E. PRENTISS BAILEY
E. Prentiss BAILEY, editor of the Utica Observer and president of
the
corporation of E. P. Bailey & Co., was born in the town of Manlius,
near Fayetteville, Onondaga county, N. Y., August 15, 1834 and is a
grandson of Rev. Elijah Bailey, of Vermont, an able Methodist preacher
and writer, one of his books, "Bailey on the Trinity," being still
preserved. Mr. Bailey's parents were Wesley and Eunice, (Kinne) Bailey,
his mother's being one of the oldest and most respected families in the
town of Onondaga. Rev. Wesley Bailey spent most of his time as a
journalist, and in this profession achieved no little prominence. He
established the first news paper, called The Luminary, in the village
of Fayetteville. In 1842, at the request of Alvan Stewart and other
prominent Abolitionists, he moved with his family to Utica and founded
a new Abolition paper, called the Liberty Press, to take the place of
the Friend of Man, which had been mobbed. The Liberty Press, under the
'Rev. Mr. Bailey's able guidance as editor and proprietor, gained what
was then regarded as a wide circulation and from the first exerted a
marked influence in its field. He remained in active charge until 1849,
when the name of the paper was changed to the Utica Tetotaller and its
purpose to the temperance cause, in deference to the great
Washingtonian movement which swept over the country during the middle
of this century. Rev. Mr. Bailey was grand Scribe of the Sons of
Temperance when that organization was at its height, and continued
editor of the Tetotaller until he was elected State prison inspector in
1856. His official duties then occupied his time until the close of his
residence in New York State in 1860, when he removed to Iowa, where he
died in February, 1891, at the age of eighty-three.
E. Prentiss Bailey received his preliminary education in a private school and Hyde's Academy of Fayetteville, and in 1842 came with his father's family to Utica, where he has ever since resided. Here he continued his studies in the Advanced school and in Barrett's Latin Grammar School, and when twelve years of age entered his father's office to learn the printer's trade. He remained with his father, acquiring a practical knowledge of the business, until 1853, when he was invited to accept a position in the office of the Utica Daily. Observer, then published by De Witt C. Grove and edited by John B. Miller. Mr. Bailey's duties embraced those of reporter, telegraph editor, and general all round journalist, and that he discharged them to the satisfaction of a11 concerned is evident from the responsibilities subsequently placed upon him. In 1857 Mr. Miller was appointed by President Buchanan U. S. consul to Hamburg, and thereafter for nearly ten years Mr. Bailey was the only person employed on the Observer. During this period he performed nearly all the reportorial and editorial work, a task almost incomprehensible in this age of specialists. In 1867 he purchased an interest in the paper, and with Mr. Grove formed the firm of Grove & Bailey, which continued the publication until 1875, when the firm was succeeded by a corporation bearing the same name, with Col. Theodore P. Cook as stockholder and secretary. The relations of Messrs. Grove and Bailey were most felicitous from December, 1853, to September, 1883, a continuous period of nearly thirty years, and ceased only because of the fatal illness of Mr. Grove, who died in New York city in March 1884. In 1883 the corporate name of the firm was changed to E. P. Bailey & Co., which still continues, the executive officers at this time being E. Prentiss Bailey, president; Thomas F. Clarke, vice-president; and Lansing C. Bailey, secretary. In March, 1884, the most destructive fire that Utica has ever known included the Observer office and plant, which stood on the site now occupied by the Martin block on Genesee street. This was a serious blow, but the enterprising owners quickly recovered and purchased a suitable lot in the rear of and adjoining the government building, whereon the present handsome brick structure was erected and occupied solely by the Observer the same year.
Mr. Bailey's career in the field of journalism, either as printer, reporter, or editor, was appointed postmaster of Utica and held the office until February 1891, or nearly four years, one-half of the time under President Harrison and Postmaster General Wanamaker. On Governor Flower's reorganization of the State Civil Service Commission Mr. Bailey was appointed a commissioner and became president of the board, resigning December 31, 1895. In March, 1896, President Cleveland ended a long local contention by again appointing him postmaster of Utica, although he was not at that time a candidate for the office. Mr. Bailey early became identified with the management of the New York State Associated Press and was for four years, beginning with 1887, its president and for many years a member of its executive committee. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for more than thirty years, is a charter member of Faxton Lodge F. & A. M., and a member of Yah-nun-dah-sis Lodge A. & A. S. Rite. For many years, from about 1860, he was a director of the Utica Mechanics' Association and for seven years its president. He was one of the incorporators and is a manager of the Utica Homoeopathic Hospital. Mr. Bailey was married, first, on September 23, 1857, to Miss Julia S. Wetherby, of Dewitt, Onondaga county, who died July 9, 1860, leaving one daughter, now Mrs. Edward H. Wells, of Utica. He was married, second, in Brooklyn, N. Y., on June 24, 1868, to Miss Hannah Chapman, who is vice-president of the Utica Homoeopathic Hospital, and who has long been prominent in charitable and church work in the city. They have had four children: Lansing C., secretary of the corporation of E. P. Bailey & Co. and a member of the editorial staff of the Observer; Clinton Grove, who died in infancy; Prentiss, who is connected with the business department of the Observer; and Bessie Carleton, at home.
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