Horace W. Bailey

From 1894's Men of Vermont Illustrated

Horace Ward Bailey was born in Newbury, Vermont on January 16, 1852, a son of William U. Bailey and Abigail (Eaton) Bailey.[1] He was educated in the schools of Newbury and graduated from Newbury Seminary.[1] He taught school in Newbury, then met John Lindsey, the proprietor of the Fabyan House resort hotel in New Hampshire.[1] Bailey became a manager at Lindsey hotels; besides the Fabyan House, he worked at resorts in Lancaster, New Hampshire, Old Orchard Beach, Maine, and Eastman, Georgia.[1] Bailey was the executor of Lindsey's estate, which led to a later career settling estates in northern Vermont and northern New Hampshire.[1]

In 1882, Bailey returned to Newbury, where he became the owner of a general store, which he operated until 1892.[1] A Republican, in 1886 he was elected Newbury's town clerk, a position he held until 1896.[2] In addition to serving as town clerk, Bailey served in other local offices, including lister, town school board member, town school superintendent, and member of the county school board.[1][2]

Bailey served in the Vermont Senate from 1894 to 1896, and was a member of the committees on education, railroads, and the state prison, as well as a joint committee that examined unexpected spending increases on the prison.[1] He was also appointed a member of the state Fish and Game Commission in 1894, and he served until 1900.[1] As a Fish and Game commissioner, Bailey was credited with management improvements at the state fish hatchery, and was also selected to oversee construction of a dam at the outlet of Lake Morey in Fairlee.[1] He was a member of the Vermont Republican State Committee from 1894 to 1904.[2][3]

In 1902, Bailey was elected to represent Newbury in the Vermont House of Representatives, and he served until 1904.[1] During his tenure in the House, Bailey was chairman of the committee on railroads, as well as the committee that oversaw Vermont's participation in the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition.[1] In addition, he was Orange County's representative on the joint committee that studied the temperance issue.[1] In 1902, Bailey was appointed to the state Railroad Commission, and he served until 1904.[1] From 1906 to 1910, Bailey was a member of the Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission, which planned celebrations to commemorate Samuel de Champlain's discovery of the lake in 1609.[2]

A civic activist, Bailey was head of the board of trustees for Newbury's Tenney Memorial Library.[2] He was an author on Vermont topics, including histories of Lake Champlain, Newbury Seminary and Newbury Methodist Church, and served as a vice president of the Vermont Historical Society.[1][2] He was also a longtime member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias, served on the board of directors of St. Johnsbury's Citizens Savings Bank and Trust, and was a trustee of the Bradford Savings Bank.[1][2][4]

Bailey in his later years

In October 1903, Bailey was appointed U.S. Marshal for Vermont, and he served in this position until his death.[4][5] He received the appointment following the October 15, 1903 termination of Marshal Fred A. Field's commission.[6] Field was accused of dereliction and neglect after three prisoners he was transporting in June 1903 effected an escape.[6] Federal district court judge Hoyt Henry Wheeler then appointed Field's chief deputy Frank H. Chapman to temporarily fill the vacancy.[7]

Following Field's removal, President Theodore Roosevelt asked Vermont's Congressional delegation for recommendations.[5] The two US Senators and two US Representatives quickly agreed to suggest Bailey.[5] Roosevelt appointed him a few days after Chapman's interim appointment, and Bailey then reappointed Chapman as chief deputy.[5][8] For most of his term as marshal, Bailey lived and worked in Rutland, Vermont.[4]

For many years, Bailey's girth and ongoing health problems required him to walk with the aid of a cane.[9] Over time, he amassed a notable collection of canes and walking sticks.[9][10] This collection was covered in newspapers nationwide in 1904, after Bailey received a carved bamboo cane from a friend in the U.S. Army who had recently returned from a trip to Japan.[9][10] According to contemporary press accounts, Bailey's collection included a lignum vitae cane from the Philippines which was a gift from Mason S. Stone, and one made of pine recovered from the floor of the Confederacy's Civil War-era Libby Prison.[9][10]

In his later years, Bailey suffered from Bright's disease, which led to several complications.[4] In 1907 he lost a foot to amputation, and in 1913 continued complications caused doctors to remove his other foot.[4] Bailey died in Rutland on January 6, 1914.[4] He was buried at Oxbow Cemetery in Newbury.[11] Bailey never married, and had no children.[4]

During his lifetime, Bailey amassed a vast collection of works related to the history of Vermont, including many rare books, pamphlets, town histories, and railroad annual reports.[12] His collection included works from 1794 to his death, including many on slavery and other political topics.[12] After his death, Bailey's executors sold his library.[13] His pamphlet collection of more than 900 items was purchased intact by Middlebury College, which maintains Bailey's Vermont Pamphlet Archive as part of its library's Special Collections.[12][13]

In 1904, Bailey purchased Newbury's old schoolhouse, which had been constructed in 1839, as a repository for his private library of works on the history of Vermont.[14] After his death, the building was used by different owners for several different functions.[14] The building was purchased by the town in 1969 for use as the town clerk's office, and was partially destroyed during a 1973 tornado.[14][15] It was later restored, and is now the Horace W. Bailey Club, a meeting facility for several different organizations and civic groups.[14] The Bailey Club is part of the Newbury Village Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.[15]

• Horace W. Bailey at Find a Grave

• Fish, Frank L. (1914). Horace Ward Bailey, Vermonter; A Memorial by his Friends. Rutland, VT: The Tuttle Company – via Internet Archive.
• Davidson, Jim (February 10, 2013). "Horace W. Bailey Gives a History Lesson - 1906". Moments in History (1:50 film clip). Rutland, VT: Rutland Historical Society – via Internet Archive.