The Old Bailey Homestead -- Found it !

Juniata College Seal

Two weekends ago I returned to central Pennsylvania to go to my 35th college reunion (wow!) at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA. Huntingdon is in Huntingdon County which is adjacent to Centre County, where my 5th great-grandparents, Richard Bailey  (Abt. 1735 -- 811) and Mary Wilson (1740ish - abt 1808), settled in about 1790. I decided to take a drive over to Baileyville PA to see the area where my ancestors had lived.

I knew from "The History of Baileyville -- the town, the ironworks, and the railroad (1790-2013)", a book I'd obtained from the Baileyville Community Hall some months ago, that, at the time the book was written, Richard and Mary's home still existed. It had been updated and was still lived in. I decided to go find it. It's a good thing I brought friends with me as the address is down a private drive and I was too shy to trespass by driving down to knock on doors to ask about the house. But we encountered a nice couple out for a walk who confirmed the house was there and gave us permission to go down their drive.

This what Richard and Mary's house looks like now. I couldn't get a view of the front because there was a huge tree in the way, but the side view shows a pretty home off what had been Bailey Square. (As someone lives there I don't feel comfortable putting their address on the Internet without their explicit permission, so I'm not.)

Home of Richard and Mary (Wilson) Bailey, side view
Photo by me*
Click to make bigger

Home of Richard and Mary (Wilson) Bailey, front view
Photo by me*
Click to make bigger

The following are the views around the house, showing that Richard and Mary chose to settle in a beautiful, fertile valley to make their home.

Centre County, PA view from the Richard and Mary (Wilson) Bailey farm
Photo by me *
Click to make bigger

Centre County, PA view from the Richard and Mary (Wilson) Bailey farm
Photo by me *
Click to make bigger

x



---------

*If you would like to use any of my photographs featured on this page for non-commercial purposes, please credit and link back to this blog. If you wish to use any of the material on this page for other means, please seek my written permission.  Jo Allison Henn

"The History of Baileyville -- the town, the ironworks, and the railroad (1790-2013)

RETRACTION: MY LAST POST WAS WRONG.

This is not the post I had hoped to be writing this weekend. However, I found late last night that my last post (April 10, 2017) announcing that I’ve found the family of origin of my third great-grandmother could not possibly be correct. I’ve been wrong before and had to prune my tree. It happens. But usually I manage to do it before I write up the people as a post on this blog, and it’s just a matter of deleting people and records from my tree. This time I get to print a retraction, explain how I got it wrong, and, I think, tag the prior post as NOT CORRECT (yep, in red) and link to this post rather than just delete it because I want to refer to the reasoning in that post in this one.

The first correction: My third great-grandmother, Mariah Williams Bailey Huber, IS NOT Helena Mariah Williams, the daughter of John L Williams and Ruth Welding, and the children listed in the records pictured in my post of April 10, 2017,  are NOT her siblings.

The second correction: while I’m still emotionally certain, given my great-grandmother Pauline’s family notes (quoted below) and the notation in the back of the picture (“full blooded welch” sic), that the picture is of my Mariah, I’m not intellectually sure it is of her; so I have to advise not to rely on that either.

Who Are You? Are You Mariah?

I’ve been up way too late most nights the last week and a half trying to figure out which of the many John Williamses and Ruth Williamses and Ruth Weldings in the Welsh Quaker tracts of Pennsylvania were the ones referred to in the records I included in the last post in which John L Williams and his wife, Ruth, were seeking a certificate of removal (to move to another meeting) for themselves and their five minor children: Lewis Welding, Lydia, Helena Mariah, Watson, and Samuel. I did discover, early on, that Ruth Welding died shortly after that removal request in 1819, in Ohio. But there were so many John Williams that I switched to tracing the lives of Lewis Welding Williams, Watson Williams, and Samuel Williams, and eventually found that Samuel Williams and his father, John L Williams had moved to Warren County Ohio, and had helpfully made it into the local history book “The History of Warren County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County; Its Townships, Towns; General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; History of the Northwest Territory; History of Ohio, Map of Warren County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, Etc., Etc.”, published in 1882, as well as the censuses, marriage records, and some land records. (You know I love all those county history books that were published in the 1880s and 1920s, and digitized by Google eBooks!) 

Last night, about 2 AM, I found John L Williams’ will in the browseable Ohio probate records on FamilySearch.org, and found out that Helena Mariah Williams could not possibly be my Mariah Williams Bailey Huber. In his will, John L Williams named all of his children and many of his grandchildren. (Thank you, John.) His Helena Mariah went by Helena and had married someone surnamed White. With a little more searching, I found that she had married Hamilton White, and she lived with him, in Illinois, the whole time my Mariah was married to and living with John Bailey in Pennsylvania; and that Helena Mariah died in Illinois, about 20 years before my Mariah did in Pennsylvania.  ....Drat.  So, my Mariah/Maria Williams Bailey Huber is not the daughter of John L Williams and Ruth Welding.

Given my GGM’s family notes on her father’s mother (Mariah)*, and the shared ancestor shaky leaf DNA hits that I mentioned in the April 10th post showing connections further up Ruth Welding’s maternal tree after updating my Ancestry tree with the (now known to be erroneous) information, I do think that I am probably descended from somebody in the Welsh Quaker tracts of Pennsylvania, and possibly even someone in these families I’ve been sorting through, albeit not this one.  Maybe my brick wall has a crack in it, even if it hasn’t fallen.

But now I’ve got to prune my tree and get this posted, and then I think I’ll take a break from genealogy, do some housework and maybe go see a movie.

If anyone reading this has some ideas for me, please leave them in the comments section below. I’ll take any help or hints I can get!

----------------------------------------

*GGM’s notes on Mariah: “Papa’s mother was a straight line descendant from the Roger Williams (who founded Rhode Island). Papa's father was Scotch-Irish. His mother was full blood Welch. Her name was Sarah Williams. Not sure of her first name. May have been Maria. Wonderful woman, Quaker by birth. Later after marriage, she attended Methodist Church.” (Sic)

Meet Helena Mariah Williams, my 3rd Great Grandmother!

Helena Mariah Williams Bailey Huber
 (abt 1815 – after 1901)
Posted with permission of Christina Inman

THIS POST IS NOT CORRECT. DO NOT RELY ON IT. 
RETRACTION (& EXPLANATION) is linked here: Retraction: My Last Post Was Wrong

Meet Helena Mariah Williams, one of my third great grandmothers, on my Mom's paternal side.  Most of her life she went by Mariah or Maria, so I call her Mariah. I’ve written about her before [here (link fixed): 52 Ancestors: #14 Mariah/Maria Williams Bailey Huber (abt 1815 – after 1901), Strength in Tragedy]. At that time, I had to start her story with her marriage to my 3^rd great grandfather, John Bailey, because I had no idea who her parents were, or whether she had siblings. I did have this picture, given to me by my mother’s cousin, but I didn’t know for certain that it was of Mariah. My mother’s cousin thought it might be but she wasn’t sure. I am now convinced it is Mariah.

As I noted in my first essay my first introduction my 3rd great grandmother was through the family notes written by my great-grandmother, Pauline Bailey Snyder (hereafter “GGM”). They are about six pages long and appear to be memories of several generations of family members and stories about them, written down at someone’s request.  As I’ve pursued my research, GGM’s notes have proven to be not entirely accurate, but overall, decent clues. In Mariah’s case, her notes have been less helpful. In reference to her grandmother, GGM wrote “Papa’s mother was a straight line descendant from the Roger Williams (who founded Rhode Island). Papa's father was Scotch-Irish. His mother was full blood Welch. Her name was Sarah Williams. Not sure of her first name. May have been Maria. Wonderful woman, Quaker by birth. Later after marriage, she attended Methodist Church.” On the back of the above photo is written, “Full blooded Welch.”

I’ve been trying to find her family for years, so I'm really celebrating! I’m still not able to prove or disprove whether she is a “straight line descendant from the Roger Williams” yet,  but I think I’ve found her parents (and about three generations further back on her mother’s side)! Yes, she was born into a Quaker family, John L Williams and Ruth Welding Williams, and she has a sister and three brothers.  [I will tell her parents' story once I'm certain I've isolated which records belong to my particular people -- there are a lot of John Williams-es, and Ruth Williams-es and Ruth Weldings, in the Welsh Tracts in Pennsylvania, and they aren't all mine.] 

I found, through Ancestry’s U.S. Quaker Meeting record collection, three records of varying degrees of readability, from February and March 1819 in which John L. Williams and his wife Ruth were applying for a Certificate of Removal for themselves and their five minor children, Lewis Welding, Lydia, Helena Mariah, Watson, and Samuel, from the Gwynedd Monthly Meeting in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The Gwynedd meeting is within one of three Welsh Tracts sold to Welsh Quakers by William Penn in the 17th century. Their application for a Certificate of Removal likely meant that they were planning to move to another area or visit someone in another area because Quakers used to get a Certificate of Removal from their home Meeting ("meeting" is similar to a church congregation) and recommendation to another Meeting somewhere else.

Gwynedd Preparative Meeting Record, Montgomery County, PA, 16 Feb 1819
(Click to Make Bigger)

Gwynedd Monthly Meeting, Montgomery County, PA, 25 Feb 1819
(Click to Make Bigger)

Part 1: Gwynedd Preparative Meeting, Montgomery County, PA  17 Mar 1819 (p119)
(Click to make bigger)

Part 2: Gwynedd Preparative Meeting, Montgomery County, PA  17 Mar 1819 (p120)
(Click to make bigger)

I was excited when I saw the “Welding” as the oldest son, Lewis’ middle name (later confirmed to be Ruth’s maiden name – her father is Watson Welding) because there is a middle name that repeats in my Mom’s family over several generations. It was my grandfather’s middle name, “Weldon”. Welding isn’t quite the same, but it’s closer than anything else I’ve found to date, and as I’ve reviewed historical documents it seems to me that spelling used to be more of a creative art than a precision requirement. ... I might be close to finding "Weldon".

When I saw Mariah's older sister, Lydia, in the list of the minor children, it explained to me where Mariah’s second daughter’s name came from and helped confirm to me that this was my Mariah's family.

The last thing that helped persuade me that I’d found the correct parents for Mariah happened a few days after I entered the connections in my Ancestry Tree, when I received notification that two people I’d already shared an AncestryDNA match with, I now had a 'Shared Ancestor' shaky leaf hint with, which showed a connection with a name further up Ruth Welding’s maternal line. (I've been able to take her maternal line up several generations.)  I realize that isn’t dispositive as we could connect somewhere else I haven’t found yet, but it is a persuasive consideration.

I’m still missing about 23 years of her life, from this point to her marriage to John Bailey. I’d love to hear from anyone else researching Helena Mariah Williams Bailey Huber. Do you know where she met John Bailey? Or where she was for my missing 23 years?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; Men's Minutes, 1811-1823; Collection: Quaker Meeting Records; Call Number: MR-PH 235

Ancestry.com. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

Richard Bailey (about 1735 – about 1811), Revolutionary War Soldier

Betsy Ross style thirteen colony flag (public domain)
Click to make bigger

Richard Bailey is my 5^th great-grandfather. I don’t know much about his early life yet, but I know enough to write about his life in America.

I’ve seen indications in other people’s trees (1) that he is Irish and left from Ireland to come to the British American colonies, (2) that he is Irish and that he left Ireland to go to Scotland before going to the American colonies and (3) that he is Scottish and first left Scotland to go to Ireland before coming to the British colonies on North America. I haven’t yet been able to determine which version is more accurate, although I’m leaning toward further investigating number three first for the following reasons. The first records I found of him in the colonies were tax records for Londonderry, Chester County, Pennsylvania where he is listed as a landowner in 1773 and 1775, owning 13 acres. However, we also know that he was not a rich man because he was given a discount on his taxes, with the notation “poor & gone”. A later tax record told me that he was a weaver by trade, and later records of his sons indicate that they were Presbyterian (a Reform church based in Scotland), and had been born in Ireland. All of this together tends to indicate that Richard Bailey likely lived in the county of Ulster, in what is now Northern Ireland, before emigrating to colonies (the county of Ulster in Ireland was substantially settled by lowland Scots in the 1600 & 1700’s for reasons I’ll get into in a later entry if it becomes relevant). While the Scots emigrated to the North American colonies throughout the 18^th century, there were years in which such emigration was heavier (1717-1718, 1727-1728, 1740-1741, and 1771-1773) and, for which, therefore, historians could trace to a certain root cause. Approximately 25,000 emigrants sailed from Ulster alone to ports in the New World between 1771 and 1773, and the majority of them settled in Pennsylvania. This exodus was caused by a combination of the precipitous decline of the linen manufacturing trade since 1770, increasing unemployment, extortionate rents, and the religious persecution of the Ulster Scots by the Church of England.

Richard Bailey moved to the colony of Pennsylvania, in Londonderry Township, Chester County, with his wife Mary [Wilson] and his children, looking for a new and better life. (Londonderry was named after Londonderry, Ireland, in the north of Ireland.) They would have crossed the Atlantic Ocean below decks in steerage as they were likely not rich, given the discount notation for his taxes in 1773. I’ve previously described in other entries the difficulties of crossing the ocean in steerage. It was a long hard voyage crammed in the hold of what were usually trading vessels on the return trip to the colonies. They would have shared the hold with dozens to hundreds of other people, depending on the size of the ship, the food would have been poor, and there was often sea sickness and other illness – all of this during a trip which could last eight to twelve weeks at that time. We know that Richard and Mary’s trip was not an easy one as their oldest daughter, Nancy, who was only about four years old died on the trip and was buried at sea (about 1770-about 1773). The other children who accompanied Richard and Mary were John Bailey (22 May 1768-25 November 1853), William Bailey (about 1771-24 July 1828), Mary Bailey (about 1772-?), and Jesse Bailey (4 October 1773-? – my 4^th great-grandfather on my Mom's side).

Richard and his family probably arrived in Pennsylvania around the end of 1773, as the winds of revolution were rising. The tax records show he bought property in Londonderry Township of Chester County, about fifty miles west of Philadelphia. The Scots-Irish had little love for the British and were almost unanimously in favor of independence. Richard Bailey did not join the Continental Army, (or if he did, I haven’t found it yet), perhaps because he had a young family to support. However, he did join the Chester County militia, where he served as a private in Capt. John Ramsey’s Company in the second Battalion commanded by Col. Evan Evans. Capt. John Ramsay’s Company was raised out of Londonderry Township. Records in the Pennsylvania Archives show that he served at least from 1776 through 1778 and that the Second Battalion under Col. Evan Evans fought at the Battle for Trenton (NJ), and the Battle of Brandywine. The Battle for Trenton occurred after Gen. George Washington’s famous crossing of the icy Delaware River in the dark night before the morning of Christmas Day 1776 (remember the painting which shows General Washington standing up in the boat?). General Washington commanded the combined forces of the Continental Army and the Pennsylvania militias and defeated a garrison of Hessian mercenaries and captured nearly all of them with little loss of life on the American side. It was a huge morale booster early in the Rebellion, and allowed the Americans to overturn the psychological dominance gained by the British troops in the previous months. The battle gave the Continental Congress new confidence, as it proved colonial forces could defeat regulars and increased re-enlistments in the Continental Army forces.

The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton December 26, 1776, by John Trumbull
(in the public domain)
Click to make bigger

The Battle of Brandywine didn’t go as well.  It occurred on September 11, 1777, near Chadd’s Ford, Pennsylvania, and involved more troops than any other battle in the Revolution. Gen. George Washington led the American forces and General Sir William Howe headed the British Army. After the longest single-day battle of the war, with continuous fighting for 11 hours, the British Army defeated the Americans and forced them to retreat towards Philadelphia but, due to the British’ lack of cavalry, most of the American Army as able to escape.

Battle of Brandywine
Map prepared by the USMA History Dept (in the public domain)
Click to make bigger

When he wasn’t fighting in the Rebellion, Richard Bailey returned to living and working his 13 acres in Chester County. Richard and his wife had two more children during the course of the Revolutionary War: George Bailey (abt 1776-?) and Richard (abt 1778-abt 1850). I know the Baileys stayed in Chester County through at least 1780, as I’ve found him on the tax rolls for Londonderry, Chester County in 1780.

Richard and his family moved from Chester County to the area later named Baileyville, PA in about 1790, according to the History of Centre and Clinton Counties. At that point, Centre County had not yet been formed and the land Richard bought was then in Franklin Township, Huntingdon County, PA. The History of Baileyville, a history created for the 80^th anniversary of the Baileyville Community Hall Association, states that on February 27, 1798, Richard bought a 300-acre farm from Henry Drinker.  In the Pennsylvania Septennial Census for Franklin Township, Huntingdon County, taken in 1800, Richard Bailey is listed as a weaver.

Pennsylvania, Septennial Census, Huntingdon County, 1800, Richard Bailey
(found via Ancestry.com)
Click to make bigger

Centre County was formed on February 13, 1800, as the result of "an act erecting parts of Mifflin, Northumberland, Lycoming and Huntingdon [counties] into a separate county" and calling it Centre. The lands that Richard had bought thus became part of Ferguson Township in Centre County (which abutted a now smaller Franklin Township in Huntingdon County). The History of Centre and Clinton Counties (published in 1883) says of Richard ”He bought extensive tracts of land and resold them in part, thus gathering about him a number of settlers, who erected their habitations immediately about, forming in time quite a hamlet, which in his honor was given the name of Baileyville. He is spoken of as a man of strict integrity, closely confining himself to his pursuits and winning the esteem of his fellow men. His children were five sons and one daughter. John, married to Nancy Charlton, had fifteen children, of whom three are living, namely Ephraim, George, and Mrs. Hannah Glenn; William, married to Jane McBride; their only living offspring is Mrs. Robert Glenn; Jesse to Jane McClelland, of whom W.H. Bailey is a descendant; George to Polly McClelland; their offspring are Perry and Mary Ann; Richard died childless; Polly married David Meek and removed to the Western States.” (The History of Baileyville also notes another daughter, Nancy, who died while crossing the ocean.)

Centre County PA, approximate area where Baileyville was founded is circled in red
Click to make bigger

Richard died around 1811; he was buried in the Graysville Cemetery in Huntingdon County. Per his memorial on Findagrave.com, his gravestone says he died in 1812, but his will was probated in 1811. I haven’t figured out yet when his wife died. The History of Baileyville indicates that she died in 1807 but Richard’s will was drafted in 1808, and he made detailed provisions for his wife Mary in his will, which indicates that she was alive when he had the will drafted.

In addition to taking special care of his wife, Richard left bequests to each of his children, a grandchild, and his son-in-law. He did sign his name and did not use a ‘mark’, so he was able to write. Richard’s will is as follows (transcribed as written, including capitalizations, spelling, and lack of punctuation) with the places where signatures were are encapsulated in parens:

In the name of God Amen I Richard Bailey of the town of Furgison in the County of Centre and state of Pennsylvania (yeoman) being in Perfect health of body, and of sound mind memory and understanding (Blessed be God for the same) but Considering the uncertainty of this transitory life to make and publish this my last Will and Testament in the manner and form following Towit Principally and first of all I Commit my Immortal soul into the hands of God who gave it in my Body to the Earth to be buried in a decent and Christian like manner at the direction of my Executors hereinafter named and as to such worldly estate where with it hath pleased God to bless me in this life I give and dispose of the same in the following manner. Viz First it is my Will and I do Order that all my just debts and funeral expenses be justly paid and satisfied as soon as can be conveniently after my decease. Item I Give and Bequeath unto my Dear Wife Mary Bailey the use and privilege of the Dwelling House we now live in for and during her natural life together with all my household furniture and Kitchen utensils at her own disposal Item I Give Devise and Bequeath unto my two sons William Bailey and George Bailey their Heirs and Assigns forever all that part of my Plantation whereon we now live and Occupy to be Equally Divided between them according to Quality and Quantity they paying my just debts their out and also paying on to my Other Children and Legaties the several sums of money to them Respectively bequeathed in Three years after my Decease and likewise paying onto my said wife the sum of Twelve pounds yearly and every year for and During her Natural life for her maintenance and support and it is my will and I do order that my sons William and George Bailey is to provide and keep for my said Wife One Milch cow for her own use and provide and find a Horse for her to Ride when she may Choose and also to Cut Hawll and Chop all the fire word that shee may stand in need of Ready to put on the fire and also to let her have any part of the Garding to plant or sow what she pleases and likewise to sow for her own use one half Bushel of Flax seed as long as she may Chuse Item I Give Devise and Bequeath unto my son John Bailey his Heirs and Assigns for Ever all the Land he now has in his possession being part of my second plantation be there some More or Less likewise I Give and Bequeath unto my son John Bailey the sum of Forty Pounds Item I Give Devise and Bequeath unto my son Jess Bailey the sum of Twenty-two pounds Ten shillings Item I Give Devise and Bequeath my son Richard Bailey the sum of Twenty-two pounds Ten shillings Item I Give Devise and Bequeath unto my soninlaw David Meek the sum of five shillings Item I Give Devise and Bequeath unto my daughter Mary Meek the sum of Ten pounds to be Laid out in clothing for herself as she may choose Item I Give Devise and Bequeath unto my Grandson Richard Bailey son of John Bailey the sum of Five pounds to be laid out in Schooling and Cloathing of the said boy Item I Give Devise and Bequeath unto George Bailey my son all my Live Stock of cattle of every sort that I may or am Possessed of at my decease And lastly I Nominate Constitute and Appoint my son John Bailey and my friend John Gray of Huntingdon County to be the Executors of this my last will and Testament here by revoking all other Wills Legacies and Bequests by me heretofore made Declaring this and none Other to be my Last Will and Testament. In Witness whereof I have here unto set my hand and seal this twentieth day of April in the year of our Lord one Thousand Eight Hundred and Eight 1808

N B the interlining done}

Before signing }                                                       (signature:         Richard Bailey)

Signed sealed published and Declared by the said testator as his last will and testament in the presence of us who in his presence and at his Request have subscribed as witnesses.

(Signature: Robert Gardner)

(Signature: William Gardner)

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obviously, I would like to know more about the early life of Richard and his family. I would also like to solve the mysteries concerning when he and his wife died exactly, if possible. And I would like to fill in the gaps in what I do know about his life in Pennsylvania. If you think I've gotten something wrong, or you have details to add, or a hint you think I'd like to explore, please leave a comment below or send me an email at the address contained under the Contact Me tab above. I know there are at least two other Bailey families in the Centre County/ Huntingdon County/Mifflin County area at the time as I kept running into other Bailey families with differing kids in my research (and I think that one of the two is of German descent, not Scots or Irish). Trying to make certain that my data followed one person & his family was not always easy so I may have made mistakes despite the care I took. (Given that the same names are repeated in descending generations following each child, the multiplicity of records stays confusing for the next few generations.)                                                                    

If you're wondering whether your Baileys and my Baileys match, I've done a DNA test with AncestryDNA and I've tested my Mom there as well, and I know my cousin John had his DNA tested there too. I've also loaded Mom's and my test results onto GEDmatch. So if you've done your DNA testing we could try to see if we match, if you want. Contact me!

18^th-century tax records, Chester County Pennsylvania, http://www.chesco.org/1729/18th-Century-Tax-Records; The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania, by Waylon Fuller Dunaway, University of North Carolina press, Chapel Hill, 1944 (pp. 30-32, 39, 46-48, 155-157.); http://xpatnation.com/irish-american-participation-in-the-revolutionary-war; http://www.ulsterancestry.com/ulster-scots.html; http://www.electricscotland.com/history/descendants/chap1.htm; The Ulster Scots, http://www.motherbedford.com/Irish4.htm; “A Tempestuous Voyage at Sea and a Fatiguing One by Land”: Ulster women in Philadelphia, 1783-1812 by Sarah Riblet, an honors thesis in history, presented to the faculty of the Department of History of the University of Pennsylvania, 2014, http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1216&context=curej; Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, reprinted under the direction of Charles William Stone, Sec. of the Commonwealth, edited by John B. Linn and Wm H Egle, Vol. XIV, Harrisburg: EK Meyers. State Printer. 1890, https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=QD8OAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA96; Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution: Associated Battalions and Militia, 1775-1783, compiled by William Henry Egle,  https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=QD8OAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PP1 ;  Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, "Record of Richard Bailey", Ancestor # A004744, http://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A004744; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Brandywine; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trenton ;”Explaining Pennsylvania’s Militia” by Thomas Verenna in The Journal of the American Revolution (June 17, 2014), https://allthingsliberty.com/2014/06/explaining-pennsylvanias-militia/; Centre County GenWeb Project, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pacentre/centre.htm; The History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania, by John Blair Linn (1883 Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts. Press of J.B. Lippincott & Co, Philadelphia); The History of Baileyville, the town, the Iron Works and the Railroad, 1790-2013, produced by the Baileyville Community Hall Association in conjunction with its 80^th Anniversary Celebration October 5, 2013, Diana Albright, Project Coordinator; Will and testament of Richard Bailey (Centre County Pennsylvania, Will book A, page 68); Richard Bailey, Find A Grave Memorial # 67441, https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=67441379&ref=acom

Honoring My Family's Veterans

My family’s U.S. Veterans (that I know of at this point)

On my Dad’s side:

My Dad –  Specialist, 3^rd Class, U.S. Army, Korean Conflict veteran, Japan as a Petroleum Laboratory Supervisor

My grandpa, Owen Carl Henn (1906-1988), U.S. Army (albeit briefly), WWII

My first cousin, twice removed, Benjamin F. Bentley (1893-1926), Sergeant, WWI

My 2^nd great grandfather, John Henn (1842-1919), private, Company G 3^rd Regiment, New York Light Artillery, Union Army, U.S. Civil War

My 3^rd Great Uncle, Andrew Henn (1832-1911), private, New York Light Artillery, Union Army, U.S. Civil War

On my Mom’s side:

My cousin KMR, Master Sergeant, U.S .Air Force, retired

Great-Uncle Don B. Snyder (1918-2012), Technical Sergeant, 151^st Infantry, 38^th Division (“Avengers of Bataan” – he served in the operation that won them that nickname), WWII

My great-grandfather, Vernon Erwin (1872-1947), private, G Company, 4^th Illinois Infantry, Spanish American War

My 2^nd-great-grandfather Edward Carleton Bailey (1849-1926), private, Company D, 192^nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Union Army

My 3^rd great uncle John W. Bailey (1843-1864), 1^st enlistment 1861: private, Company C, 45^th Pennsylvania Infantry, Union Army; 2^nd enlistment 1864: corporal, Company C, 45^th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry, Union Army – died of wounds incurred in the siege of Petersburg, VA. U.S. Civil War

My 2^nd great grandfather John Erwin (1841-1917), 1^st enlistment 1861: private, Company D, 11^th Missouri Volunteer Infantry, Union Army, wounded at the Battle of Corinth and discharged; 2^nd enlistment (1864): private then corporal, Company B, Illinois 48^th Infantry, Union Army. U.S. Civil War 

My 3^rd great uncle William Erwin (1838-1865), enlisted 1861, Sergeant, Company D, 11^th Regiment Missouri Volunteers, Union Army, discharged to accept commission as Captain July 1, 1864, died of wounds received at Spanish Fort, Ala. U.S. Civil War 

My 3^rd great uncle Eli Erwin, private, Company F, 18^th Regiment Missouri Infantry, Union Army, badly wounded at the Battle of Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing 6 April 1862, sent to field hospital a Savannah, TN. He was discharged August 31, 1862, near Corinth MS due to wounds incurred at Shiloh. He didn’t make it home alive. U.S. Civil War 

My 3^rd great uncle Lafayette Erwin (1848-1935), private, Company E, 155^th Illinois Regiment, Union Army. U.S. Civil War

  

My 3^rd great grandfather Henry Y Zimmerman (1794-1853), private, “Captain George Sanderson’s Company” Ohio, War of 1812

Maternal Ancestor Charts ... to Date (Direct Line)

As I explained yesterday, I thought I had previously posted the direct line ancestor charts for my maternal side, to the extent I've found them thus far, but when  I looked for them, I only found one side posted and I'd screwed up the image posting somehow. So I'm going to post the charts for the maternal side of my family (to date) tonight.

I'm only doing direct line charts because there are too many people in most generations to post readable charts if I were to include entire families. And I'm only including the people I'm pretty sure of -- so yes, I might have others on my working tree ...trying them out, so to speak. But not here.

Vertical Pedigree Chart for Clarence Weldon Snyder (1910-1984)
My maternal grandfather
Click to make bigger

Vertical Pedigree Chart for Mabel LeRe Erwin (1910-1990)
My maternal grandmother
Click to make bigger

If you think we share any ancestors, please contact me. I'd love to hear from you! You can leave a comment or email at the address on my Contact Me page.

Myrtle Bailey and Bonanza!

"Findlay Retired Missionary Enjoys Chinese Food Prepared by 'Hop Sing'
30 March 1964 The Findlay Republican Courier p. 4
Click to Make bigger
(Sorry the picture quality is so bad.)

And on a lighter note, for my final entry in this series on my great-grand-aunt Myrtle Bailey in the newspaper, and the historical-cultural events of her time:

Transcription:

Findlay Retired Missionary Enjoys Chinese Food Prepared by 'Hop Sing'

Picture caption: Hop Sing (Victor S. Yung), cook in the television show “Bonanza”, displays some of his culinary art in preparing an Easter dinner of Chinese food for Miss Myrtle Bailey here yesterday. Miss Bailey is a great-aunt of Mrs. Jack Snyder, Elm Rd, in whose home the meal was prepared. Miss Bailey, a retired missionary, spent 33 years in China. Upon reading of Mr. Yung’s visit with the Marathon Oil Company here, she called the actor at his hotel and the two engaged in a true Cantonese conversation. The Chinese food for the retired Miss Bailey was the result.

• First in series: Myrtle Bailey and the Second Chinese revolution 
• Second in series: Myrtle Bailey and the Second Sino-Japanese War 
• Third in series: Myrtle Bailey and the Japanese Invasion and Occupation of Hong Kong 

Newspaper article found at NewspaperARCHIVE.com

Myrtle Bailey and the Japanese Invasion and Occupation of Hong Kong

This is my third entry in my miniseries on the newspaper articles mentioning my great grand aunt, Myrtle Bailey. She lived through extremely interesting historical times in her life as a missionary to China and Hong Kong in the first half of the 20^th century which can be broken up into approximately one major historical event per decade, so I’ve divided the miniseries into decades. In the 1940s, Myrtle lived in Hong Kong during the surprise Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation of Hong Kong. She also participated in the repatriation exchange of women, children, diplomats, prisoners of war, and other nationals between Japan and the United States/Canada and other allied nations in 1942.

This decade’s news articles about Myrtle constituted a cross between those of the 1920s and the 1930s for me, in that, like the articles from the 1920s, they did tell an exciting story of what happened, albeit all in retrospect, and, like those from the 1930s, provided many clues for my contextual history research to flesh out the story.

”Missionary Returning”
18 August 1942, The Findlay Republican Courier, p. 13.
Click to Make Bigger

Transcription:

MISSIONARY RETURNING

Miss Myrtle Bailey Expected to Arrive Here From Brazil Soon

Miss Myrtle Bailey who has been a missionary in Hong Kong China for 26 years is on her way home. Miss Bailey wrote her sister, Mrs. Phillip A. Snyder, that she expected to be here within the next two weeks.

The letter was sent from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and dated August 1 so that her arrival is now expected daily. This is the first letter Mrs. Phillip Snyder has received since last November. Miss Bailey visited here five years ago.

”Missionary Now Home”
14 September 1942, The Findlay Republican Courier p. 12
Click to Make Bigger

Transcription:

MISSIONARY NOW HOME

Miss Myrtle Bailey Hastens Last Lap of Trip from Hong Kong Due To Death of Niece

Miss Myrtle Bailey, for 25 years a missionary in China has returned from Hong Kong to Findlay, which is her home city.

She came in on the steam ship “Gripsholm,” the refugee ship landing in New York City on August 23. Miss Bailey was two months on the voyage across two oceans. She was very weary so was resting for a Few days in New York when she received the sad news of the death of her niece, Mrs. Christine Buntz, victim of an auto accident last week.

Miss Bailey came on immediately and is now with her sister, Mrs. Pauline Snyder, 535 Tiffin Avenue, where she will remain for the present.

            "Missionary will tell of Hong Kong”, 

19 September 1942, Findlay Republican Courier, p 13.

                      Click to Make Bigger

”

Transcription:

MISSIONARY WILL TELL OF HONG KONG

Miss Myrtle Bailey to Speak at Assembly Of God Sunday Evening

The Sunday evening service at the Assembly of God, 406 East Sandusky St., 7:45 p.m. will be missionary in nature. Miss Myrtle Bailey from Hong Kong will tell of her experiences during the invasion by the Japs. Her topic will be “Hong Kong under the Fire of Japanese Bombs.”

Miss Bailey has spent 20 years as missionary in China. She was surrounded by the Japanese military authorities for several months and was among those recently arrived in the United States under the exchange agreement between the two nations.

At 10:45 a.m. service, the pastor, Rev. Benson B. Compton will speak on “a yoke for two That.” It will be the fourth and last of a series of sermons the pastor has been presenting on that theme. The Sunday school lesson, “The Valley of Dry Bones,” is at 9:30 a.m.

”Missionary tells of Bombings” 21 September 1942, The Findlay Republican Courier, p. 3
Click to Make Bigger

Transcription:

MISSIONARY TELLS OF JAP BOMBINGS

Myrtle Bailey Relates Experiences in Attack on Hong Kong

“Hong Kong thought it was prepared, but it was caught off guard, “ Miss Myrtle bailey told the Assembly of God, 406 E. Sandusky Street, Sunday Evening.

Miss Bailey has spent 20 years as a missionary in China and lived in Hong Kong during the Japanese bombing.

“The Japanese crept in from the back, camouflaged by weeds and grass. They were in front of Hong Kong before the British saw them move, “ Miss Bailey said. On the ferry on British soldier told her that the Japs outnumbered the Allies in Hong Kong 20 to 1.

“The attack was sudden,” the speaker continued. “First the bombers set fire to the aerodromes then they stormed the warehouses where a two year food supply was stored. The Allies could do nothing but retreat to Hong Kong Island, “ she said.

Most of the damage was done in the tenement districts. Most of the government buildings and banks were saved, she explained.

Miss Bailey said she lived on the mainland at the very edge of Hong Kong’s foreign settlement, next to the Chinese section. The Japanese took the house opposite her for Red Cross headquarters. Three others near her were taken for barracks. One Jap officer lived on the second floor of her home. “They just took what they wanted, “ Miss Bailey said.

The speaker said she was never interned in a camp but was virtually a prisoner in her own home for seven and a half months. She had almost given up hope when word came that she could leave.

When in China Miss Bailey established two missions, two schools, a boys’ and a girls’, opened a Bible school, and kept 15 orphans in her home.

A Red Cross shipment of food stuff was used to aid Hong Kong. Miss Bailey said she had eight large bags in her home when the bombings came. Fifty people were in her home during the bombings.

“I know what starvation is,” Miss Bailey said. “The older girls knitted for the Japs to get food, and the younger girls sold candy and cakes on the streets. We sold our furniture – everything, even to the typewriter.”

Finally word came through a Red Cross representative that she could leave but could only take four suitcases with her. She was on the Japanese Ship Asama Maru until she reached Lourenco Marques. There Gripsholm picked up the refugees and brought them to New York. There were 500 to 700 missionaries on the ship, she said.

”Missionary Will Speak to W. M. S.”
29 September 1942, Findlay Republican Courier, p 5.
Click to Make Bigger

Transcription: 

Missionary Will Speak to W. M. S.

The Women’s Missionary Society of St. Paul’s Evangelical Church will meet at 730 o’clock Wednesday evening, September 30, in the church auditorium.

Miss Myrtle Bailey who has spent 25 years in China will give a talk on conditions among the Chinese people and tell of her trip homeward. Both men and women are invited to attend this meeting to hear Ms. Bailey speak.

Mr. M. S. King, president, will have charge of the business meeting. The program committee also has arranged the following numbers for the program.

Devotions in charge of Mrs. Hoker; solo by Mrs. Vera Hummel; outline of new study book by Mrs. Gladys Scothorn; women’s quartet; offering in charge of Rev. L. H. Naumann.

”Leaving for China”
20 September 1947, Findlay Republican Courier, p 9
Click to Make Bigger

Transcription:

Leaving for China – Miss Myrtle Bailey, who has been visiting with her sister, Mrs. Pauline Snyder, 535 Tiffin Ave., will leave today for San Francisco where she will embark for Hong Kong to return to her work in the mission field which was interrupted by the Japanese invasion five years ago. The mission school and girls school has resumed operation while Ms. Bailey hopes to get a boys school and Bible school started.

 By 1953, all Protestant missionaries had been expelled by the communist government of China.  

• First in series: Myrtle Bailey and the Second Chinese revolution 
• Second in series: Myrtle Bailey and the Second Sino-Japanese War  

Myrtle Bailey and the Second Sino-Japanese War

This post is the second entry in my miniseries on the newspaper articles mentioning my great grand aunt, Myrtle Bailey ) (1880-1970). She lived through extremely interesting historical times in her life as a missionary to China and Hong Kong in the first half of the 20th century, about one major historical event per decade; so I’m dividing the miniseries into decades. This second post covers the mid-to-late 1930s when Myrtle lived through the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. 

The articles I found on Myrtle for the 1930’s were less a story in and of themselves than those in the prior decade, but they provided significant keys for my historical context research. 

Myrtle remained in the Orient as a missionary, now in the British Colony of Hong Kong, for the next several years. During that time, she started and ran four schools. But in or about late 1935 she was injured and sent home to Findlay Ohio for approximately a two-year furlough to heal. She also spent part of that time giving fund-raising talks to numerous churches.

”Will Tell of China” Findlay Republican Courier, 14 November 1936, p8
Click to make bigger

Transcription:

WILL TELL OF CHINA

__________

Miss Myrtle Bailey of Hong Kong, Will Describe Mission Work in Far East

__________

Miss Myrtle Bailey, missionary from Hong Kong, South China, who has returned here for a furlough after 19 years in the field, will speak at Bethel Temple, on Ash Ave., Sunday at 11 a. m. and 8 p.m.

Miss Florence Cannell, a coworker who has been in China for five years, will assist Ms. Bailey in the services. She is a native of the British Isles.

Ms. Bailey will wear Chinese apparel during talks at various churches here during her stay.

"To Hear Missionaries” Findlay Republican Courier, 24 November 1930, p3
Click to make bigger

Transcription:

TO HEAR MISSIONARIES

__________

Two Women Home from South China to Speak at Mount Olivet Tabernacle Wednesday Night

Miss Myrtle Bailey and Mr. Florence Cannell, missionaries on furlough from South China, will speak at 8 o’clock Wednesday evening at Mount Olivet Tabernacle, 109 North Blanchard Street.

Ms. Bailey is a native of Findlay and a graduate of the Christian and Missionary Alliance school at Nyack N.Y.

Ms. Cannell has been a public speaker since the age of 12.

Rev. O. C. Ballard, pastor, said special music was expected to be furnished by Mrs. Phyllis Frye and Mrs. Christine Buntz of Findlay.

[Phyllis (Snyder) Frye and Christine (Snyder) Buntz are her nieces.]

”Missionary to Speak”, Findlay Republican Courier, 17 April 1937,  p10
Click to make bigger

Transcription:

MISSIONARY TO SPEAK

________

Miss Myrtle Bailey, Home from Far East, to Tell Hazards of Work in the Field

Miss Myrtle Bailey, a former Findlay woman who has been in missionary work in the Far East for several years, will tell of the hazards and trials of a missionary in an address at the Lynn Street Church of God at 7:45 PM Sunday. Her subjects will be “What Are the Duties of a Missionary.”

An accordion solo by Harold Todd and a cornet solo by Mrs. Phyllis Fry, will be given.

[Phyllis (Snyder) Frye is her niece.]

”Bible school to grant diplomas” Findlay Republican Courier, 7 May 1937, p 5
Click to make bigger

BIBLE SCHOOL TO GRANT DIPLOMAS

___________

Annual Commencement Exercises to Be Held at 8 O’clock This Evening

___________

Commencement exercises will be held at the Bible and Missionary Training school, Lima avenue, at 8 o’clock this evening, open to the public. For diplomas are to be awarded by the principal, Mrs. E. H. Wurmser.

The graduates are Miss Louise Reimen, Cleveland; Mrs. Edna Brand, Cleveland; Miss Jane Westcott, Exeter, Can.; and Miss Edith Gales, Melrose, Mass. 

Following is the program for the exercises:

Song, by school. “Jesus Is Coming Soon,” by Howard E, Smith.

Scripture reading and prayer, Rev. John E. Norton, Findlay, returned missionary from India.

Address, Mrs. Edna brand, “the Power of God.”

Chorus, “Study to Show Thyself Approved,” by class.

Missionary address, Miss Myrtle Bailey, Hong Kong, China.

Duet, “That Gentle Call,” Herbert G. Tovey, Miss J. Cobb, Miss Ruth Haley.

Address, “A Vision and Call,” Ms. Louise Reimen.

Chorus by the class, “All Power Is Given unto Me.”

Awarding of diplomas, Principal Mrs. E. H. Wurmser.

Duet, “Have I Forgotten,” H. Mosel, Mrs. Edna Brand, Miss Louise Reimen.

Prayer, Mrs. John E. Norton.

The children school of instruction and training will have a Junior recognition program at 2 PM Saturday. Stereopical (sic) views of child life in China, will be shown by Miss Myrtle Bailey and Ms. Josephine Cobb, missionaries on furlough. Refreshments will be served to the juniors in the dining rooms of the Bible school, at the conclusion of the program.

Myrtle was given permission to return to Hong Kong at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War  (1937-1945).   On the date of the below article (but likely not yet known to the general U.S.), the Japanese invaded and eventually captured Nanking, the capital of the Republic of China. The invasion later became known as the Nanking Massacre. (See The Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang, a popular nonfiction book on the subject, first published in 1997. My parents gave it to me for my birthday some years ago; I’ll never be able to forget it.[My parents know that I've read extensively about WWII, about both the European and Pacific theaters; it's not a weird present for me.])   

”War-torn China goal of woman” Findlay Republican Courier, 13 December 1937, p3
Click to make bigger

Transcription:

WAR TORN CHINA GOAL OF WOMAN

Without Fear Miss Bailey Leaves Findlay to Resume Missionary Work The

On a "go-at-your-own-risk" permit issued by the State Department, Miss Myrtle Bailey left Findlay Saturday for war-torn China happy in the knowledge she would be with her Chinese boy and girl Bible students whom she left behind two years ago. Although the country is not now as peaceful as when she left, Miss Bailey has no fears for her safety she told friends. Despite the fact that severe fighting has been going on in many regions of China, Hong Kong has been comparatively unharmed since it is a British Colony and the section is heavily patrolled by the British army and navy so that anxiety is minimized, according to Mrs. Philip Snyder, 524 Tiffin Avenue, with whom Miss Bailey made her home much of the past year. The greatest existing danger, Miss Bailey told her sister, is that huge quantities of munitions are stored in several secret ammunition dumps in the Hong Kong district and a stray shell or other accident might set one of them off and probably cause a heavy loss of property and life.

Miss Bailey has been a Pentecostal missionary in China for the past 21 years. Injured seriously when struck by a street car in Hong Kong, she spent some time in a hospital and was forced to take a two year furlough just now ending. She has regained her health and was greatly pleased when the State Department gave her permission to return, Mrs. Snyder said. Having lived among her charges so long Miss Bailey has become deeply attached to her charges and regards Hong Kong as her home. Three assistants have been conducting the two English and Bible schools she established during her absence.

Miss Bailey is now en route to the Pacific Coast and on arriving in San Francisco will embark immediately for China. During her visit Miss Bailey addressed numerous gatherings.

______________________________________________________

First in series: Myrtle Bailey and the Second Chinese Revolution 

All newspaper articles found at NewspaperARCHIVE.com