“from England to New England
and across America”
The Bailey Ancestors
The Name Bailey: In 1894, the Rev. A. F. Bailey explained the meaning of the word “bailey” to the Bailey-Bayley Family Association in New England, of which he was the vice president. He said,
"Bailey, as a word, is derived through the French bailie, from the Middle Ages Latin ballium, which is a corruption of the Latin vallum, a rampart. The bailey was the whole space enclosed within the external walls of a castle, with the exception of that covered by the keep. This space was variously disposed of, and of course differed greatly in extent. Sometimes it consisted of several courts, which were divided from each other by embattled walls, so as to form a series of fortifications. Where those courts were two in number they were known as the outer and inner bailey. The entrance was generally by a drawbridge over a ditch and through a strong machicotted and embattled gate.
"The bailey was often of great extent, containing the barracks of soldiers, lodgings of the workmen and laborers, a magazine, wells and chapels and sometimes even a monastery. In the towns the bailey had a wider signification, and the name was often retained after the castle or ‘keep’ had long disappeared.” [From the Minutes of the Bailey-Bayley Association, 1894.]
The famous London gaol (jail), the “Old Bailey” was just such a highly guarded place with barracks, court rooms, offices, etc., as well as cells for prisoners. Gradually the principal officials of a bailey took that name, just as a man who worked in a mill became Miller, a saw mill a Sawyer, and just as a builder took the name Carpenter and a cloth maker became known as Weaver or Woolman. Thus a Bailey was a man who presided at the local courts of justice. Except for offenses directed at the Lord of the Manor or his property, this Bailey had complete secular power in all matters other than capital crimes. In the Late Middle Ages, a Bailey often had military responsibilities, defending the castle as the leader of a force or archers and swordsmen.
According to the Washington-based American Genealogical Research Institute, the Bailey often presided over the Manor Court. His bailiwick or jurisdiction included the immediate lands of the manor or castle. As a kind of foreman, he was in charge in the absence of the Lord of the manor.
Feudal records of a census began with the name of the Lord (preceded by the Latin word Dominus, and followed by the word armiger to denote nobility. Immediately following the name of the Lord was the Latin title for another man, the balivus praepositus. Eventually, this man took his title as a surname, calling himself Bailey.
In the first census of the United States, recorded in 1790, there were many Baileys. It was the 33rd most common name in the country at that time. By 1964, Bailey was the 57th most common name in U.S. Social Security records.
Family Origins: Our branch of the Bailey family has its roots in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, from which the immigrant James Bailey (1612 – 1677) journeyed in 1639 to Rowley, Massachusetts. More than a century later, one of his descendants, Levi Bailey, married a Hannah Bailey (1764 – 1822). Hannah’s forebear, a John Bailey (1613 – 1691), had immigrated from Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, to Newbury, Massachusetts, with his father, also named John, whose birth year is unknown but who died in Salisbury, Massachusetts in 1651. Rowley, Newbury and Salisbury are all in Essex County, Massachusetts.
Numerous families took the surname Bailey in England, perhaps the first being Alvered Ballivus whose name appears in Lincolnshire records as early as 1273. During the reign of King Edward III there was a Roger the Bailiff and somewhat later a Henry the Baillie that in 1307 became Henry Bailey. Variants include Baily, Baillie (from Scotland), Bayley, Baylie, Bayly, and Baylye.
Additional research is needed on the antecedents and English families of James Bailey and the two John Baileys.
Family Migration: After coming to America, this branch of the Bailey family settled in Massachusetts. Some of them moved to what became Bailey Mills, Vermont, and later to Baileyville, Illinois. The Illinois Baileys moved to Iowa seeking additional land; their descendants have settled in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, California, New Jersey, and Georgia, among other states.
Click here for a list of Baileys to which we are related and for links to information about individuals.
Click here for the list of Immigrant Ancestors.
Click here for the lines of descent from James Bailey of Rowley or from John Bailey of Newbury.