William Clark Bailey

Title

William Clark Bailey

Description

W. C. Bailey was the first station agent at the Greer's Depot in 1873; the founder and first Worshipful Master of the Bailey Masonic Lodge; and he was the first intendent (Mayor) of Greers.

birthday

October 16, 1833

Birthplace

South Carolina

Death Date

October 16, 1882

Occupation

merchant, teacher, railroad depot agent, mayor

Biographical Text

William Clark Bailey was the son of Hugh Bailey and Elizabeth Bridges. He married Victoria Cunningham.

In the mid-1800s, what is now Greer was part of a large estate owned by Hugh Bailey. His property ranged from a northern area that is now Greer down to "Bailey's Crossroads" at the intersection of South Buncombe Road with Suber Road / Pleasant Drive, a community then known as Pleasant Grove (note the nearby Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, which was founded by Bailey's father Hugh among others). The Bailey home was located at the crossroads. William was the youngest of 13 siblings.

In June, 1854, he was appointed postmaster of the Pleasant Grove post office. He remained in that position until September of 1866.

By April of 1857, at the age of 24, William Bailey was working as a merchant selling a variety of goods at the "old and well-known stand at Bailey Cross Roads." This included fancy and staple dry goods, groceries, crockery, hardware, cutlery, boots and shoes, clothing, hats, and much more. He advertised this business in the Greenville Enterprise.

That same month, April 16, 1857, he married Anne Wallace of Spartanburg. They had a daughter, R. Annie Elizabeth Bailey, on July 13, 1860. Sadly, Anne died a month later on August 19, and their daughter died the following year on November 12, 1861.

The 1860 federal slave census shows him listed as the slave owner over two enslaved men, ages 27 and 14.

On September 19, 1865, Bailey married Victoria Cunningham. Their first daughter, Etta, was born October 1866. In the following years they had five more children: Estelle, who died tragically in a fire at age 6; twins Edgar and Edwin (Edgar worked cotton mills in N.C., and Edwin became president of Greer Bank & Trust); Fannie, who married T.E. Smith, a future mayor of Greer; and Victoria “Bettie,” who married William Norman Watson.

In January of 1866, Bailey hired a Freedman named Carter Smith and his wife; Carter would work the farm, his wife would cook, and he would receive half the crop in trade.

In March, 1869, Bailey was voted in as a selectman of the Chick Springs Township. Later that year, he was appointed as a delegate to the State Survivor's Association, which was (in part) responsible for generating archive rolls of all South Carolina participants in the Civil War.

The 1870 census lists the William Bailey household as including Victoria and two daughters, Etta and Estelle. William's mother was living with them. Bailey's occupation is listed as school teacher, and they had a boarding house. Boarding at the house are merchant Thomas Cunningham (age 28, possibly related to Victoria) and Josephine Cunningham (20); a physician, D. Westmoreland (25); George Wright (23), male noted as Black, not having gone to school, and illiterate; Alick Sherman (25), male marked as Mulatto; Sarah Benson (23), female noted as Mulatto and occupation listed as “Cook” (perhaps of the boarding house); and Perry Davis (12), male, marked as Black.

In August of 1870, a meeting was held in Greenville to appoint delegates to a Columbia convention in order to nominate a candidate for congress, plus candidates for the legislature and county offices. William Bailey was among these delegates and was appointed as secretary of the convention. Bailey was clearly a respected leader in Greenville County and was appointed to other positions. In October 1872 he was the foreman of a Grand Jury which presented Greenville County with a list of improvements that needed to be made.

In January of 1872, an advertisement appears in the Greenville Enterprise for the sale of Hugh Bailey's land known as Bailey’s Cross Roads, divided into five tracts. "Mr. W.C. Bailey, a trustee along with O.A. Pickle, will show the land to interested parties" — Bailey being on the property, and Pickle being in Greenville. O.A. Pickle was William's brother-in-law.

Another brother-in-law, James T. Blakely, had purchased the northern part of the estate in 1844 from Elizabeth Bailey, Hugh's wife, after Hugh died. He built a house, barn, and outbuildings on the Old State Road (now Main Street) in what is now Greer — it was located where Poinsett now crosses Main, almost exactly where the Truist Bank building is now located.

In December 1863, Blakely sold the property to W.F. Thackston, for $4,000, reportedly in Confederate currency. In 1869, Manning Greer bought the land from Thackston.

The Atlanta & Richmond Air-Line Railway purchased land for a depot from Manning Greer in February, 1871. The railroad began construction of a depot in 1873, which they named Greer's Depot. In September of that year, the "Panic of 1873" resulted in the bankruptcy of many railroads including the A&R. The defunct line was reorganized into the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railway, and the depot completed construction in October; trains began running soon after. William Bailey was hired by the railroad to be the depot agent.

At that moment in time no one lived in the area that is now downtown Greer; the depot was in rural farmland, located near where the tracks crossed Old State Road. There was that single uninhabited house which had been James Blakely's. William Bailey and his family might have moved into the "Blakely Place," which would have made them the first inhabitants of what would become Greers.

Because there was no town yet (and thus no people or businesses to serve), Greer’s depot was a “flag station” — meaning the train would only stop at the depot if the agent flagged them down. Bailey used a signal lantern for this purpose (which is now in the GHM collection, item 1996.10.2).

In 1876 the fifteen vote-eligible residents of the village voted to charter a town; they elected the first town council of Dr. H. V. Westmoreland and W. A. Hill, who wrote the first bylaws. William Bailey was voted intendent (mayor). On March 25, 1876, Act No. 183 of the South Carolina Legislature declared that the “town shall be called and known by the name of Greer’s.” Greers was officially a town, and W.C. Bailey was its first mayor. His daughter Estelle died that same year.

In January, 1881, Bailey was appointed as a trustee for the examination of teachers at the opening of schools for Chick Springs Township. That July, he was elected as a delegate to the Stockholders’ Convention of the Greenville and Laurens Railroad, representing the taxpayers of Greenville County. In August he received a similar election of delegation. Personal correspondence from this time period references his depot job as well as continuing to sell merchandise.

Another side of Bailey's life was as a Masonic leader. The Bailey Masonic Lodge 146 A.F.M. was organized by W.C. Bailey at Bailey’s Cross Roads on November 17, 1868, with 23 charter members. In 1868 Bailey was, all at the same time, Worshipful Master of Recovery Lodge 31 in Greenville; Reidville Lodge 102; and Bailey's Lodge. The Bailey 146 lodge moved to Greers in September, 1876. Its first temple cost $427.22 and was reportedly located above Smith & James, but this is questionable; the S&J building didn’t exist yet. In 1870, the lodge was called to order. A procession formed and marched a quarter-mile to Mount Tabor church, where The Right Grand Worthy Master, Blake, from Spartanburg, proceeded to dedicate, consecrate, and install the lodge and new officers, including W.C. Bailey as Worshipful Master. The Bailey Lodge is still active today.

William Bailey died of an illness on October 16, 1882; he was young, only 49 years of age.

Bibliography

• The Greenville Enterprise, Apr 9, 1857, Page 2
• 1860 Census, Place: Milford, Greenville, South Carolina; Roll: M653_1220; Page: 449
• U.S., Appointments of U. S. Postmasters, 1832-1971
• The Greenville Enterprise, March 31, 1869, Page 2
• The Greenville Enterprise, Nov. 17, 1869, Page 2
• 1870 Census, Place: Chick Springs, Greenville, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1498; Page: 524B
• The Greenville Enterprise, Aug. 3 1870, Page 2
• The Greenville Enterprise, Jan. 3, 1872, Page 2
• The Greenville Enterprise, Oct. 2, 1872, Page 4
• 1880 Census, Place: Chick Springs, Greenville, South Carolina; Roll: 1230; Page: 267D; Enumeration District: 090
• Greenville Daily News, Jan. 11, 1881, Page 4
• Greenville Daily News, July 6, 1881, Page 4
• Greenville News, March 25, 1976, P. 86
• The Greenville Enterprise, April 27, 1870, Page 2
• Personal Correspondence of Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham Bailey, Greer Heritage Museum

Relation

Railroad Signal Lantern

Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham Bailey