Mays Family Tree - Person Sheet
NameJohn P BAILY 
2925
2925Birth Date17 Jan 1805
Death Date13 Dec 1874 Age: 69
Death PlacePennsbury Township, Chester Co., PA, USA
Death MemoAt the residence of Isaac B. Webb.
OccupationCivil Engineer, Lawyer, Associate Judge
FatherJacob BAILY (1775-1854)
MotherElizabeth PARKER
Misc. Notes
HON. JOHN P. BAILY, son of Jacob and Elizabeth, was born 1, 17, 1805. He attended the common pay-school of his neighborhood and assisted on his father’s farm until he was sixteen years of age, when he was apprenticed to the saddler’s trade. This did not suit his taste, and at the end of a year he gave it up.
He again resumed his studies, teaching school at intervals, and ending his academic education with Samuel Gummere, at Burlington, N.J. His taste was mathematical. While engaged in teaching a select school in West Philadelphia in 1826, he was selected, with John Edgar Thomson and other young men, to assist Maj. John Wilson, of the United States Topographical Corps, to locate and construct a railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia, but before it was completed he was appointed by the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven Railroad Company to locate and construct their coal road in Schuylkill County, remaining in their service until it was completed.
He was then appointed to locate and construct a railroad from West Chester to intersect the Columbia Railroad at a point near Paoli, which he did satisfactorily. He was then appointed as a civil engineer in the United States Topographical Corps, and performed important service in the Western country in the location of a national road from Toledo (Ohio) to the Mississippi River, and the survey of the Cumberland River in Kentucky and Tennessee.
In 1836 he was appointed by the Pennsylvania State Legislature as chief engineer of the public works, which he held until the law creating the office was repealed. He was subsequently appointed, and for a year or so served as chief engineer to the Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad, in Virginia.
In the winter of 1840 [at about age 35] he commenced to read law with Henry S. Van Amringe, of Pittsburgh, formerly of the West Chester bar. After his admission to the bar Mr. Baily removed to West Chester, where he opened a law-office in 1843. In the winter of 1858 he was appointed by Governor Packer as associate judge of Chester County, vice Judge Strickland, resigned.
When the Rebellion [Civil War] broke out he, with many other Democrats, became a supporter of the Administration in the prosecution of the war. At the next vacancy of associate judge he was nominated and elected by the Republican party to that position, and was re-elected the following term,— ten successive years of incumbency.
He subsequently visited Europe, and made a trip across the continent by the Pacific Railroad. Soon after he took up his residence at his native place, Parkerville, with his brother Abram. He died at the residence of Isaac B. Webb, in Pennsbury, on 12, 13, 1874, in the seventieth year of his age.
He again resumed his studies, teaching school at intervals, and ending his academic education with Samuel Gummere, at Burlington, N.J. His taste was mathematical. While engaged in teaching a select school in West Philadelphia in 1826, he was selected, with John Edgar Thomson and other young men, to assist Maj. John Wilson, of the United States Topographical Corps, to locate and construct a railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia, but before it was completed he was appointed by the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven Railroad Company to locate and construct their coal road in Schuylkill County, remaining in their service until it was completed.
He was then appointed to locate and construct a railroad from West Chester to intersect the Columbia Railroad at a point near Paoli, which he did satisfactorily. He was then appointed as a civil engineer in the United States Topographical Corps, and performed important service in the Western country in the location of a national road from Toledo (Ohio) to the Mississippi River, and the survey of the Cumberland River in Kentucky and Tennessee.
In 1836 he was appointed by the Pennsylvania State Legislature as chief engineer of the public works, which he held until the law creating the office was repealed. He was subsequently appointed, and for a year or so served as chief engineer to the Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad, in Virginia.
In the winter of 1840 [at about age 35] he commenced to read law with Henry S. Van Amringe, of Pittsburgh, formerly of the West Chester bar. After his admission to the bar Mr. Baily removed to West Chester, where he opened a law-office in 1843. In the winter of 1858 he was appointed by Governor Packer as associate judge of Chester County, vice Judge Strickland, resigned.
When the Rebellion [Civil War] broke out he, with many other Democrats, became a supporter of the Administration in the prosecution of the war. At the next vacancy of associate judge he was nominated and elected by the Republican party to that position, and was re-elected the following term,— ten successive years of incumbency.
He subsequently visited Europe, and made a trip across the continent by the Pacific Railroad. Soon after he took up his residence at his native place, Parkerville, with his brother Abram. He died at the residence of Isaac B. Webb, in Pennsbury, on 12, 13, 1874, in the seventieth year of his age.