Samuel Orwell 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.]
The name of Bailey figures conspicuously in connection with business activity in Black Hawk County because of the extent and importance of the interests of Samuel O. [Orwell] Bailey and his brother James L. Bailey, with whom he is associated in all of his business transactions. His birth occurred December 27, 1872, in Baileyville, Illinois, and his ancestry in the paternal line is traced back to New England. Extended mention of the family is given in connection with the sketch of his father, Ransom Bailey, on another page of this volume.
Samuel O. Bailey attended school at Grundy Center and also was a student in Cornell College at Mount Vernon, Iowa. In 1897 he became the partner of his brother in a hardware business which they conducted with growing success until his father’s death in 1905, when they sold out in order to give their attention to the management of the large estate which he left to them. They now own and control four thousand acres. Their farms are highly cultivated and splendidly improved, and they make a speciality of the raising and feeding of stock which they handle in large numbers.
Their business interests likewise include connection with many corporate interests. They are 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 and in the Viking Pump Company. They are also stockholde3rs in the Cedar Falls National Bank, the First National Bank at Parkersburg, and in the District Fair Association and other corporations.
On the 26th of June, 1912, Mr. Bailey was married to Miss Grace Simpson, a native of Estherville, Iowa, and a daughter of C.T. and Julia (Babcock) Simpson, who are residents of Cedar Falls. Her father is a carpenter and contractor and is still active in business. Mrs. Bailey was the third in order of birth in their family of five children. She was liberally educated, being a graduate of the Cedar Falls High School and the Iowa State Teachers College, and for a time she was a successful teacher in the Cedar Falls High School. By her marriage she has one son, Ransom, who was born April 26, 1913. [Two other children were born after the publication of this biographical sketch: David, born July 14, 1915, and Julia, born July 23, 1919.]
Mr. Bailey is prominent in Masonic circles, belonging to the lodge, chapter and commandery, and in the last named he has filled all of the chairs, serving as eminent commander for two years. He likewise holds membership with the Modern Woodmen and the Knights of Pythias, while his wife belongs to the P.E.O. Both are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to the work of which they contribute generously, taking an active interest in all measures to further its upbuilding. The efforts of Samuel O. Bailey have been carefully directed along the lines leading to legitimate success. He has that confidence and courage that come of conscious personal ability, the right conception of things and an habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities.