Camden People - William T. Bailey

WILLIAM T. BAILEY was born in Gloucester County NJ in 1836 to William Bailey and Lynda Denstan Bailey. He married Elizabeth McFarland on November 17, 1859 at the Methodist Episcopal Parsonage in Clarksboro NJ, a few miles south of Woodbury. The Baileys had at least three children, John Leonard Bailey born about 1859, William T. Bailey Jr., born about 1865, and Emmarilla Bailey born about 1869.

By the time the 1870 Census was taken William T. Bailey was living in Camden NJ with his wife and three children. He was then working as a fire and life insurance agent. He would engage in a variety of business pursuits over the next four decades, and was among the leading businessmen in the city.

The 1880 Census shows William T. Bailey owning a home at 203 State Street in North Camden. His next door neighbor at 301 State was Augustus Reeve, the oilcloth manufacturer, and Richard Esterbrook, of the Esterbrook Pen Manufacturing Company, lived at 303 State. Other prominent neighbors were John J. Burleigh at 326 State, William Bleakly at 316 State, and Joseph Troth at 220 State Street. William T. Bailey remained a resident of 203 State Street through the 1880s into the 1890s. By 1896 he had moved to 120 Cooper Street.

William T. Bailey appears in the Camden City Directories in the years 1887 through 1891 in connection with several business. Working out of offices at 106 Market Street, he was a partner with A. B. Nelson in the firm of Bailey & Nelson, engaging in railroad and bridge construction. He was secretary of the Barnegat City Beach Association, with Benjamin F. Archer and Enoch Boice being the other officers; and with Boice and Charles T. Parry he was treasurer of the Staffordville Gravel Company. William T. Bailey also had his own contracting business. Taking part in the great wave of house building that took place in Camden in the late 1870s and 1880s, William T. Bailey in 1888 built and sold rows of homes between North 5th and North 6th Streets, on State, Bailey, Grant, and York Streets. It is highly likely that Bailey Street in North Camden was named by and/or for him.

The 1890-1891 City Directory shows that William T. Bailey and his partners had moved their offices to 301 Market Street, the then newly-opened New Jersey Trust building, better known as the Security Trust building. He also had joined Edward Ambler Armstrong and John J. Burleigh in a new enterprise, the Camden Lighting And Heating Company, with offices 40 North Front Street. Another Bailey business was the Camden Storage Warehouse Company, whose building was destroyed by fire in May of 1904.

The Home for the Aged and Infirm of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the County of Camden, State of New Jersey, was incorporated February 3, 1890. It was formally opened April 15, 1890. It was furnished complete at 531 York street, Camden, N. J., with Auxiliaries from eight churches, as follows: Centenary, Tabernacle, Third Street, Broadway, Wiley, Union, Haddonfield and Gloucester M. E. Churches. Mr. William T. Bailey of Centenary M. E. Church, donated the rent, amounting to $20 per month, toward the fund for a permanent building. During the first year nine old ladies became members of the Home.

Elizabeth Bailey passed away on September 25, 1896. William T. Bailey married Jessie Haberstrom on March 25, 1898. William T. Bailey passed away on October 31, 1908.

	Philadelphia Inquirer September 4, 1888

Thomas Dudley - Isaac Shreeve - William T. Bailey - Christopher A. Bergen Isaac Githens - George Barrett - Frank Welch - Howland Croft - Samuel Bakley David Freeman Sr. - Albion Lane Christopher Mines Jr. - William Ireton Howard Lee - Amos R. Dease - John Brothers - James Hewitt - John C. Edwards Malachi D. Cornish - J.Willard Somers - Frank C. Somers - John Wells - William H. Day Dilwyn Pettit - J. Milton Powell - George Denny - Everett Ackley - Samuel M. Gaul Joseph Brown - Frederick Parker - John H. Milton - David Rankin - Samuel Roach James Brown - Isaac Robinson - William K. Price - Reuben Gaskill John W. Everman - Samuel H. Mourey - William H. Smith Herman Heimbold - Thomas Watson - E. Thompson