James Levi "Lee" Bailey
B: August 8, 1870 in Baileyville, Ogle County, Illinois.
M: Anna Elizabeth House, February 26, 1896 in Maquoketa, Jackson County, Iowa.
D: February 26, 1956, in Grundy Center, Grundy County, Iowa, from stroke and complications of cancer of the prostrate.
Bu:February 29, 1956, in Fairview Cemetery (Block 10, Lot 164), Cedar Falls, Black Hawk County, Iowa.
Children:
James Millard Bailey, February 8, 1897, who married Mabel Clausen.
Allen Ransom Bailey, December 9, 1898, who married Kathryn Gunvor Ausland.
Margaret Bailey, September 25, 1900, who died on April 3, 1901.
Carrie Virginia Bailey, June 25, 1902, who married Robert A. Schneider.
Ralph Bailey, February 10, 1904, who married Louise Smithhausler.
Joseph Levi Bailey, January 25, 1906, who married Gertrude Mueller.
Mary Emma Bailey, February 7, 1909, who married Elmer Newton.
John Richard Bailey, October 25, 1912, who died August 11, 1966.
Education:
Grundy Center public schools, including High School, and Cornell College, in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.
Migration:
James Levi, who was called “Lee” within the family and who was known as “J.L.” more broadly, moved as a young man with his parents, Ransom and Mary Dyer Bailey, from Baileyville, Illinois to Grundy County. After his marriage, he and his wife Anna House Bailey lived in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where all of their children were born. During the depression, they returned to a farm near Grundy Center.
Occupation:
After growing up on a farm where he helped manage his father’s large holdings, J.L. and his brother Samuel Orwell Bailey were in partnership in Cedar Falls, initially operating a hardware store (1897 – 1907) and later an insurance business. From 1907-1930 he and Samuel were partners in a large real estate and farm management firm known as the Bailey Brothers. During the 1930s J.L. returned to farming, sharing that task with several of his children.
Other Activities:
J.L. Bailey was prominent in business and civic life in Cedar Falls, serving from 1910 - 1919 as the president of the board of education. During World War I he was chairman of the Cedar Falls fuel administration. For several years he was a member of the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors and the Cedar Valley District Fair Board. He was also active in the First Methodist Church of Cedar Falls where for 20 years he was a member of the official board; later he was a member of the First Methodist Church of Grundy Center. Deeply involved in several Masonic orders, he attained the rank of 32nd degree Mason; he was at one time manager of Templar Park a summer hotel on Spirit Lake, Iowa, operated by the Knights Templar order. He was also a member of the Modern Woodsmen of America. For several years he was the Grundy County weather observer.
Photos:
The picture on this page was taken before J.L. moved from Baileyville, Illinois.
Wife's Parents:
Allen Judson House (1847 – 1928) and Emma Millard House (1847 – 1926), of Maquoketa, Jackson County, Iowa.
James Levi Bailey was the son of
Ransom Bailey and Mary Judith Dyer Bailey.
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Biography of James Levi Bailey, as published in the History of Black Hawk County, Iowa. |