Alexander Price Bailey
"Alexander Price Bailey was born in Auburn, Cayuga, New York on March 25, 1846 to Norman and Lavina (Remington) Bailey. He came to Somers Township in Kenosha County with his parents in 1848. At the age of 23, he began to farm on his own, and continued to farm until 1905. He married Isabella Lee, daughter of Richard and Ellen Lee, in 1868 in Kenosha County. They had two children. In 1905, they moved to the Village of Somers, where they lived for the rest of their lives. Alexander Price Bailey died September 1, 1923 and his wife, Isabella Lee Bailey, died February 26, 1928. They are buried at Sylvania Cemetery.
Children of Alexander Price Bailey and Isabella Lee Bailey:
William Norman Bailey. Married Alice Bush, daughter of William Bush. They lived on the father's farm.
LeRoy Frank Bailey. Married Etta Bush, daughter of William Bush. They had one child: Orilla Alice May."
(Source: 1991 Mary Ann Culshaw Falk and the Sylvania Cemetery Board of Trustees)
More About Alexander Price Bailey
"Alexander Price Bailey is a retired farmer living in the Village of Somers and the rest which he is now enjoying has been well earned. He has reached the seventieth milestone on life's journal, his birth having occurred in Auburn, New York, on the 25th of March, 1846, his parents being Norman and Lavina (Remington) Bailey. In the year 1841 the father became a resident of Kenosha County and in 1848 brought his family to this locality. The work of development and improvement had scarcely been begun at the time of his first arrival here. Much of the land was still in possession of the government and was covered with the native prairie grasses or the original forest growth. He purchased eighty acres of land at the usual government price of a dollar and a quarter per acre and afterward added to his farm by the additional purchase of forty acres. His was a well spent life characterized by integrity, by energy and laudable purpose. In politics he was a Republican and filled the office of district clerk. His religious faith was that of the Methodist Church. In his family were four children: Alexander price, Jay Le Roy, Sophronia, and Frank Ney.
The first named attended the public schools until he reached the age of twenty years, after which he continued to work upon the home farm to the age of twenty-three. He then began farming on his own account upon a tract of rented land of one hundred and seventy-five acres, upon which he lived for two years. He afterward rented other land and made his home thereon for two years. He afterward purchased seventy-three and one-half acres and subsequently thirty-two and five-tenths acres and still later further investment made him the owner of another tract of one hundred and seventy-five acres. He thus became one of the extensive landowners of the community and was actively and successfully engaged in general farming until 1905, when the success that had attended his efforts enabled him to put aside further business cares. He then purchased a place in the Village of Somers and has lived there continuously since, having an attractive and comfortable home in which he has not only the necessities but many of the luxuries of life.
In 1868 Mr. Bailey was united in marriage to Miss Isabelle Lee, a daughter of Richard Lee, a native of England, who came to the United States in early life. To Mr. and Mrs. Bailey have been born two children. William Norman married Alice, daughter of William Bush, and is living on his father's farm. Le Roy Frank married Etta Bush, daughter of William Bush, and they have one child, Orilla Alice May.
In his political views Mr. Bailey is a Republican but at local elections, where no issue is involved, does not feel himself bound by party ties and casts his ballot for the candidate whom he regards as best qualified for office. For several years he filled the position of Justice of the Peace, his decisions being strictly fair and impartial. He has been a member of the School Board and served as its clerk for twelve years. His religious faith is that of the Methodist church and he ever endeavors to follow the Golden Rule. In his business affairs he was strictly reliable as well as enterprising and his success is the merited reward of energy and integrity.
(Source: City and County of Kenosha, Vol. II, S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1916)
Jay LeRoy Bailey
Jay LeRoy Bailey, a representative farmer of Somers Township, whose success is largely attributable to his earnest effort and indefatigable industry, was born in Paris Township, Kenosha County, December 4, 1854, his parents being Norman and Lavina (Remington) Bailey.
He obtained a common school education, dividing his time during his youth between the duties of the schoolroom, the pleasures of the playground and the work of the fields. His father died when his son Jay was twenty years of age, and the young man then assumed the management of the home place, which he operated for a year for his mother. He then rented the land and began farming on his own account. In addition to the cultivation of the old homestead he cultivated forty acres which he purchased and was busily engaged in the further development and improvement of that property until 1904. At the present time he owns two hundred acres of rich and arable land, one hundred and twenty acres being on Section 18, Somers Township, and eighty acres of the old homestead in Parish Township, and he rents one hundred acres of this to L.J. Prang, who has resided thereon for eight years.
The old Bailey homestead was purchased from the government at the usual price of one dollar and a quarter per acre and has since been in possession of the family. Upon the place are fine buildings, including a modern residence, substantial barns and good sheds, furnishing ample shelter for grain and stock. he secures the latest improved machinery to advance the work of the fields, practices the rotation of crops and does everything necessary to make his farm profitable. He built a new barn thirty-four by seventy-four feet. In addition to raising the crops best adapted to the soil and climate he conducts a dairy business and for the past thirty years.
(Source: City and County of Kenosha, Vol. II, S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1916)
Fire Imperils Farm Building
Somers Volunteer Firemen Extinguish Blaze On Bailey Farm
The Somers Volunteer fire department was called out at 6:00 o'clock last night when a fire originating in defective wiring threatened the large dairy barn on the Norman Bailey farm, located on Highway 41, two and one-half miles from the village of Somers.
The blaze started in a two story building used by Bailey as a hog pen. When the firemen arrived at the scene of the blaze, flames had spread to a large quantity of straw stored in the upper section of the frame building and threatened to destroy the large dairy barn to which the hog pen was attached.
Workers at the farm has closed off all ventilation in the hog pen immediately after the fire was discovered preventing rapid spread of the flames and thus permitting the firemen to gain control of the blaze almost immediately after their arrival at The Bailey Farm.
The loss which might have mounted to several thousand dollars, was confined to a comparatively small sum. A large number of chickens were lost in the fire and an undetermined amount of straw was destroyed. None of the hogs were lost in the fire and the building although badly scorched can be repaired."
(Source: Racine Journal, Feb. 14, 1935)
