1. Alexander Bailey
2. The Search for Family
Alexander Bailey
Sometime during the year 1753 Alexander Bailey set foot in America. He was the first of our ancestors named Bailey to arrive here. We know very little about who traveled with Alexander. He may have been with a large extended family group as many settlers to the New World were. We only know about his wife, Jane Brown Bailey, and his two sons Matthew (4) and William (1).
We also know very little about what motivated Alexander to move his family half way around the world. But we can make some educated guesses based on history. Alexander was born in Scotland in 1719 and was part of the resettlement by the English, of Scots to Ireland. The experiment failed and many of the Scots emigrated to America,(the Scotch Irish) Alex was among them. Prior to leaving Ireland, Alex found time to marry Jane Brown and together they had two children in Ireland. Jane Brown Bailey was born in Ireland. Family records to date do not show if she was Scot or Irish. We suspect Scot as there was little inter-marriage between the Scots and the Irish.
They settled in Emmitsberg Maryland, and there, had 6 more children. Shortly after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, Alexander traveled with his then grown sons and Wife to homestead in Washington county Pennsylvania. He purchased 162 acres in Robinson Township originally known as "Disappointment", the patent was granted March 14, 1785. The land was next to land owned by son Matthew and was inherited by Bailey's till about 1950 when it was sold out of the family.
This web site is dedicated to them and all of their descendants. It contains genealogical, historical, and anecdotal information collected by family members in recent years.
The Search for Family - James B. Bailey
At some point in their lives many people discover the need to trace their roots. I guess that this is related to the realization that we're not immortal and that we are part of an ongoing history of a family, a people, and a nation. This realization hit me in 1984, a few years after the death of my parents. I suddenly became aware that I was now the "older generation" in the family. Also, my interest came in no small part as a result of the "Roots" saga by Alex Haley, which played as a "mini series" for several nights on TV.
The only extended family I knew in 1984 were my parents siblings and their children. That all changed as a result of a happy coincidence. My Brother, Dr. Ken Bailey, was the guest pastor at the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh that year. After the service John Logan Bailey came up to him and introduced himself as a Bailey, "but we're probably not related" he said. They shared notes and, discovered that they were indeed related. Some weeks later Ken spoke at a Church in Sharpsville, PA and Bud Donaldson came up and introduced himself as a relative who had grown up on the old Bailey family farm at Candor, PA. These two happy accidents led to the first Bailey reunion in 1985. Sharing of notes from that time on, and a number of Internet contacts, formed the basis of the discovery of family.
I wish I could say that I have gone to a lot of work in the research of the family chart you see at this web site. However, that would not be true. I am the compiler of the research done by many others in the Bailey and related families. To name a few: Martin Dale Armstrong provided the link to the Armstrong's of Western Illinois; Bud Donaldson to the days when the original farm sites passed out of the Bailey family, as well as the Donaldson family. Martha Bailey Moore, Lois Bailey McGaan and Marion Bailey Moffet all contributed to the research of the Bailey line through the use of DAR records. Eleanor Bailey Shelley had a wonderful old picture book from which she generously let us copy (see stories and pictures section). Virginia Lance added the connection to the first William Bailey of Indian fame. (See stories and Pictures section). The late E.S.Ewing contributed the Ewing line and our connection to them through Ester Ewing Galbreath. Robert Meloy provided the material on the Brownlees, Buchanans and Meloys. Donna Schlosser provided the lineage of the Schlossers and Mussiters and their related families. John Logan Bailey, and Jane Smiley Brownlee provided information on the Smiths, Smileys and the Brownlees. My contribution was, and is as the clearing house and compiler of the various lines.
I don't think the task of searching for family roots is ever over. We've collected a lot of information but we know well that there are thousands of others to whom we are related that we have not discovered. We know, for example, only one of our immigrant ancestors families. What of the others???
Search on fellow genealogists!!
Jim Bailey
Tampa, Florida - February 2000.