Lawrence Dudley Bailey

Lawrence Dudley Bailey

Lawrence Dudley Bailey (August 26, 1819 – October 15, 1891) was an American abolitionist who served as Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court from February 9, 1861 to January 11, 1869.

Early life, education, and career[]

Born in Sutton, Merrimack County, New Hampshire to Dudley and Sarah (Woodman) Bailey, Bailey worked upon his father's farm until the age of seventeen,^[1] and attended Franklin, Unity, Pembroke, and Atkinson academies, but never attended college.^[2] He became an abolitionist in 1837, writing frequently in various abolitionist newspapers.^[2] He read law with Mason W. Tappan to gain admission to the bar on July 9, 1846.^[1][2] He began practicing in East Washington, New Hampshire in 1847, moving in March of that year to Milford, New Hampshire, and partnering there with S.K Livermore until 1949.^[1][2] He moved to California as part of the 1849 California Gold Rush, returning to New Hampshire in 1853 and forming a partnership with Mason W. Tappan at Bradford, New Hampshire.^[1][2]

Move to Kansas[]

Bailey moved to Kansas on April 2, 1857, though he would have preferred to move to Minnesota, but felt that Kansas was in jeopardy of becoming a slave state.^[2] He was "conspicuous in his efforts to rescue [Kansas] from the blight of slavery", at one point having to swim the Kansas River at night while in Lawrence, Kansas, during an attack by "border ruffians".^[1] In Kansas, he opened a law office near Emporia, and wrote for the Emporia News, published by Preston B. Plumb, whom Bailey also supervised as Plumb read law.^[1] Bailey was elected to the legislature in November 1858.^[1][2]

Judicial service and later life[]

Under the new free-soil Constitution he was elected as a Judge of the Supreme Court in 1861, and reelected in 1862 for a six year term.^[1][2][3] He was interested in the material development of Kansas, and was prominent in the organization of the first Board of Agriculture.^[1] During this time, he was also active in persuading the state legislature to establish the State Normal School at Emporia.^[2]

In 1869 he was again elected to the legislature,^[2][3] and in 1870 founded the town of Lyndon, Kansas, which became the county seat of Osage County later that year.^[2] For a time was editor and publisher of the Cultivator and Herdsman, and was long a contributor to the newspaper press.^[1]

Personal life and death[]

In his later life, Bailey occupied a farm.^[1] On December 15, 1870, he married the widowed Elizabeth A. Peabody of Lawrence, Kansas, who survived him.^[1]

References[]