Chittenden County

BAILEY, Benjamin Franklin

Vermont Historical Magazine, No XI, October 1867, pp 645-646

Benjamin Franklin BAILEY, a distinguished lawyer of the Chittenden County 
Bar, was born in 1796 in Guildhall, Essex County, Vermont. Circumstances 
compelled him to earn his own livelihood in early youth in New Hampshire. He 
returned to Vermont and labored at Peacham [Caledonia County, Vermont], and 
at the Academy there fitted himself for college. He was graduated at the 
University of Vermont in 1818, in a class of which Jacob MAECK, Esq., is a 
survivor. During the vacation of his collegiate course he taught school, and 
in Grand Isle [Grand Isle County, Vermont] became acquainted with the lady 
who, in after years, united her fortune with his. Immediately after his 
graduation he was appointed tutor in the University of Vermont, in which 
position he was succeeded, in 1819, by the late Hon. George Bradford SHAW. 
He studied law at Burlington in the office of Griswold & Follett, and was 
admitted to practice.

A. D. 1821. He rose rapidly in his profession and was appointed State 
attorney for the county of Chittenden in 1823, 1824, 1825, and 1826. He 
wrote a series of spicy political articles for the "Burlington Sentinel" in 
favor of Hon. Cornelius P. Van NESS for U. S. Senator, under the odd and 
inelegant signature of Simon SQUIZZLE. From 1825 to 1829, both inclusive, he 
ably represented the town of Burlington in the General Assembly. He usually 
served on the Judiciary Committee, having among other associates on committee 
Robert B. BATES of Middlebury, James BELL of Walden, Seth CUSHMAN of 
Guildhall, Jacob COLLAMER of Royalton, Samuel ELLIOTT of Brattleboro, and 
William UPHAM of Montpelier. In 1827 he was associated with William HALL of 
Rockingham, Jacob COLLAMER of Royalton, Ephraim PADDOCK of St. Johnsbury, and 
Charles Kilborn WILLIAMS of Rutland, as Commissioners for Common Schools; and 
was for four successive years re-elected to said office by the General 
Assembly. After Mr. BAILEY had been in practice a while, the Hon. Geo. 
Perkins MARSH came to Burlington from Woodstock and entered into 
co-partnership with him, under the style of Bailey & Marsh, which partnership 
was continued until Mr. [Benjamin Franklin] BAILEY's death at Burlington 
[Chittenden County, Vermont] on 23 May 1832.

Mr. BAILEY's peculiar talents as a lawyer consisted in his easy address and 
ability as a jury advocate. He was an earnest, fluent and forcible speaker 
as well to the court as to the jury, and his success in business was 
commensurate with his industry and talents. At the time of his death he was 
the candidate of the democratic party for Congress in opposition to the late 
Heman ALLEN and Truman GALUSHA.

In June 1822, he [Benjamin Franklin BAILEY] was married to Catherine F, HYDE, 
of Grand Isle [Grand Isle County, Vermont], daughter of the late Jedediah 
HYDE, Esq., who survives him with their two children: (1) Marcia, wife of 
Louis FOLLETT, Esq., of Burlington; and (2) George Franklin BAILEY, Esq., an 
attorney who is practicing his profession with ability and success at Chicago 
[Cook County], Illinois, where the widow [Mrs. Catherine F. BAILEY] now 
resides.

Soon after the decease of Mr. BAILEY, the "Burlington Sentinel" contained an 
obituary notice of his death of which the following is an extract: "The 
prominent stations occupied by Mr. BAILEY as a member of the bar, attorney of 
the court, and representative of Burlington in the State Legislature, and the 
talents and devotion to his trusts displayed by him as an advocate and public 
officer, strongly attached to him the confidence and respect of the 
community, and give poignancy to its unavailing regrets at the early and 
afflictive termination of his life, at a moment when the anticipations of his 
friends as to his future and more extensive usefulness were full of 
brightness and promise. In his private relations few men have exhibited more 
amiable dispositions or contributed more largely to the happiness of those to 
whom those relations were sustained. Possessing a heart warmed with 
sympathies which shed the kindliest presence on the domestic and social 
circles as a brother, a husband, a neighbor, and friend, few men practiced 
with more assiduity the charities which enshrine those names to the memory of 
bereaved affection. Though taken away in the midst of life, yet his friends 
have the rich consolation that to the eye of Christian faith and charity his 
last days were his best days; for through Divine Grace, he was enabled to lay 
hold of the hopes of the Gospel, and in humble reliance upon the merits of 
his Redeemer, to commit his soul to a faithful Creator." [This biography was 
authored by George F. HOUGHTON, Esq.]

Submitted by Cathy Kubly