Bailey, Chester A.

CHESTER A. BAILEY

     Chester A. Bailey, engaged in the real estate and insurance business in New Haven, was born on the 19th of June, 1858, in Bethany, New Haven county, a son of Selden and Susan (Dorman) Bailey. The father, also born in this state, was descended from one of the old Connecticut families, the ancestral line being traced back to Chatham Bailey, who was of English birth. Nathan Bailey, the grandfather, was a veteran of the War of 1812. Selden Bailey devoted his life to agricultural pursuits, which he successfully followed to the time of his death in 1860 when he was forty-eight years of age. His wife was a daughter of Daniel Dorman, also a member of an old English family founded in Connecticut during the early period of the colonization of this state. Mrs. Bailey passed away in 1892 at the age of seventy-four years.
     Chester A. Bailey, the youngest in a family of nine children, was educated in the public schools of Hamden and in early life began work in a sawmill, starting out to earn his own living when but fourteen years of age. In fact he was the support of the family and provided a livelihood for his mother and two sisters. For nine years he engaged in sawmill work and with his savings during that period he purchased a small stock of groceries and opened a store in Waterbury. From the beginning the new enterprise prospered and was successfully continued for fourteen years. He then sold his business and removed to New Haven, where he also conducted a grocery store for five years. In 1905 he disposed of his store to turn his attention to the real estate and the insurance business, in which he has since continued, and in the intervening period he has negotiated many important transfers and has made for himself a prominent and creditable position in real estate circles of the city. He belongs to the real estate board of New Haven and to the Real Estate Association, being treasurer of the latter. He is also a member of the Chambers of Commerce of New Haven and of West Haven and is interested in the purposes of these organizations, cooperat-ing heartily in their plans and projects for the public good.
     In 1884 in Waterbury, Connecticut, Mr. Bailey was married to Miss Katie Forbes, a native of Bolton, Connecticut, and a daughter of Horace and Maria Forbes, representatives of old Connecticut families. Mrs. Bailey passed away September 16, 1896, and Mr. Bailey has since wedded Harriet A. Kilborn, of Derby, Connecticut, a daughter of Hiram and Adelia Kilborn. Her father is now deceased, and Mrs. Kilborn makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Bailey.
     In his political views Mr. Bailey is an earnest republican and fraternally is connected with the Royal Arcanum and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is an active and earnest member of Christ church of West Haven and is now serving as one of its vestrymen and as treasurer of special funds. His has been an active, useful and well spent life. He early assumed heavy duties and responsibilities in connection with the support of the family and soon learned to make the best possible use of his time and opportunities. He learned, too, to discriminate readily between the essential and the non-essential in business affairs. With the passing years he has steadily progressed, each year finding him ahead of the position which he occupied at a similar period the previous year. Diligence and determination have ever characterized him, and his successful achievements should serve to inspire and courage others who have to start out in life as he did — empty handed.
 
 


Modern History of New Haven
and 
Eastern New Haven County

Illustrated

Volume II

New York – Chicago
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 
1918

pgs 483 - 484

 
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COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES
pages / text are copyrighted by
Elaine Kidd O'Leary & 
Anne Taylor-Czaplewski
May 2002