The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Memorial record for this Patriot found in Find-A-Grave Jan 2022. Burial Unknown
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Author: Mark Andrew Davis
William Bailey was born about 1696 in Scotland. It is difficult to prove his parentage due to the common name in Scotland at the time. When he died, he left a wife named Anna. There are no contemporary marriage records and her surname is unproven. The ages of the children listed in his Last Will and Testament are difficult to determine, so the best estimates come from early census records.
Zachariah was born on 14 Dec 1756 [gravestone] and married Winefred Coleman.
William was born between 1761 and 1770.
James between 1756 and 1774
David [died before 1787]
John before 1775.
Marjory [birthdate unproven]
Mary [birthdate unproven]
Lucy [birthdate unproven]
Lavinia [birthdate unproven]
Before addressing his military record during the American Revolution, it is important to note that William turned 80 years old in 1776. This fact alone could be enough to raise red flags on the legitimacy of his service. However, after reading his obituary [below] we can better understand this man’s physical ability to perform the hard duty required.
In the files of the South Carolina Archives is a folder of documents related to an account audit of claims growing out of the American Revolution. Folder 232 has William’s claim for his service as a Militia Sergeant in Charleston during the War. There is very little detail about his actual service, other than the original records were from Colonel [Robert] Anderson. Anderson was made a Colonel in 1781 and served until the end of the war in 1783. If William was a Sergeant during the years Anderson was a Colonel, he would have been in his mid-80s.
His obituary reads:
Died. At his plantations on Little River, in Laurens county, on the 16th of June last, William Bailey, aged 95. He was born in Scotland, came to America when young, lived in the country in which he died 26 years immediately preceding his death, and enjoyed the free use and exercise of his reason to the last; looked after his own plantation assisted in planting his corn this crop; he traveled to Georgia along last summer, on a visit, was to have done the same by appointment. What rendered him peculiarly estimable among his neighbors, was, his long life was intent in doing good, as time and opportunity offered. He has left a brother in the same county, aged 85, who perfects business with as much ease and dispatch as men, in general, do who are past the prime of life.
A notice in the same paper indicated that William’s estate was being administered by Thomas Baily Jr. of Maryland. His Last Will and Testament was made in Laurens County, South Carolina on 27 January 1787. In it, he recognizes his “beloved wife Anna,” children William, James, David, John, Zachariah, Marjory, Mary, Lucey, Leuviny, and grandson William Bailey [son of David].
His place of burial is unrecorded but can be assumed to be in Laurens County, South Carolina.
Sources:
Probate Records of Laurens County, South Carolina, Book A1, page 48.
City Gazette Friday, 23 September 1791, South Carolina, Charleston, Vol IX, #1890, page 2.
Accounts Audited of Claims Growing Out of the Revolution, Archives ID: Series: S108092 Reel: 4 Frame: 545, folder 232, William Bailey
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No record for this Patriot found in DAR Genealogical Databases - Jan 2022