. The sequence of marriages is unknown but one would think he married MILLIE first and then ELIZABETH because of the children she borne. There has also been mentioned in my research an ANNA BELCHER. Or, it is always a possibility that they are the same person. Nevertheless, the girls parents were RICHARD BELCHER and MARY CLAY. From what I have read on the internet, the BAILEYS and the BELCHERS were a pretty close set of families in early Virginia. RICHARD had four siblings including ELIZABETH born 1742; MARY born 1744; JAMES Jr. born 1738; and BENJAMIN; birth unknown to writer.
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, Macadam, 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 blockhouse 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 Clay, 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.
Richard Payton BAILEY had many children.
MY THIRD GREAT GRANDFATHER
Next is Dodridge Bailey. He was
born on April 12th,1788 in Augusta County, Virginia and died in Calhoun County
on August 1st, 1872. He married Phebe Belcher on April 23rd, 1812 in
Tazewell County, Virginia. She was born in 1793 in Franklin County, Virginia and
died March 18th, 1866 in Tazewell County. This is a picture of their graves in
Upper Fink Cemetery in Milo, Calhoun County, West Virginia.
MY SECOND GREAT GRANDFATHER
This is a picture of the tombstone of William Warden Bailey. He served in the 14th Virginia Cavalry during the Civil War, where he lost his right arm. He was born on July 10th, 1816 in Tazewell County, Virginia. He served as Justice of the peace for said County for many years. He owned a farm of 800 acres in Calhoun County. He passed away on October 28th, 1897 in Calhoun County. He is buried in Upper Fink Cemetery, Milo, Calhoun County, West Virginia.
This is a picture of William W. Bailey and his wife, Lucinda Godbey. The picture was sent to me via e-mail from Valerie Jarvis, a distant cousin. Thank you so much, Valerie.
This is Lucinda Godbey Bailey's tombstone. It is actually the back side of William Warden Bailey's (above). It is extremely hard to read, even in person due to weathering. I got the best possible picture I could.
THE FOLLOWING IS A PAGE OUT OF A BOOK CALLED
"HARDESTY'S HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY"
PUBLISHED IN 1890
WILLIAM W. BAILEY
William Warden Bailey was born
in Tazewell County, Virginia, June 10, 1816. He was a son of Doddridge Bailey,
who died in August, 1872.
His mother, whose maiden name was Phoebe Belcher, died March 18, 1866. In 1856
William W. Bailey took up residence in what is now
Calhoun County, West Virginia, and when hostilities between the two sections of
country developed into war, he entered the service of the
Confederacy, enlisting in Company E, 14th Virginia Cavalry, where he served two
years, first as second sergeant, then as orderly, of Company E, afterwards as
forage master for the regiment. He was in the battles of Winchester, Gettysburg,
twice at Brandy Station, Cloyd
Mountain, Bulltown, and numerous skirmishes. In Logan County, Virginia, December
5, 1846, William W, Bailey
and Lucinda, daughter of Benjamin and Nancy (Elkins) Godbey, were united in
marriage, and their union is blessed with six children.
The wife of Mr. Bailey was born in Pulaski County, Virginia, April 3,
1831, and their children were born: Winfield Scott., January 23,
1848. Christopher Columbus., September 2, 1850; Nancy Ann., September 1, 1854; Martha Jane.,
April 29, 1856; Phebe Verlene., October 7, 1859; William Anderson., December 9, 1862.
William W. Bailey was constable for twelve years during his residence in
Logan County, Virginia; deputy sheriff six years in the same county; in Calhoun
County was elected justice in 1849 and served until 1861; was re-elected in 1872
and served until 1881. For four
years he had and exercised the power of attorney of performing the marriage
ceremony. He is a farmer, stock raiser and dealer in lumber;
address, Minnora, Calhoun County, West Virginia.
These are pictures of the Upper Fink cemetery in Milo, West Virginia where Dodridge, William W., and Christopher Columbus Bailey, and their spouses are buried, along with numerous other Baileys
OUR BAILEY GREAT GRANDFATHER
Next in line is Christopher Columbus Bailey. He was my great grandfather. He was born September 2nd, 1850 in Logan County, Virginia which is now Calhoun County, West Virginia. I may have the latter locations wrong due to West Virginia becoming a state in 1863. He was married on May 17th, 1870 to Rachel Elizabeth Cutlip in Logan County. They had as many as eight children, the number varies depending on the source of record. Rachel Elizabeth Cutlip was born in 1852, and died in 1889. Christopher Columbus passed away in 1940. They are buried together in Upper Fink Cemetery, Milo, West Virginia.
I found this newspaper article written by C.C. Bailey from the Calhoun Chronicle in Grantsville, West Virginia in 1934
EARLY
SCHOOL AND HOME
Described by Pioneer, Columbus Bailey
I was born in what is now Logan County, West Virginia, eighty-six years ago (written in 1934) the second day of September. I am the son of William W. and Lucinda Godfrey Bailey, who moved from Logan County to the waters of Beech when I was eleven or twelve years old. My boyhood was one of hardship because father had but one arm. I didn't go to school much but I can read and write and cipher a little. I went to school a few days each year in a little hewed log schoolhouse which stood behind the present Doddridge Bailey house at the mouth of Fink. John Bailey, Benny Metz, Gabriel Godbey and Levi Reed were teachers who instructed me. Benny Metz was blind but was one of the best teachers in this county. The seats were only split logs with sticks stuck in holes for legs. I never sat on a seat with a desk when I was a boy. My old hewed log home at the mouth of Maze Fork, which empties into Fink, was made of two unhewed log houses about seventeen by seventeen feet each, boarded up between with boards sawed on an old-fashioned whipsaw. The houses were chucked with strips of wood and blocks, and daubed with clay mud. The whipsaw resembled a crosscut except it is large at one end and tapers gradually to the other, with the teeth all set one way. Logs to be sawed are laid up in forked trees. Boards were marked off by dipping strings in pokeberry juice or ooze, and marking the desired width of the board on the log. Later bluing was used for this marking. One man stood on the ground and one on the top of the log when sawing. A good whipsaw could cut one inch at a stroke. Elijah Webb, father of Lynch Webb of Minnora, and I cut joists, loft planks, and flooring for one of the largest log houses in the country for Joshua Gillinwaters, an uncle of mine, who lives in Roane County, using a whipsaw for this huge task. My father owned seven hundred acres of land on the mouth of Fink. Our neighbors were Balas Dewees, John Cooper, and William Haverty. When we moved from Logan, I was afraid of these men because of their funny clothes. They wore hunting shirts or "wampuses" made of homemade linen or woolen cloth. These were colored with sumac berries, a pale red, or chestnut oak bark, a dark brown. They had blue shirts, too, but I don't know how they were colored. These shirts were cut in two pieces and opened up the sides, part way. They had no buttons so the corners of the shirttails were caught and tied in knots, making the shirts baggy and ill-fitting. The men's hunting caps were made of coonskin. John Cooper had one of fox skin with the tail left on for trimming. These caps together with their homemade shoes and trousers really frightened me. Everyone on Beech went to mill to the old tub wheel mill that used to be near the present home of Joseph Knotts, near Minnora. We carried our grist on our backs and came down Wolfe Run because there were no roads and we could follow a footpath this way. When we first moved here nearly every family had a hand mill or gritter. The hand mill was made up by hollowing out a stump and making two rocks to fit into the hole. The upper rock had a small niche knocked out of one edge and a bent sapling was cut off and the end fastened into the niche. Then by hand the upper rock was turned around and around, making meal for johnny cakes. Gritters were only pieces of tin with nail holes through them over which ears of corn were rubbed to form meal while the corn was yet soft. I've gritted corn many an afternoon during the fall of the year. I can remember several things that happened during the Civil War. One day I had to go a way down on Beech and get two bushels of corn for my mother. Dad had only one arm but he was in Dixie in the army and we were seeing a hard time. I started over to the tub wheel mill with this corn on an old gray horse. I came across by Hardway's Run as there was a road then. Just as I reached the forks of the road below where Bee Hopkins's lower garden now is, the Union Home Guards from Spencer met me. They ordered me off my horse and took my grist and poured it out on a big flat rock that was there until the late road was graded through here. They took my old horse and galloped off down the road. I guess though that the old horse was so lazy and slow they had no use for him, for we heard that he was grazing around down where Maury Keith lives, and a few days later we had him back home again. Nearly everybody in this county was in the Southern army. Mr. Fleming, who lived on the old Fleming farm on Left Hand, was Union, and because people didn't like him, he rented his farm to my uncle, John Bailey, and moved away. One time when I was visiting over there, John Bailey's son and young Henry Lowry slipped in at night and got something to eat. They were home on a furlough from the Southern army. While they were talking and eating, the Home Guards from Spencer came. Both boys started to run and Bailey escaped by hiding in some willows under the creek bank. He was the father of John Floyd Bailey and Doddridge Bailey. But young Lowry was shot down while crossing a cornfield. The Guards then dragged his body and threw it into my uncle's yard and hurried away. Lowry's parents lived on White Oak by the big cedar tree in Clark Jarvis's garden. We sent them word of the murder and William Jarvis and his wife came after the body. This William Jarvis was the father of Bill Jarvis who lives on White Oak. These folks came because all the Lowry men were in the army. They brought one horse and a little shabby sled. I can see them now as well as if it were yesterday. Lowry's grave was among the first made in the old graveyard near Clark Jarvis's house. I have seen lots of changes in eighty- six years in this part of Calhoun and I am wondering just what else is going to happen before I die.
Source: The Calhoun Chronicle, Grantsville, West Virginia, 1934
OUR SHAFFER GREAT GRANDPARENTS
These are pictures of Nicholas Shaffer and and Louise Holbert Shaffer's gravestones in Withrow Cemetery in Charleston, West Virginia. They are buried side by side, along with their son, Ralph Harry Shaffer.
This is Nicholas Shaffer (1888-1923) and Louise Holbert Shaffer (1890- 1936). They were from Charleston, West Virginia. Nick, as he was known, was killed by a train, after being thrown on the tracks, after he won a poker game. Someone knocked him in the head, robbed and left him on the railroad tracks, where he was hit by a train and cut into three pieces. I have no information on Louise, with the exception of her burial.
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The rest of the family is represented on the home page.