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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder | name=Bryant William Bailey | birth_date=July 29, 1868 | birth_place=Winn Parish, Louisiana, USA | death_place= |..."
{{Infobox officeholder
| name=Bryant William Bailey
| birth_date=July 29, 1868
| birth_place=Winn Parish, [[Louisiana]], [[United States|USA]]
| death_place=
| death_date=February 3, 1961 (aged 92)
| office=[[Sheriff]] of Winn Parish, Louisiana
| term_start=June 24, 1908
| term_end=1912
| occupation=[[Business]]man; [[Banker]]<br>
[[Oilman]]; [[Journalist]]
| residence=Winnfield, Louisiana
| spouse=Penelope Dickerson Bailey
| children=Apparently none
| religion=[[Methodist]]
| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Populist Party|Populist]]-returned-Democrat
}}
'''Bryant William Bailey''' (July 29, 1868 – February 3, 1961)<ref name=cemeteryrecords>Winnfield(Louisiana) City Cemetery records.</ref><ref>''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, published by the Louisiana Historical Association, '' lists Bailey's lifespan as 1866 – February 5, 1962.</ref> was a[[Louisiana]] [[business]]man, [[politician]], and [[journalist]] who became a leading figure during the 1890s in the short-lived [[Populist Party]].
==Background==
Bailey was born and briefly educated in Winn Parish to immigrants from [[Georgia]]. In October 1890, he moved from his family property to the seat of government in Winnfield to become the manager of a branch store of the local Farmers Union Cooperative Association. By 1894, he was owner of the Bailey Hotel in Winnfield. In 1902, Bailey drilled the first [[oil]] well in Winn Parish,<ref name=bailey>{{cite web|url=http://genforum.genealogy.com/bailey/messages/9169.html|title=Zachariah and Bryant Bailey|publisher=genforum.genealogy.com|accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref> a year after the first such structure had been undertaken in the state in 1901 near Jennings in Jeff Davis Parish in southwestern Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-louisiana-biography-h/|title=Heywood, Walter Scott|publisher=Louisiana Historical Association: ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography''|accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref>
==Populist Party==
Prior to 1890, like most Louisiana voters at that time, Bailey was a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]]. Thereafter, he joined the Populist Party, which claimed to represent the "common man" against the entrenched "interests." Soon Bailey emerged as a regional leader of the Populists. The party's Louisiana branch was organized on October 2, 1891, at a convention of delegates from seventeen parishes held in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] in Rapides Parish in central Louisiana. In addition to Bailey, another leading Populist at the founding convention was Hardy L. Brian, a native of Grant Parish, then residing in Winnfield.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jga/7.1/sipress.html|author=Joel Sipress|title=A Narrowing of Vision: Hardy L. Brian and the Fate of Louisiana Populism|publisher=historycooperative.org|accessdate=February 4, 2011; material no longer accessible}}</ref>
The national Populists offered their first presidential nominee in 1892, General [[James B. Weaver]] of [[Iowa]], who won four states, mostly in the [[American West]]. From 1893 to 1907,<ref name=bailey/> Bailey edited his ''Winnfield Comrade'' [[newspaper]] in Winn Parish, the ancestral home of the Democratic [[Huey Long|Long]] political faction.<ref name=lahist>{{cite web|url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-louisiana-biography-b/|title=Bailey, Bryant W.|publisher=Louisiana Historical Association: ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography''|accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref><ref>''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'' in its sketch of Bailey uses Elizabeth Daniel, "The Louisiana People's Party," ''Louisiana Historical Quarterly'', XXVI (1943), and William Ivy Hair, ''Bourbonism and Agrarian Protest: Louisiana Politics, 1877-1900'' (1969).</ref> Longism was considered an outgrowth of the early Populist movement; indeed some viewed [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long, Jr.]], as a "radical populist."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ssa.gov/history/hlong1.html|title=History: Huey Long: Every Man a King|publisher=ssa.gov|accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref>
In both 1894 and 1896, when the Populists endorsed the Democratic nominee, [[William Jennings Bryan]] of [[Nebraska]], for [[U.S. President]], Bailey was an unsuccessful candidate for the [[United States House of Representatives]] on the Populist ticket. In 1898, Bailey was the only Populist delegate to the Louisiana State Constitutional Convention held that year in the capital city of [[Baton Rouge]]. He refused to sign the final document, which after ratification remained in effect until 1921.<ref name=lahist/> This Constitution contained the [[grandfather clause]] allowing whites whose fathers or grandfathers were registered to vote as of January 1, 1867, to be exempt from the literacy test otherwise given to potential [[African American]] voters.<ref name=bailey/> The grandfather clause, which spread to other states including [[Oklahoma]], was subsequently struck down in 1915 in the case ''[[Guinn v. United States]]'' as a violation of the [[Fifteenth Amendment]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/G/GU001.html|title=''Guinn v. United States''|date=1915|publisher=digital.library.okstate.edu|accessdate=February 4, 2011; material no longer accessible}}</ref>
==Winnfield civic leader==
By 1904, the Populist Party had disbanded. In 1908, Bailey was elected to a single term as a Democrat to the office of Winn Parish [[sheriff]]. In 1913, after his tenure as sheriff, Bailey began a 20-year stint as vice president and then president<ref name=bailey/> of the Bank of Winnfield.<ref name=lahist/> He worked to establish the Northwest Louisiana Game and Fish Preserve. He obtained state legislative funds to build a dam on Saline Lake near the boundary of Winn and [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] parishes. Bailey worked for improved roads and was partly instrumental in securing the wide city streets of Winnfield. He was influential in removing livestock from municipal streets.<ref name=bailey/>
Bailey was a member of the [[Methodist]] Church and the Masonic lodge. He and his wife, the former Penelope Dickerson (1872-1961), are interred at the Winnfield City Cemetery. Mrs. Bailey died only twenty-two days after the passing of her husband. There is no indication of any children.<ref name=cemeteryrecords/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Bryant W.}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Populists]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Methodists]]
[[Category:Sheriffs]]
| name=Bryant William Bailey
| birth_date=July 29, 1868
| birth_place=Winn Parish, [[Louisiana]], [[United States|USA]]
| death_place=
| death_date=February 3, 1961 (aged 92)
| office=[[Sheriff]] of Winn Parish, Louisiana
| term_start=June 24, 1908
| term_end=1912
| occupation=[[Business]]man; [[Banker]]<br>
[[Oilman]]; [[Journalist]]
| residence=Winnfield, Louisiana
| spouse=Penelope Dickerson Bailey
| children=Apparently none
| religion=[[Methodist]]
| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Populist Party|Populist]]-returned-Democrat
}}
'''Bryant William Bailey''' (July 29, 1868 – February 3, 1961)<ref name=cemeteryrecords>Winnfield(Louisiana) City Cemetery records.</ref><ref>''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, published by the Louisiana Historical Association, '' lists Bailey's lifespan as 1866 – February 5, 1962.</ref> was a[[Louisiana]] [[business]]man, [[politician]], and [[journalist]] who became a leading figure during the 1890s in the short-lived [[Populist Party]].
==Background==
Bailey was born and briefly educated in Winn Parish to immigrants from [[Georgia]]. In October 1890, he moved from his family property to the seat of government in Winnfield to become the manager of a branch store of the local Farmers Union Cooperative Association. By 1894, he was owner of the Bailey Hotel in Winnfield. In 1902, Bailey drilled the first [[oil]] well in Winn Parish,<ref name=bailey>{{cite web|url=http://genforum.genealogy.com/bailey/messages/9169.html|title=Zachariah and Bryant Bailey|publisher=genforum.genealogy.com|accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref> a year after the first such structure had been undertaken in the state in 1901 near Jennings in Jeff Davis Parish in southwestern Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-louisiana-biography-h/|title=Heywood, Walter Scott|publisher=Louisiana Historical Association: ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography''|accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref>
==Populist Party==
Prior to 1890, like most Louisiana voters at that time, Bailey was a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]]. Thereafter, he joined the Populist Party, which claimed to represent the "common man" against the entrenched "interests." Soon Bailey emerged as a regional leader of the Populists. The party's Louisiana branch was organized on October 2, 1891, at a convention of delegates from seventeen parishes held in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] in Rapides Parish in central Louisiana. In addition to Bailey, another leading Populist at the founding convention was Hardy L. Brian, a native of Grant Parish, then residing in Winnfield.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jga/7.1/sipress.html|author=Joel Sipress|title=A Narrowing of Vision: Hardy L. Brian and the Fate of Louisiana Populism|publisher=historycooperative.org|accessdate=February 4, 2011; material no longer accessible}}</ref>
The national Populists offered their first presidential nominee in 1892, General [[James B. Weaver]] of [[Iowa]], who won four states, mostly in the [[American West]]. From 1893 to 1907,<ref name=bailey/> Bailey edited his ''Winnfield Comrade'' [[newspaper]] in Winn Parish, the ancestral home of the Democratic [[Huey Long|Long]] political faction.<ref name=lahist>{{cite web|url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-louisiana-biography-b/|title=Bailey, Bryant W.|publisher=Louisiana Historical Association: ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography''|accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref><ref>''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'' in its sketch of Bailey uses Elizabeth Daniel, "The Louisiana People's Party," ''Louisiana Historical Quarterly'', XXVI (1943), and William Ivy Hair, ''Bourbonism and Agrarian Protest: Louisiana Politics, 1877-1900'' (1969).</ref> Longism was considered an outgrowth of the early Populist movement; indeed some viewed [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long, Jr.]], as a "radical populist."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ssa.gov/history/hlong1.html|title=History: Huey Long: Every Man a King|publisher=ssa.gov|accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref>
In both 1894 and 1896, when the Populists endorsed the Democratic nominee, [[William Jennings Bryan]] of [[Nebraska]], for [[U.S. President]], Bailey was an unsuccessful candidate for the [[United States House of Representatives]] on the Populist ticket. In 1898, Bailey was the only Populist delegate to the Louisiana State Constitutional Convention held that year in the capital city of [[Baton Rouge]]. He refused to sign the final document, which after ratification remained in effect until 1921.<ref name=lahist/> This Constitution contained the [[grandfather clause]] allowing whites whose fathers or grandfathers were registered to vote as of January 1, 1867, to be exempt from the literacy test otherwise given to potential [[African American]] voters.<ref name=bailey/> The grandfather clause, which spread to other states including [[Oklahoma]], was subsequently struck down in 1915 in the case ''[[Guinn v. United States]]'' as a violation of the [[Fifteenth Amendment]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/G/GU001.html|title=''Guinn v. United States''|date=1915|publisher=digital.library.okstate.edu|accessdate=February 4, 2011; material no longer accessible}}</ref>
==Winnfield civic leader==
By 1904, the Populist Party had disbanded. In 1908, Bailey was elected to a single term as a Democrat to the office of Winn Parish [[sheriff]]. In 1913, after his tenure as sheriff, Bailey began a 20-year stint as vice president and then president<ref name=bailey/> of the Bank of Winnfield.<ref name=lahist/> He worked to establish the Northwest Louisiana Game and Fish Preserve. He obtained state legislative funds to build a dam on Saline Lake near the boundary of Winn and [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] parishes. Bailey worked for improved roads and was partly instrumental in securing the wide city streets of Winnfield. He was influential in removing livestock from municipal streets.<ref name=bailey/>
Bailey was a member of the [[Methodist]] Church and the Masonic lodge. He and his wife, the former Penelope Dickerson (1872-1961), are interred at the Winnfield City Cemetery. Mrs. Bailey died only twenty-two days after the passing of her husband. There is no indication of any children.<ref name=cemeteryrecords/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Bryant W.}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Populists]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Methodists]]
[[Category:Sheriffs]]