PIONEER SETTLER BURIED DEC. 16

John C. Bailey, Charter Member of Herman Baptist Church

CHARTER MEMBER OF LANDMARK LODGE, A.F. & A.M.

John Calvin Bailey, son of Turner and Lucy Bradford Bailey, was born at Morton, Wisconsin April 28, 1853. He departed this life December 13, 1947 at the Nebraska Masonic Home in Plattsmouth, Nebraska at the age of 94 years, 7 months and 17 days.

He was the youngest of ten children, and a direct descendant of Governor Bradford of Massachusetts.

The family came to Nebraska in 1866 when he was a small boy 13 years of age, and settled on a farm south of Herman. After a Sioux Indian raid in 1867, they and the other settlers fled to Ft. Calhoun, later returning to Herman. He was associated in business in Herman with D. A. Harper for several years, and was Postmaster for nearly twenty years.

In 1877 he was married to Clara Bradford Kyle, who preceded him in death on May 19, 1924.

He was the last living charter member of the Herman Baptist Church.

He joined Washington Lodge No. 21, A.F. and A.M., at Blair, and was the first Worshipful Master and the last living charter member of the Herman Baptist 222, A.F. and A.M., at Herman, transferring his membership here when Landmark Lodge was chartered. On May 28, 1937 he was presented the Bronze Jordan Medal by Landmark Lodge, and on January 12, 1942 he was presented the gold fifty year Masonic button.

For several years he was in poor health, and on October 9, 1944 he entered the infirmary at the Nebraska Masonic Home at Plattsmouth where he resided until his death.

He is survived by two nieces, Mrs. Evelyn Hicks of Phoenix, Arizona; Mrs. Nettie Denny of Trimble, Missouri; one nephew, Tom Bradford of St. Louis, Missouri; and a cousin, Will Brooks of Ft. Collins, Colorado, besides a host of friends.

That he was a community minded, progressive, Christian pioneer was evidenced by his being interested in the organization of the church and the Masonic lodge in his community. His cheerful, friendly disposition which made him known and loved in his community was always present during his illness at the hospital.

His passing removes one of the very last of the real pioneers of Herman and Washington County.

Funeral services were conducted at the Herman Baptist Church on December 16, Rev. Lynn Taylor of Tekamah officiating. Graveside rites were conducted at the Herman cemetery by the member of Landmark Lodge No. 222, A.F. and A.M.

#2 This is an article about John when he was alive.

6 Jan., 1938 - Herman Record - John Bailey

HERMAN PIONEER

CAME HERE IN '58

JOHN BAILEY, ONE OF FEW PIONEERS REMAINING, CAME HERE AS A BOY

Nebraskans tend to give the laudatory title of "pioneer" to any respectable oldster whose memory goes back beyond the nineties. Actually, the aristocracy of true pioneers grows narrower every year, and only a few Nebraskans today can claim to have moved here in the first pioneer immigration of the fifties.

One such is John Bailey of Herman. He came to Nebraska territory in 1858, and is today one of the state's oldest residents. At this season his thoughts turn to a Nebraska Christmas in 1858, shortly after he, as a child, came from Wisconsin with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Turner Bailey, and their five other children.

They crossed the Missouri at DeSoto on a crude ferry, a long, wide, flat boat with huge oars on either side and a guide oar at the end. On the Iowa side the boat was pulled half a mile upstream by horses. Then it was cut loose and shoved into the current, to land on the Nebraska side at DeSoto.

Mr. and Mrs. Bailey brought all their possessions with them, consisting of two yoke of oxen, one horse, a few household goods in a democrat wagon.

Mr. Bailey traded his one horse for college scrip. This scrip was the type of land grant given by the government to young men who graduated from college, and was good for 160 acres of land.

The house on the Bailey farm near Herman was moved there by Mr. Bailey, Tommy Hungate and Jim Stewart, both of Cuming City. The men hitched seven yoke of oxen to the house, put skids under it and moved it to the farm. Their closest neighbors to the south were six miles away. There were no houses to the west at all.

The farm was covered with prairie grass, some growing six or seven feet tall. Each year the Indians (Omahas) would set fire to this grass, then ride their ponies ahead of the fire and shoot the deer that would try to escape the fire.

The first spring in Washington County, Mr. Bailey cleared weed land near the creek. This amounted to about 10 acres and he planted yellow corn which yielded from 80 to 90 bushels per acre. The following spring he cleared more land and planted 20 acres per pound of wheat and 40 acres of corn.

The grain was sold at DeSoto. It had to be sacked in two-bushel bags, which were shipped to St. Louis. Corn was worth 60c to 70c a bushel, and wheat about $1 per bushel Up to the beginning of the civil war the market remained good but when the war began the market became inactive, due to little travel on the Missouri River. Up to this time it was not unusual to see 10 to 15 boats on the river each day.

Note: Definition of democrat wagon

: a light farm wagon or ranch wagon that has two or more seats and is usually drawn by two horse

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

Find a Grave Memorial #90048428