The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-10-29
MIR. F. p. WELLS SKETCH.

Il
1t is a remarkable circumstance that the faith
er, grandfather and greatgrand- father OF oul
host on the Bailey side, each lived with The
wife of his youth more than sixty years. If oui
friends are allowed to follow their example, as
we all hope they may, those of us who are living
ten years from to-day may expect to be invited
to attend the sixtieth anniversary of the mar
riage of Mr.. and Mrs. John Bailey on the 2Ist OF
October, 1907.
The John Bayley who came to New England
from Old England 264 years ago was not so for
tunate. He was a weaver of Chippenham, in
Wiltshire, where he had wife whose maiden
name was given Eleanor Knight, two sons
John and Robert and daughters, one OF whom
was named Joanna.
The year 1925 is known as the year of the
great emigration" when more than five thou
sand Puritans left their native land to seek free
dom to worship God i'll the New World. Near
the end of June of that year the two Johns, faith
er and son, and the daughter Joanna set sail,
| and were shipwrecked on Pemaquid Island, now
| in the town of Bristol, Maine in the great storm
which lasted from the 18th to the 18th of August.
| The sufferings which the survivors endured
were such that John Bayley could never be in
duCed to cross the ocean once more, nor could
his wife ever trust herself to the mercy OF the
seas TO join her husband in America, 50 they
never met again, although both of them lived to
be old, as he died i'll November, 1851, and his
wife survived him several years.
John Bayley lived at Newbury two years, and
then moved across the Merrimac, made the first
clearing, and built the first house in the town OF
Salisbury.
The cellar of the house is still pointed out the
locality is known as Bayley's Hill" and the
boundaries and extent of his original tract of
fifty acres are still we'll defined.
John Bayley the son, was twenty-five years
old when he came to New England with his
father. He married Eleanor Emery in 1910, and
his sister Joanna married william Huntington
These two i'll the year 1855 became the first set
tiers of Amesbury, where Isaac, fourth son and
fifth child of John and Eleanor Bayley was BORN
July %, 1854; and married June IL, 1855 his cou-
sin Sarah, daughter of John Emery, who came
from ROmsaV in HamnShiTe England, 1une,
1885.
The second child of Isaac and Eleanor Bailey,
named Joshua, born i'll 1885, and married
Sarah, daughter of Stephen Coffin. III spite of
their name the Collins have always been consId-
cred a merry family, and it is probable that the
Baileys derive their own cheerfulness from the
Collins
Joshua was farmer of Newbury, where all
his children were born, six sons and three
daughters. who all reared families OF their own,
and all but one of whom either resided i'll our
town of Newbury Vt, or were represented by
their children or grandchildren here at one
time another.
The sons were Stephen, Joshua, Abner, Enoch,
Jacob and John the daughters were Sarah, Ju-
dith and Abigail.
Stephen lived for some years, and his wife
died here. Descendants of Joshua are numerous
near Montpelier, and a greatgrand-daughtero OF
his is still living in this town. Abner was for
ffty-six wears minister at Salem, N. H, and was
the ancestor of the late Col A. b. w. Tenney,
and some of the White family. Enoch was faith
or of Col. Frye Bailey once very prominent here,
VINO built Ill 1870, the mouse now OWHGu Dy MI
Learned on the river road Sarah married Ed
mund Tappan and had children who lived in
this town and Judith and Abigail married broth
ers Stephen and Moses Little, and are ancestors
of the Hales Atkinsons and other families. A
daughter of Moses and Abigail Little married
Captain John G. Bailey. She died i'll 1885 where
william Carleton now lives i'll West NewbuTy'
and had $50 descendants at the time of her death.
Some of her grandchildren are very prominent
i'll Maine,
he he n,yas hnr III died March |.
1916. Both dates are wrong. According to III
dsputable authority, he was born July I9, 1870,
and died March I, 1915; He was one OF the hrst
three campaigns of the old French war He was
one of those who escaped from the massacre of
Fort William Henry.
In 1850 he was a captain i'll Colts regiment
which marched from Albany to Oswego and was
so much pleased with the Mohawk valley that
he recorded in a letter to Colonel Little his in
tention to lead colony to that region, when
peace should be restored. But after the surren- |
der of Montreal Col. Jacob Bayley, Col John |
Hazen, Lieut.. Jacob Kent and Capt Timothy |
Bedell returned home down the Connecticut val |
ley and were so much taken with the Coos coun- |
try that they determined to return and settle |
here, which they all did
From that time his life is part of the history of
Newbury. To enumerate all the services which |
Gen. Jacob Bayley rendered to his country, this |
town and the church, would require more space |
than could well be devoted to the annals of the |
whole Bailey family.
His most valuable services were his procure
}
Wentworth and the charter from the Governor
of New York which secured the settlers of New
bury from 1nolestation from that quarter; his |
influence over the northern Indians, to whom |
he issued remarkable address at the breaking |
out of the Revolutionary war; and the mastery |
manner in which he protected the frontier from |
invasion.
He employed scouts at his own expense, who
the wilderness north of here, and kept |
him informed as to all the movements in Canada.
This information he faithfully transmitted to |
Washington So dangerous an enemy was he
considerd that the British in Canada offered
reward of five hundred guineas Tor his capture
dead or alive and one of the many attempts to
take him prisoner took place in the present site
of this village, Just above the mouth of Wells /
River. He sacrificed nearly all his estate i'll the
service of his country, for which he never re
ceived any return although he made personal
anD1icatiou to Congress. These claims have
been revived at different times and it may be
that a century hence some of his descendants
will continue to indulge the hope of wealth
through a grant from Congress on account of the
services Of their ancestor.
But General Bayley was not a good business
man: he disliked writing aud keeping accounts
he neglected to employ competent clerk, and
at the close of the war his business was in a sad
state of confusion and of the considerable estate
which he once possessed, nothing remained
during the last years of his life. There were
other men in Newbury who did not render
1.-THE of the service which he did, who contrived
10 come out of the Revolutionary much 4
richer than they went into it.
Rev Clark Perry. imam historical address de
ivered in rSst states that General Bayley brought
;laves to this town with him, whom he set free
IN his arrival one of them, Abraham webb,
vas half Indian and half Negro, who helped to