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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