John Eldon Bailey

As printed in 1910

JOHN ELDON BAILEY.

Whether the elements of success in life are innate attributes of the individual or whether they are quickened by a process of circumstantial development, it is impossible to clearly determine. Yet the study of a successful life, whatever the field of endeavor, is none the less interesting and profitable by reason of existence of this same uncertainty. So much in excess of those of successes are the records of failures or semi-failures, that one is con strained to attempt an analysis in either case and to determine the measure of causation in an approximate way. But in studying the life history of John Eldon Bailey, a well-known citizen of Maryville, we find many qualities in his makeup that always gain definite success in any career if properly directed, as his has evidently been done, which has resulted in good to himself, his family and to others with whom he has come in contact.

Mr. Bailey was born April 1 6, 1869, in Washington, Iowa, the son of Samuel P. and Lavinia (Dunlap) Bailey. The father was born March 3, 1837, in Morgan county, Ohio, where he grew to maturity and was educated in the early schools of the Buckeye state. He came to Iowa in 1865 and first engaged in the newspaper business; then entered the mercantile business at Center Point, and continued successfully in this line until his death, January 22, 1903. He was a Republican, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and belonged to the Masonic fraternity and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He married Lavinia Dunlap, who was born in Fulton county, Pennsylvania, February 7, 1839, and whose death occurred at Tarkio, Missouri, July 12, 1892.

John E. Bailey was brought to Tarkio, Atchison county, Missouri, when a child and there he grew to manhood and was educated in the public schools. Early in life he turned his attention to the mercantile world and began clerking in a store in Westboro, Atchison county, also clerked in Tarkio, then went to Princeton, this state, and from there to Maryville in 1903, and organized the Maryville Furniture Company, of which he is still secretary and manager and W. H. Lee is president. He has built up an extensive patronage with the town and surrounding country, and his store is widely known, being one of the neatest and best-equipped of its kind in the county, always carefully stocked with an up-to-date line of everything to be found in a modern furniture store, a full line of furniture, sewing machines, kitchen cabinets, wall paper, window shades, etc. Mr. Bailey, in connection with his store, does a large undertaking business, having been licensed by the state board of embalming on June 3, 1907.

Mr. Bailey is a member of the Christian church, belongs to the Masons and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He has won a reputation for honesty in all the relations of life, and his many customers and patrons have remained his friends.

Mr. Bailey was married on June 15, 1892, to Anna E. Frazier, daughter of W. R. and Sarah (Maupin) Frazier, a well-established family of Atchison county, this state. Mrs. Bailey was born September 21, 1876. To this union one child has been born, William Frazier Bailey.

As printed in Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.