CHARLES A. BAILEY, one of the well-known citizens of Washington, while not long a resident of the county, has, since making his home here, been actively identified with the hotel interests of the city of his adoption. He was born in Cattaraugus county, N. Y., in 1844, of New England ancestry, his father, James Bailey, having been a native of Massachusetts, a man in his earlier days skilled in various lines of business. In later life, however, becoming convinced that to be truly successful a man should have a single and distinguishing occupation, he disposed of his various interests, and thence forth devoted himself exclusively to farming in Erie county, Penn., where he died in 1850. In Massachusetts he was married to Miss Amelia Alcott (whose brother was a writer of considerable note), a cousin of Louise M. Alcott, whose "Little Men and Little Women" has given her a national reputation. By this union there were five children, only two of whom are now living our subject and one sister, the former of whom was but four years old when his mother died in Erie county, Penn., whither the family had removed the previous year. The father married again, and by this second union there is one child, Frank H., who early in life evinced natural mechanical tastes, and in course of time became proficient in mechanical drafting. He now holds the position of past assistant engineer U. S. N., in the Army and Navy building, at Washington, D. C. He is a graduate of Annapolis Naval Academy, which he had entered as a cadet engineer. The father died when our subject was six years of age. Charles A. Bailey passed his boyhood in New York until the age of fifteen years, when he returned to Pennsylvania and took up his residence in Titusville, devoting his time to the restaurant business through the oil regions until 1886, in which year he removed to Washington, Penn. Here for five years he conducted the "European Hotel," now known as the "Allison House." Some time after coming to Washington and engaging in business, he formed a partnership with S. B. McKennan, which has since continued. The old "Fulton House" was leased by Mr. Bailey, and for a time he conducted it as the leading hotel of the place; but proving unprofitable as a hostelry, it was converted into an apartment house, and so continued until January 5, 1893, when, having been thoroughly renovated, it was reopened to the public as a first class house, the name "Hotel Main" being given it by the courteous and wide-awake proprietor, Charles A. Bailey, who conducts it in a thoroughly efficient manner. In 1864, in Crawford county, Penn., Mr. Bailey was married to Miss Mary E., daughter of E. D. Gillett. of that county. No children have been born to them, but in 1882 they adopted a four-year-old child, from that time known as Gertie Bailey. In November, 1892, after an illness of some six weeks she died, aged fourteen years. Mr. Bailey is a member of tho Masonic Fraternity, and he has surrounded himself with a host of friends. He is a great lover of animals, especially "man's unselfish friend" the dog.

Text taken from page 1424 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed January 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project. Published January 1997 on the Washington County, PA pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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