James Levi Bailey--
a biographical statement
[The following brief biography appeared in the History of Black Hawk County Iowa, Volume 2, published in 1915 by the S.J. Clark Publishing Co., of Chicago. A copy of this volume is preserved in the Cedar Falls, Iowa, Historical Society.]
Extensive and important are the business interests controlled by James L. Bailey, who is a stockholder in many of Black Hawk county’s most important commercial, industrial, and financial enterprises, and who is also, in partnership with his brother, engaged in controlling and improving four thousand acres of farm land in Iowa and in feeding and handling stock extensively. They also have important property interests in other states. Wide-awake, alert and enterprising, they carefully direct their interests, watching all indications pointing to success and never fearing to venture where favoring opportunity indicates the way.
James L. Bailey was born in Baileyville, Illinois, August 8, 1870, a son of Ransom and Mary (Dyer) Bailey, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Their son, James L. Bailey, attended the high school in Grundy Center and afterward was a student in Cornell College at Mount Vernon, Iowa. His initial business training was received under the direction of his father, with whom he was associated for some time.
In 1897, in partnership with his brother, he established a hardware store in Cedar Falls and conducted that business until his father’s death in 1905. They then sold out to the Wyth-Johnson & Wyth Company, who still conduct the business. Since the father’s death the brothers have been active in the management of the estateto which they have succeeded.
They are stockholders in the Cedar Falls National Bank and the First National Bank of Parkersburg and are identified with various important commercial and industrial interests in Black Hawk county, being now stockholders in the Waterloo & Cedar Falls Mill Company, in the Rice & Dayton Manufacturing Company, in the Black Hawk Oil Company, in the Connell & Cowan Lumber Company, in the Viking Pump Company and in the Cedar Valley District Farm Association. As Iowa landowners they own and control four thousand acres of farm lands, the greater part of which is under cultivation, and they also have some farm property in South Dakota.
They now devote considerable time to feeding and handling stock, conducting this business on an extensive scale. They make feeding their specialty and success is attending their efforts in large measure. They also conduct some real-estate operations, purchasing land, however, rather for cultivation than for further sale.
On the 26th of February, 1896, James L. Bailey was united in marriage to Miss Anna House, who was born in Maquoketa, Iowa, a daughter of Judge A.J. and Emma (Millard) House, who were natives of Canada. Her father was born January 12, 1848, and her mother on the 1st of Aprio of the same year. Mr. House has devoted his life to the practice of law and is now serving on the bench, having recently been reelected and having the highest vote among ten candidates in his district. His incumbency in the office covers a period of more than twenty years, a fact which is indicative of the confidence and trust reposed in him and of his fidelity to the important duties of the office which he fills. His decisions are strictly fair and impartial, being based both upon the law and the equity in the case, and he is today recognized as one of the ablest jurists in his part of the state. His life has been a busy, active and useful one, and he is prominent in the community in which he makes his home.
To Mr. and Mrs. Bailey the following children were born: Millard, whose natal day was February 6, 1897; Allen Ransom, born December 9, 1898, Margaret, who was born September 25, 1900 and who died April 6, 1901; Carrie, born June 25, 1902; Ralph, February 10, 1904; Joseph Levi, January 25, 1906; Mary Emma, February 7, 1909; and John Richard, October 25, 1912.
In his political views James L. Bailey is a stalwart republican. He has never sought nor desired political office, but in 1913 was elected president of the school board of Cedar Falls. The cause of education finds him a stalwart champion and one who is doing effective work in the interests of the schools. His religious belief is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church and to its teachings he is most loyal. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken the degree of the York Rite, and is now captain general in the Knights Templar commandery. He also belongs to the Mystic Shrine and has membership in the Modern Woodmen Camp. His wife is connected with the P.E.O. society. They occupy an enviable position in the public regard and the hospitality of the best homes of Cedar Falls and the county is freely accorded them.