Francis Bailey

Background

He was born in 1735 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the son of Robert Bailey (1708 - 98) and his wife Margaret McDill.

Career

Francis, one of six children, had been bred a carpenter but had acquired from Peter Miller, the Dunkard printer at Ephrata since 1745, familiarity with making and setting type. He came forward in this occupation in 1771 when he began to publish his quarter-century series of the Lancaster Almanac, at first with Stewart Herbert, but after 1772 from his own shop, with the assistance of his brother Jacob and sister Abigail. In 1773 Bailey bought out William Goddard and by September 18, 1777, had completed the purchase from Christian Ilgnes of the land upon which his shop stood. Among his Lancaster issues were the almanacs mentioned, A Sermon on Tea (1774), a fourth edition of Paine's Common Sense (1776), The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union (1777), Das Pennsylvanische Zeitungs-Blat (February 4-June 24, 1778), and reprints of various foreign and domestic publications.

In 1777 Bailey was also coroner of Lancaster County, and when his father joined the Whig Associators Francis served as brigade-major of state troops at Valley Forge 1777-78. In April 1778 Bailey was one of the officers charged with conducting prisoners from Winchester, Virginia, to Lancaster. Later in 1778 Hugh Henry Brackenridge persuaded him to join in the publication at Philadelphia of the United States Magazine.

The first number appeared in January and the last in December 1779, but the move was important. On January 13, 1780, Bailey sought patronage from the Continental Congress for an edition of its Resolves. This was not granted, but later in the year, following the death of his brother Jacob, the Congress authorized Bailey to publish The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America, The Declaration of Independence, and The Treaties between His Most Christian Majesty and the United States of America. These made a 226-page volume of which 200 copies were printed in 1781, and other editions in 1783. Bailey became official printer for Congress and the State of Pennsylvania, with his main office at Market above Third St. , Philadelphia. On April 25, 1781, Bailey began to edit The Freeman's Journal or the North American Intelligencer, a weekly "open to all parties but influenced by none. " This journal justified its motto and became a successful paper to which all parties resorted. It supported George Bryan [q. v. ] and the Pennsylvania constitution and helped toward a stronger national government. Prominent contributors were Bryan himself, Philip Freneau, George Osbourne, Jonathan Sergeant, and James Wilson. During this decade Bailey was also active with special imprints, including an edition of Freneau's poems, and with the invention and presentation to Washington of a style "of marginal figures for notes, certificates, etc. , which could not by the ingenuity of man be counterfeited" (Washington's Diary in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XX, 44). He served also in the state militia during the critical period 1783-87 before the adoption of the national Constitution.

Busy in Philadelphia, he retained his Lancaster property until 1805, and when the state legislature held its sessions there, Bailey continued his state printing at his old shop. On October 19, 1797, Robert Bailey and wife conveyed the Sadsbury estate to Francis, who erected there a large stone printing office and thence-forth divided his work between Sadsbury, Philadelphia, and his small country residence at Octoraro, fourteen miles east of Philadelphia, where the Acts of Assembly 1804-05 were printed.

Achievements

• He went down in history as a remarkable printer and churchman.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The History of Printing in America: With a Biography of Printers, and an Account of Newspapers (Classic Reprint)

    (By ISAIAH THOMAS, LL.D. PRINTER, LATB XBNIDBNT OF THB AXB...)

Connections

Father:

Robert Bailey

Mother:

Margaret McDill

References

• A Biographical History of Lancaster County Pennsylvania : Being a History of Eminent Men of the County