Member Biography

Abraham Baily 

Seal
Sessions Office Position District Party
1814-1815         Federalist
1815-1816       2 Federalist
1816-1817       2 Federalist
1817-1818       2 Federalist

COUNTIES: Chester, Delaware  


Biography

09/05/1760 - 08/13/1825


(Federalist2) Chester and Delaware Counties 1815-1818

Early Life:

Doctor Abraham Baily, born September 5, 1760, West Bradford, Chester County, Pennsylvania, British Colonial America; son of Joel and Elizabeth Marshall Bailey; captain, Whisky Rebellion, 1794; married first, Phebe Carpenter, 1789, six children; married, Rachel Carpenter, 1802, four children; War of 1812; elected, Federalist, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1808-1813; elected, Federalist, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1814-1818; appointed, justice of the peace; died, August 13, 1825, Marshallton, West Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania; interment, Bradford Friends Burying Ground, Marshallton, West Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Early Career:

Received an English and classical education from teachers employed in the family. He studied medicine under Doctor Nicholas Way, of Wilmington Delaware, and was a fellow student with his cousin, Doctor Moses Marshall. While a student he had an opportunity of becoming practically familiar with surgery immediately after the disastrous battle of Brandywine, in 1777. He attended lectures at the medial school of Philadelphia but took no degree. Shortly after leaving lectures Doctor Baily went as surgeon in a privateer vessel-of-war, and during the cruise visited France. On his return he engaged in the practice of medicine at his native place, until about the year 1789, when, in company with Humphrey Hill and Cadwallader Evans, under the firm name of Baily, Hill & Evans. Engaged, iron business, Andover Works, in Sussex County, New Jersey.

Captain, marched his troop over the Alleghany Mountains, to quell the so-called Whisky Rebellion, 1794.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Federalist, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1808-1813. 

Elected, Federalist, Pennsylvania State Senate, no district number, Chester and Delaware Counties, 1814-1815. 

Elected, Federalist, Pennsylvania State Senate, 2nd district, Chester and Delaware Counties, 1815-1818. 

Appointed, justice of the peace, held position until death.

Legacy:

Married, Phebe Carpenter, second marriage, Rachel Carpenter, 1802, both daughters of John and Hannah Carpenter, of West Bradford. 

When General Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Lafayette visited the Brandywine battleground and West Chester, July 26, 1825, Doctor Baily was one of the committee appointed to escort him, and being on horseback nearly all day, occasioned an irritation of the neck of the bladder, which produced a painful and obstinate retention of urine and inflammation of the parts, that resulted in his death, August 13, 1825, at the age of nearly sixty-five years.

Cited:

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members B"Wilkes University Election Statistics ProjectWilkes University.

History of Chester County, Pennsylvania with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches. J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope. 1881. 

Dr Abraham Baily (1760-1825) - Find a Grave Memorial