The Bayley Family

The Bayley-Bailey Family in America

The knowledge that we as Griffins are descendants of the earliest Americans is a great legacy one we should all be proud of. One of the family lines that is interwoven in our history is that of the Bailey family. James Bailey served as Pastor in Killingworth at a time when that position may have been the most important in town. In such a role he had an important interaction that all the families that eventually ended up as part of the Griffin heritage. In addition a granddaughter, Mercy, became the wife of Samuel Griffin.

The story of the Bayleys later Americanized to Bailey begins with John Baileys’ welcome to America, as he was ship wrecked on the Ship Angel Gabriel on the coast of Maine in 1635. He was a weaver by trade. In America he made his living primarily by fishing with the sole right of fishing on the Powwow River being granted to him provided he supply the town with a portion of his catch. He built a solitary cabin on 50 acres on the edge of the wilderness. He left a wife, son and two daughters in England but brought his son John to America with him. He was never able to reunite his family. His death is recorded in 1651 in Newbury, MA as old John.

John Bailey Jr. married Eleanor Emery in 1640 in Newbury, MA. History declares him a weaver and husbandman. They had 10 children. The original records of Newbury record the birth of a son. ‘James, son of John b. Sept 2, 1650.’ The family made their home on the Merrimac River across from Carr Island.

The Bailey family was prosperous enough to send their son James to Harvard where he studied receiving a Divinity Degree and studied medicine graduating in 1669. He married Mary Carr Sept 17, 1672 in Newbury, Ma. Together they had a family of nine with son John born Sept 29, 1676.

The first Carr in America was George, son of William Carr, 10th Baron of Fennerhurst. He arrived in 1632 and married Elizabeth Oliver. They lived on Carr’s Island in the Merrimac River they raised a family of 10 with Mary being born in Salisbury, MA. Feb. 29, 1652.

James and Mary soon settled in James’s first parish where he was called as minister in 1671. The area was growing rapidly, the original city, one of the first settled in New England, had expanded into the country side becoming divided into the town portion and the village portion. The village eventually wanted to establish its own identity and its own church. The politics of the day involved religious control and with it tithes to support the church. Overlaid on top of this was a new religious diversification and a movement by the King of England to establish the Church of England as the leading church in America and reassert British control of the colonies. On top of this came King Phillip’s War, in 1675, a brutal and costly engagement with the Indian tribes. As a result of these pressures we see communities who had prided themselves on harmony and unity turning to jealousy and greed. Such was the situation the young preacher entered into. The Village tired of what they perceived as mistreatment by the Town had petitioned for their independence. They elected a five-man leadership committee and started building a meetinghouse and hired a new preacher, the young James Bayley. The town opposed, arguing that the appointment process was biased and lacked authority. Groups on both sides supported or denounced the young preacher. He became the rope in a nasty tug of war and a permanent wedge was formed between the two entities. In the Biograplcal Sketches of Graduates of Harvard we find a description of James as being “orthodox, & competently able & of a blameless & selfe denying conversation and that the petitioners were very desirous of his continuance and settlement among them as their minister” In a letter to his parish James wrote. “There hath as yourselves well know some uncomfortable divisions and contentions fallen out amongst us here, which I cannot express without much grief, fearing what effects there may be of it. And these divisions being about myself, my request and desire is, that you called me amongst you to the work of the ministry, that so you will consider well how I was called, and in what condition I now stand amongst you, that so I may come to know what the will of God is and what to do in this case……The great thing that I desire and pray for is that we may know and do the will of God; therefore, I pray, be serious about those things of so great weight. So beseeching the God of peace be with you and guide you in his way, I rest, Yours in what God calls me to James Bayley”

In the end James could not accept the conditions in the Village and in 1682 moved his family to Killingworth, CT. Mary’s sister Ann married into the Putnam family and stayed behind. James turned the parish over to George Burroughs. The Town and Village were called Salem famous for the witch trials that started in the next few years. George Burroughs was one of five men and fourteen women hanged. Ann Putnam and the Putnam family played a large role in these events, which from the view of history we now see as divided along the Town vs. Village lines. In the Harvard Sketches his biographer writes “ I have given these details respecting Bayley and his parishioners, because opposition to him laid the train for the disastrous and terrible scenes of the Salem witchcraft” “there is no indication that he had a hand in subsequent proceedings, or was in the slightest degree connected with the troubles that afterwards arose…”

James and Mary had three more children in Killingworth staying for nine years. He retired from the ministry and returned to Roxbury, MA where he practiced medicine, Mary having died in Killingworth. His son John married Elizabeth Plats Fox recorded in the Land book as 17 Dec, 1713. They had two sons John and James. The family is recorded on page 361 of the Land Book “John the sone of John & Elizabeth Bayley was born June te 24th 1715 James the sone of John & Elizabeth Bayley was born Aug te 11th 1716 the record is written in John’s hand in a neat little square among other entries. Elizabeth was the daughter of Samuel Fox and Mary Lester. Samuel the son of Thomas Ffox and Hannah Brooks, Mary the daughter of Andrew Lester and Barbera. Her birth is recorded in old world prose in the records of Glouchester, MA. “ Marie, d, Andrew and Barberie, 26: 10m: 1647”. Thomas Ffox and Andrew Lister being two of the earliest arrivals in America.

John married Mercy Farnam on Dec. 29th 1737 the event listed on page 325 of the Land Book. Their daughter Mercy’s birth is recorded “Mercy daughter of John & Mercy Bayley was born May te 22d 1739”.

Mercy Bailey became the third wife of Samuel Griffin 15 March 1770 married by the Rev. William Seward. Around 1799 they moved to Vermont with their son Samuel and witnessed the birth of a grandson Albert Bailey Griffin my grandfather.