Mildred BAILEY (1893-1980)

1 Mildred Lenore BAILEY^1,2,3,4,5 (1893-1980) [4824]. Born 24 Jul 1893, Brandon Twp., Oakland Co., MI.^1,4,5 Marr Silas Ray WHIMS 24 Dec 1915, Flint, Genesee Co., MI.^5,6 Died 7 Aug 1980, Meridian, Ingham, MI.⁴ Cause: Pneumonia. Buried 11 Aug 1980, Williamston, Ingham Co., MI.⁵

2 Winfield Scott BAILEY^7,8,9 (1852-1924) [4625]. Born 26 Mar 1852.^7,10 Marr Sarah Ellen SUTTON 17 Nov 1875.⁸ Died 25 Jun 1924, Oxford, MI.^10,11 Buried 29 Jun 1924, Seymour Lake Cemetery.¹¹

From a Pontiac, MI newspaper.

1875-03-24 - "Winfield Bailey suffers the loss of a valuable horse, that recently was kicked by another horse while standing in the stable together."

1875-03-24 - "Winfield Bailey suffers the loss of a valuable horse, that recently was kicked by another horse while standing in the stable together."

1876-03-15 - "A span of horses, the property of Winfield Bailey, ran away recently. Damage slight."

1880-03-17 - "The agent of the Watertown, (N.Y.) Fire Insurance Company only paid Winfield S. Bailey $10 on a $50 loss he sustained by fire a few weeks ago. Mr. Bailey, feeling a great injustice had been done him, withdrew his insurance from that company, and insured in the Oakland County Mutual."

From the Clarkston Community News.

June 4, 1921 - "Mrs. Harvey Bailey, of Detroit, spent Decoration Day at W. S. Bailey's.".

4 Wilson BAILEY¹² (1816-1862) [4585]. Born 17 Mar 1816, Sullivan Twp., Tioga County, PA.¹² Marr Rachel RIKER 18 Jan 1840.¹³ Died 26 May 1862, Orion Twp., MI.^12,14 Buried Sashabaw Cemetery.¹⁵

8 Robert Wilson BAILEY¹⁶ (1797-1868) [3549]. Born 27 Apr 1797, Brookline, MA.^12,16 Marr Malinda HOTCHKISS 1815, Tioga Co., PA.¹⁶ Died 3 Sep 1868, Independence Twp, Oakland Co., MI.¹⁶ Buried Sashabaw Cemetery.¹⁷

Robert was listed as the head of a family on the 1820 Census in Sullivan Township, Tioga County, Pennsylvania. Malinda and Robert had two girls and two boys all under ten in the household.

9 Malinda HOTCHKISS¹⁶ (1800-1876) [3550]. Born 9 May 1800, Argyle, Washington Co., NY.¹⁶ Died 20 Feb 1876, Brandon Twp., Oakland Co., MI.¹⁶ Buried Sashabaw Cemetery.¹⁸

From the Oakland County Pioneer Clippings 1873 - 1876.

"Seventy-fifth Anniversary of Mrs. Malinda Bailey:

I have noticed a number of articles that were written by the pioneers of this county. Being a pioneer myself, seventy-five years old today, I will try and give a brief account of my early days; the place of my happy childhood hours and to the present time. I was born in the year 1800, in the town of Argyle, Washington County, New York, on the east side of North River, one mile from old Fort Edward.

Not wishing to take up too much room in the columns of your valuable paper, but in order to make my account interesting I wish to say something about my parentage. My father was of English descent. His grandfather was one of the Pilgrims that landed at Plymouth Rock on the 23rd of December 1620. My mother was of French descent. Her father came from France in the latter part of 1776 or the former part of 1777 and enlisted as a soldier during the contest between the colonies and England and served under General Lafayette. My father was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1758 and went into the service when but a boy in years and remained during the principal part of the war until he, with some of his fellow soldiers, was taken prisoners. As a soldier of our revolution, he fought gallantly for our liberty; was a prisoner in the prison ship and sugar house in New York and suffered all the horrors of their dismal and lonesome places, but his sorrows are o'er and he has gone to the reward of his services. His sleep is now the calm sleep of the patriot and the soldier; his country owed him the cheer of gratitude. He was a prisoner for nine long months and was frozen from his feet to his knees. Although he lived to a good old age, as he was 96 years old when he died.

My grandfather on my mother's side was in the service also. My grandmother was left alone with a family of four at the time Burgoyne was marching through the country with his forces of soldiers and Indians, murdering, burning and destroying all before them. Even some of his Indian allies got disgusted with him, or at least a great many of them did and deserted. Then one of their number went to warn the people of approaching danger, as the able-bodied men were mostly in the service.

Fort Edward, as I have before mentioned, was filled with aged men, women and children. So that many, for the want of room, were compelled to remain outside of the fort. When the Indian came to tell them of their danger, a great many went to a large pine and spruce swamp for greater safety and among them, my grandmother with her four children, my mother being the eldest, aged 14 years. I should have stated before that those families took what provisions and things they could conveniently (take) with them and remained there several days. In the meantime, Burgoyne was defeated and surrendered his army. Again they repaired to their respective homes. The Indian that came to notify them of their danger afterwards lived and died in that town, beloved by all who knew him.

After peace was declared, my father married Miss Lucy Carey, my mother, and settled there, where they remained for a number of years, but finally sold out and went to Pennsylvania in an early day and there lived the remainder of his days in the town of Tioga, Tioga County.

As I have been saying things that have been handed down to me, I will now try and say something about myself and family.

I was married to Mr. Robert Bailey in the year 1815, in the 15th year of my age. We settled in Rutland Twp., Tioga County, Pennsylvania, where we lived a number of years. From there we moved to the town of Southport, Chemung County, New York, two miles from Elmira where we resided until the year 1835 when the Michigan emigration excitement broke out and we made up our minds, as our family was mostly sons then as it was almost impossible to get land there for them, to come to Michigan in the hopes that they would settle around us. Accordingly, on the 20th day of May 1835, we started from Southport with teams and went to a place called Horseheads, seven miles above Elmira where General Sullivan lost his pack horse; this place derives its name by the affair. There we went on board of a scow boat to the head of Seneca Lake where we went on board of the steamer, "Seneca", that towed seventeen ca**** boats to Geneva where we were again three days on the road from Horseheads to Montezuma, where we went onto the grand canal line boat to Buffalo and then we took passage on the steamer "Daniel Webster". There were about 500 passengers on board. The lake was very calm and he had a splendid time. We arrived in Detroit the 4th of June where we met some old acquaintances and friends and stayed overnight with them and they conveyed us with their teams on the morning of the 5th to Royal Oak, a distance of 12 miles, over the muddiest roads that I ever traveled on before or since to my memory. The wagon would sink to the axletree in the mud in any spot. The men were obliged to pry the wagons out of many of the sinkholes. We were all day coming from Detroit to Royal Oak, where we again met some old friends living where we concluded to stop awhile. As we had not located any land yet, we stopped at this place near as I can remember about two weeks and during that time my husband with some others started out (in the then) almost densely wooded wilderness in search of our future home and made up his mind to locate on the land that I now live on. Accordingly as before, our friends moved us to the neighborhood that I now live in; again we had a bad road from Royal Oak to Pontiac.

I will now say something about Pontiac at that time. As we stopped there to refresh ourselves and teams, it did not look at that time as though it would make the place it is at the present time. There were no public or private buildings then of any consequence. There were two small stores - one kept by Schuyler Hodges and the other by Mr. Chamberlain. There were two taverns - one was kept by Mr. Fuller and the other by the late Solomon Clone; they were old, rackety taverns, by no means hotels. I believe that this is all that I can say about Pontiac, unless I should say something about the mud that was nearly a foot deep and by no means fit for a person to walk across the street or at least many of the present time that live in Pontiac would not like to try it. Again we left Pontiac and came on the turnpike as far north and west as what is now called and known as the Williams' property. There we turned to the right and came up by Silver Lake north of Sashabaw Plains where three or four families were living. Then we came on north in the neighborhood that I now live and stopped and stayed at John Daines overnight and not wishing to be any trouble to others, my husband thought that he would look around and find some temporary home until he could erect one upon our own land. When he happen to run across a man who had the care of a lot of land having the body of a log house built upon it, which he told us we could move into if we could get in it as there was neither door or window in it. Accordingly they cut a place for a door and Mr. Issac Coon lent us some boards for a loose floor and then we moved into it and done our baking principally out-of-doors, as there was no chimney or fireplace in the house. Mr. George Miller now owns the farm where this house used to stand.

We soon commenced to make some improvements on our own land and to fix to build a house which did not get finished until sometime in October when we moved in. The winter following was very mild and we thought we had come to a state that was free from cold weather. As this last winter has been, there is a great contrast between it and the ones of 1935-36. The winter of 1875 has been the coldest I ever experienced, provisions at that time (1835-1836) were very scarce as hardly enough had been raised to supply the settlers. Flour was twelve dollars a barrel and other thing equally as high, although we never suffered any to speak of for the want of necessaries of life. There was game of almost every description that ever roamed the Michigan wild woods. There was also plenty of fish in the creeks and lakes for which this part of the county is quite famous and which was a great help to the settlers. My husband, being quite a hand to hunting, he could kill a deer at almost any time that he wished. At that time one could frequently see from fifteen to twenty in droves. They were in good order and so they supplied us with tallow as well as meat. One could go out after dark and hear the howling of the wolves in almost every direction. Their howls made it very hideous. The first winter that we lived in our place, my husband caught seventeen for which he received twelve dollars per head bounty money. Our nearest neighbor north of us was Jacob VanWagoner, who lived eight miles distant.

Our family consists of five sons and two daughters, all settled within the boundary of four miles with the exception of one, who took a notion to travel and see more of the world before he settled down. He went to California fourteen years since where he made a fortune of about thirty thousand dollars, but now resides in Pennsylvania. Our two eldest sons, William and Wilson, settled on each side of us, but we have not escaped affliction and have been called upon to mourn the loss of our two oldest children. Wilson died in 1862, aged 46 years; Mrs. Tubbs died in 1865, aged 51 years. My husband died in 1868, aged 71 years. I still live on the old homestead and am blessed with many comforts of life that many are deprived of with a measure of heath and strength for one of my age. I have 34 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren; but I feel as though I am living on borrowed time. How much longer?"

Obituary in the Pontiac Bill Poster, March 1, 1876.

"It is our painful duty this week to announce the death of an another aged pioneer, which is that of Mrs. Malinda Bailey, who died at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Louisa Kingsley, Sunday evening, the 20th inst, in the 70th year of her age. Mrs. B. was born in the year 1800, in the town of Argile, Washington county, N.Y., one mile from old Fort Edward, and was married to Robert Bailey in 1815, and immigrated to the town of Independence in 1835, where in 1868, Robert Bailey died. They lived to see their four sons and two daughters settled around them, enjoying the many comforts of life. Mrs. B. was a member of the Christian church, and died expressing a complete and blessed hope beyond the tomb. Her funeral sermon was preached at the Seymour Lake church by the Rev. Mr. Hedger, in presence of her relatives and friends, who followed her remains to the Sashabaw Cemetery.".

5 Rachel RIKER^7,13,14 (1817-1894) [4620]. Born 31 Dec 1817, Big Flats, Chemung Co., NY.^7,14,15 Died 18 Apr 1894, Independence Twp, Oakland, Co., MI.¹⁵ Cause: Heart failure. Buried Sashabaw Cemetery.¹⁵

From a Pontiac, MI newspaper.

07 Jul 1875 - "Mrs. Rachel Bailey is having her residence renovated from cellar to garret."

04 Jun 1879 - "The widow Bailey is also on the sick list."

28 May 1884 - "Mrs. widow Wilson Bailey and daughter, the former a forty-nine year resident of this place [Seymour Lake] has purchased the Ezra King property in Pontiac. Our loss is Pontiac's gain."

16 Sep 1892 - "Mrs. R. Bailey is spending a few days with her son, Wilson Bailey."

11 Nov 1892 - "Winfield Bailey and wife, of Seymour Lake, visited at Wilson Bailey's Sunday."

Obituary from the Oakland County Post, April 27, 1894.

"Death of Mrs. Wilson Bailey. Mrs. Rachel Riker Bailey, widow of Wilson Bailey, deceased, died Wednesday, April 18, of heart failure, aged 76 years, at the home of her son, Winfield Bailey, on the old homestead in northeast Independence. The deceased was the daughter of John Riker and was born in Big Flats, Chemung county, N.Y., Dec. 31, 1817, came to Michigan and Independence in 1837 and settled on Sashabaw Plains. She married Wilson Bailey in 1840. Associated with Fred Myrick, her husband purchased and cleared up what is now known as Mohopac. They built a saw mill, cutting the timber into lumber much of which was used in Pontiac. The C.A. Palmer house was built by Mr. Myrick, who just after its completion, died of small pox in New York City. Mr. Bailey lived at Mohopac only a few years before his last illness.

After her husband's death Mrs. Bailey lived in Pontiac a few years and then returned to the scenes of her pioneer life, the old home with its sacred recollections, to pass the remainder of her days. Here she died respected by her neighbors and beloved by her children.

Mrs. Bailey leaves three sons and one daughter, Wilson, Winfield and Morris. The late Wallace Bailey was her son. One brother, George Riker of Cass City and Mrs. Wormley, the mother of Mrs. George Alexander, survive her.

The funeral was held at the home and the remains interred by the side of her husband in Sashabaw cemetery. A large concourse of neighbors and friends followed the remains to their last resting place.".

10 John RIKER¹⁵ ( - ) [4861].

3 Sarah Ellen SUTTON^3,8,19 (1857-1942) [4818]. Born 2 Oct 1857, Orion Twp., MI.^3,10,19 Died 25 Dec 1942, Oxford, MI.^3,10 Buried 27 Dec 1942, Seymour Lake Cemetery.

From the Pontiac Daily Press, December 26, 1942.

"A pioneer of Oakland county, Mrs Sarah Ellen Bailey, 85, died at her Oxford home Friday night. She had lived on the Bailey homestead south of Seymour Lake for 48 years, moving to Oxford in November, 1923, where her husband died. She was born in Orion township Oct. 2, 1857, and was married to Winfield S. Bailey Nov. 17, 1875. Surviving are her son Warren of Lake Orion and three daughters, Mrs. Winifred Porritt of Seymour Lake; Mrs. Mildred Whims of Midland and Mrs. Dorothy Alleman of Oxford, 17 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren. Funeral service will be held from the Whitcomb-Mabley chapel in Oxford Sunday at 2 p.m. and burial will be made in the Seymour Lake cemetery.".

Sources

1	"1900 Independence Twp. census".

2	"1910 Independence Twp. census".

3	"Obituary of Sarah Ellen Bailey, Pontiac Press, December 26, 1942".

4	"Michigan Death Index, 1971-1996".

5	"Family group sheet for the Silas Ray Whims family prepared by Walace W. Pike".

6	"1930 Genesee Co., Linden Twp. census".

7	"1850 - 1860 Independence Twp. census".

8	"International Genealogical Index".

9	"Information provided by Diane Curry".

10	"Small Cemeteries in Brandon and Groveland Township, Oakland County, Michigan".

11	"Obituary of Winfield Bailey in the Pontiac Daily Press, June 27, 1924".

12	"Sullivan-Rutland Genealogy Project by Joyce M. Tice".

13	"Oakland County, Michigan Dibean Marriage Index".

14	"Portrait and Biographical Album of Oakland County, MIchigan, 1891".

15	"Obituary of Mrs. Rachel Riker Bailey, Oakland County Post, April 27, 1894".

16	"Ancestry.com, Snow/Lyman Ancestors".

17	"Sashabaw Cemetery (Independence Twp.) transcriptions".

18	"Obituary of Malinda Bailey from the Pontiac Bill Poster, March 1, 1876".

19	"1870 Independence Twp. census".