Aaron S. Bailey

Every life has a story… Aaron S. Bailey was born August 15, 1844 in Illinois. Aaron served as a private in Company C, 33rd Wisconsin Infantry, first enlisting August 18, 1862. Records list Bailey being discharged, with a disability, on January 31, 1863. He married Mary Simms Rule Nichols in 1877. She was born in England. (Mary had first been married to William Nichols who died at age 31 while the couple lived in Wisconsin.) William and Mary had three children: William John (1868-1869), Bertie (1869-1878) and Minnie Belle (1872-1946). Those three children were born in Wisconsin. William died as an infant and Bertie was just 8 or 9 when she passed away. Both are buried near their father, William Nichols in Wisconsin. When Mary and Aaron married, Minnie Belle was quite young. Minnie Belle attended school in Friend. In their later years, Aaron and Mary were living in Gothenburg, Nebraska (as noted on the 1910 Census) where their daughter and her family lived. Aaron’s occupation was listed as a farmer but also a landlord. On August 17, 1914, Aaron Bailey passed away. He was 70 years old. Mary passed away on January 26, 1923 at age 76. Aaron and Mary were returned to Friend to be buried at Andrew Cemetery, Block 10. Mary’s daughter, Minnie Bell, is also buried at Andrew Cemetery though she lived her married life in Colorado and then in Gothenburg, Nebraska.