Hon. J. Ross Bailey. In
1912 the citizens of Hughes County chose one of the most capable
younger members of the local bar to the office of county judge. Judge
Bailey is now serving his second term in that office and his
administration has been marked by
progressiveness and efficiency in all departments at the same time by
proper economy of resources, and has been of special benefit to the
fiscal welfare of the county.
Judge Bailey is a
graduate in law from the Texas University Law School, and has been in
practice in Oklahoma for the past nine years. He was born at Lindale
in Smith County, Texas, November 16, 1884, a son of J. B. and Emily
(Copeland) Bailey. His father was born in Smith County, Texas, in
December, 1850, while his mother was born near Chattanooga,
Tennessee, in 1852. She was reared in Texas, and both parents are
still living at Lindale, where the father is a farmer and fruit
grower, and has long been actively interested in local politics. For
fifteen years he was superintendent of the Convict Farm in Smith
County. Judge Bailey is the oldest of six children. His sister Stella
is the widow of Leslie Sikes and lives at home with her parents. Rena
is the wife of Dr. J. T. Landum of Holdenville, Oklahoma; Lurlene is
the wife of Sid Lowe of Holdenville; W. S. Bailey lives in Lindale;
J. B. Jr. is at home with his parents.
J. Ross Bailey grew
up on his father’s farm in Smith County, Texas, and lived there until
1900. In April of that year he graduated from the high school at
Lindale and soon afterward entered the University of Texas, beginning
with the fall term of 1900. At the university he pursued both the
academic and the law courses, and in June, 1907, was graduated with
the well earned degrees Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Law. In
the fall of 1907, coming to Oklahoma, he was admitted to practice at
Chickasha, and for one year was an agent in the United States Indian
service.
In December, 1909,
Judge Bailey moved to Holdenville and for a year and a half was
deputy county attorney under W. P. Langston. He then became a member
of the law firm of Crump, Skinner & Bailey, and his
qualifications as an attorney were quickly recognized. In November,
1912, he was elected county judge of Hughes County, beginning his
official duties January 1, 1913. In 1914 be was re-elected and has
now served more than a year of his second term. Judge Bailey has been
a democrat ever since casting his first vote. In
Masonry he has attained the thirty-second
degree of Scottish Rite and belongs to the Indian Consistory No. 2 at
McAlester.