Genealogy Data Page 350 (Notes Pages)

Note: He obtained his early education at the Westtown school, Chester county . In 1838 he began to clerk for his father at Coatesville , where he became thoroughly conversant with the details of the iron business carried on at that place. He removed with his parents to Berks county , where he continued his clerkship for five years, and from 1849 to 1852 was a partner with his father in the Pine Iron Works. In August of the latter year, Mr. Bailey removed to Harrisburg, Pa. , and founded the old Central Iron Works. Here he continued business until 1859 , when he became interested in the nail-works at Fairview, Cumberland county , rebuilt the works, and carried them on successfully until 1866 , when he retired from the firm, and in connection with his brother, Dr. George Bailey , founded and erected the Chesapeake Nail-Works in Harrisburg , now carried on under the firm name of Charles L. Bailey & Co. In 1869 , Mr. Bailey removed to Pottstown , and until 1875 was the treasurer and general manager of the Pottstown Iron Company, manufacturing nails, boiler-plate and pig-iron. Closing out his interests there, he returned to Harrisburg , and in 1877-78 erected the Central Iron-Works contiguous to the Chesapeake Nail-Works, of which he is president. He is one of the directors of the Harrisburg National Bank, and in 1880 was appointed by Governor Hoyt a trustee of the Pennsylvania Insane Asylum He was elected a member of the select council of the city of Harrisburg in 1877 , was a member of the State Legislature in 1879 , and in 1881 was again elected a member of the select council of the city.

son of Joseph Bailey and Martha (Lukens) Bailey, was born March 9, 1821, in Chester county, Pa. His paternal ancestors were of English and his maternal ancestors of Welsh descent. His great-grandfather, Edward Bailey, was a resident of Bucks county and his grandfather, William Bailey, a resident farmer in Philadelphia county, Pa. His father was born in 1796 and settled in Chester county in 1819, where he carried on farming until 1838, when he engaged in the iron business at the old Lukens’ mill in Coatesville and there manufactured boiler plate for six years. In 1844 he removed to Berks county, near Pottstown, and erected on the site of the "Old Forge" of the Pine Iron Works, a rolling mill and carried on business alone for a few years and afterwards in connection with his sons under the firm name of Joseph Bailey & Sons, until within a short period, when he retired from active life, leaving his manufacturing interests then in the hands of his son, Joseph L. Bailey. The children of Joseph and Martha Bailey were: Charles L., Sarah, Edward, formerly manager of the iron works at Glasgow, Montgomery county, deceased; Dr. George, of Philadelphia; William L., treasurer and manager of Thorndale Iron Works; Joseph L., Hannah, and Anne, deceased.

Charles L. Bailey, eldest son, obtained his early education at the Westtown School, Chester county, and for sometime thereafter, was a clerk in the drugstore of Thomas Evans & Co., of philadelphia. His career in the iron business began in 1838 as a clerk for his father at Coatesville, where he became thoroughly conversant with the details of the business carried on at that place. He removed with his parents to Berks county, where he continued his clerkship for five years, and from 1849 to 1852 was a partner with his father in the Pine Iron Works. In August of the latter year Mr. Bailey removed to Harrisburg and in connection with Morris Patterson, of Philadelphia, founded the Old Central Iron Works, which he had latterly used as a puddling mill. He continued business until 1859 when he became interested with the late James McCormick in the Nail Works at Fairview, Cumberland county, rebuilt the works and carried them on successfully until 1866, when he retired from the firm, and founded and erected the present Chesapeake Nail Works in Harrisburg. Later he associated with him his brother, Dr. George Bailey, under the firm name of Charles L. Bailey & Bro. The business is now carried on by Charles L. Bailey & Co., Artemus Wilhelm being a part owner in the concern.

In 1869 Mr. Bailey removed to Pottstown, and in 1875 was the treasurer and general manager of the Pottstown Iron Company, manufacturing nails, boiler plate and pig iron. Closing out his interest there he returned to Harrisburg, and in 1877-78 erected the present Central Iron Works, contiguous to the Chesapeake Nail Works, of which he is president. Mr. Bailey is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of progress and enterprise, as his various industrial undertakings attest, and although his mind is largely absorbed in business pursuits, he has not held entirely aloof from duties incumbent upon him as a citizen. He is president of the board of trustees of the Market Square Presbyterian church, and in 1880 he was appointed by Governor Hoyt a trustee of the Pennsylvania Insane Asylum. He was elected a member of the select council of the city in 1877, was a member of the State Legislature in 1879, and in 1881 he was again elected a member of the select council, chosen president, and served as chairman of the finance committee.

Mr. Bailey married, in 1856, Emma H. Doll, daughter of William Doll and Sarah M. (Elder), of Harrisburg, whose maternal great-grandfather was Rev. John Elder. Their surviving children are: William Elder, a graduate of Yale in the class of 1882; Edward, Jr., a graduate of Yale scientific course in the class of 1881; Charles L., and James B., also graduates of Yale, and Emma D., wife of Robert E. Speer, of New York.

Occupation: Date: BET 1870 AND 1880
Place: Iron Manufacturer

Census: Date: 1870
Place: Pottsgrove, Montgomery, Pennsylvania

Census: Date: 1880
Place: Harrisburg, Dauphin, PA

Back to Main Page

Bailey, William Elder (b. 10 FEB 1860, d. ?)

Note: a graduate of Yale, class 1882

William Elder Bailey was born February 10, 1860 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the son of the successful iron manufacturer, Charles Lukens Bailey and Emma Harriet Doll. He graduated from Yale in 1882 and spent a year traveling Europe before entering into his father's businesses as secretary and treasurer of the Charles L. Bailey Company and as secretary of the Central Iron Works.

In October, 1888 he headed west and came to Puget Sound, where he was sufficiently impressed with Seattle to buy property at Second Avenue and Cherry Street. He settled in Seattle in March of 1889, intending to stay the year. On March 23 he bought the tip of the Seward Park peninsula from Mary Webster, and two six-acre lots on the isthmus of the peninsula from Cornelius Hanford. On April 11 he bought the main part of the Seward Park peninsula from the recently widowed Catherine Ritz and her daughters. He owned all of the peninsula except the south part of the isthmus, which was bought from Walter Graham by John W. Edwards for Joshua Montgomery Sears on April 1 of the same year [King County Book of Deeds].

In the wake of the June 1889 fire, which destroyed Bailey's building on second Avenue and Cherry Street, he was quick to promote the rapid construction of the Rainier Hotel and to rebuild the Bailey Building, which still stands on the southwest corner of Second Avenue and Cherry Street. He acquired significant properties on Second Avenue as well as numerous other properties. He was president and organizer of the Washington Territorial Investment Company (incorporated July 7, 1889) and vice-president of the Guarantee Loan and Trust Company and the Seattle Terminal Railway and Elevator Company. He founded the Seattle Iron and Steel Manufacturing Company on July 23, 1889. He was director of the People's Savings Bank and the Seattle and Montana Railroad Company. He bought the Seattle Press in 1890 and the Times in 1891, and convinced his friend Erastus Brainerd to run the combined Press-Times [Murray Morgan, Skid Road?].

He was appointed one of three Parks Commissioners from 1890-1896 [Seattle Municipal Archives, Don Sherwood Files]. In 1890 and 1891, Bailey had his residence at the Rainier Club. In September of 1892 he married Fay Huldanna Alger in Detroit, Michigan. They had one child, Russell Alger Bailey. By 1895 the Press-Times was doing poorly and Bailey sold it [Murray Morgan, Skid Road?] and moved to Philadelphia [Polk Directory]. [Except as noted, this essay is based on: Frederic Grant, History of Seattle, 1891; Rev. Harvey Kimball, Illustrated History of the State of Washington, 1893; www.ancestry.com]

Acquisition of Seward Park in 1892 during Bailey's tenure as Parks Commissioner, the prominent landscape architect E. O. Schwagerl proposed acquiring the "Bailey Peninsula" as part of his master plan for the new park system, begun when David Denny donated the present Denny Park to the city in the 1884. Schwagerl was hired as Seattle's second Parks Superintendent the following year to put his plan of parks and connecting boulevards into motion. Bailey presumably knew of Schwagerl's plan shortly after he bought the peninsula. In 1900 George F. Cotterill organized volunteers to build 25 miles of bicycle trails that became the foundation of the boulevard system. In 1903, the city hired the Olmsted Brothers to develop a city-wide plan for parks. The Olmsteds expanded on Schwagerl's plans and Cotterill's bike paths, and hoped to make the Bailey peninsula the most important acquisition of the park system. According to a Parks Department document from 1913, the Bailey family was aware of this proposal but refused to set a price for years. Finally in 1908 they offered to sell for $2000/acre. The city thought this was exorbitant, and after passing a park bond in 1910 proceeded with condemnation, eventually paying a fair-market value of $1500/acre. The peninsula sold for a total of $322,020. This version of events is slightly complicated by checking the ownership and tax records for the peninsula during this time period. In 1891 Bailey sold his lots on the isthmus and on the northern tip of the peninsula (lot 3 of section 14 of Township 24N Range 4E) to the Eastern Investment Company [King County Book of Deeds], which, despite the name, was founded the year before in Seattle [Washington State Archives, Articles of Incorporation]. The tax rolls list the Eastern Investment Company as paying the taxes on the remainder of the peninsula for Bailey in 1895 and again in 1905. In 1900 the tax rolls list the ownership as either Emerson Land Company (for lots 1-3 in section 23 of Township 24N Range 4E) or the Eastern Investment Company (for lots 1-3 in section 24 of Township 24N Range 4E). According to the program for the 1915 Rainier Valley Fiesta Basket Picnic at Seward Park, "the land came into the possession of Edward Bailey on May 5, 1909 and was acquired under condemnation by the City Park Department July 25,1910." The tax rolls generally confirm this by listing Edward Bailey (William's brother) as the owner in 1910. Previous accounts of the acquisition of Seward Park have not explained the relationship between William Bailey, Edward Bailey, the Eastern Investment Company and the Emerson Land Company, and unfortunately I cannot explain it either.

Census: Date: 1870
Place: Pottsgrove, Montgomery, Pennsylvania

Census: Date: 1880
Place: Harrisburg, Dauphin, PA

Census: Date: 1920
Place: Harrisburg Ward 4, Dauphin, Pennsylvania

Back to Main Page

Alger, Fay Huldanna (b. ABT 1861, d. ?)

Census: Date: 1920
Place: Harrisburg Ward 4, Dauphin, Pennsylvania

Census: Date: 1870
Place: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan