Hon. J. Ross Bailey.
J. Ross Bailey


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.