Biography of William Cahoon Baylies

William Cahoon Baylies, was a pioneering settler in Montgomery County from 1869, who significantly contributed to the region’s development. Born in Louisiana in 1843, he grew up in Illinois and Iowa before serving as a First Lieutenant in the Civil War. After attempting gold mining in Montana, he settled in Kansas in 1869, marrying Rachel M. Baylies. Their home on Table Mound was notable for its breathtaking views and rich history. Known for his integrity and hospitality, Baylies earned respect as a community leader and family man.

WILLIAM CAHOON BAYLIES—The pioneer has been the advance guard of civilization and about his personality clings the story of the advance, the struggle and the final victory. What is true of him in other localities is true of him in Montgomery county. He has helped to lay the foundation for the splendid work going on about us and to him who came at the beginning, remained to the finish and is here now, is due great credit, now and everlasting. In this list and belonging to this class we are pleased to present William C. Baylies, the subject of this review.

Mr. Baylies came to Montgomery county in July, 1869, when the Indians ruled, but chaos reigned. He came as a settler and in search of a home and he located on section 16, township 32, range 15, just south of Table Mound, where the transition from nature to art persistently and systematically took place. He came to the county by wagon, with less than fifty dollars in his pocket, from the state of Iowa. He is, by nativity, a Southern man but by disposition and training, decidedly Northern. He was born in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, July 27th, 1843, and is a son of Nicholas Baylies, who was born in Vermont’s capital April 9th, 1809. His grandfather was also Nicholas Baylies, born on the 9th of April, 1769, in Massachusetts, and Nicholas and Mary were the parents of three children, namely: Horatio N., Mary R., and Nicholas. They emigrated from the Old Bay State and settled near Montpelier, Vermont, where their children grew up. Their youngest child married Harriet Helen Cahoon, a daughter of William Cahoon, of Lyndon, Vermont, a lineal descendant of the famous founder of the Colony of Rhode Island. (It is a distinction worthy of record to descend from the first great pioneer preacher, Roger Williams.) Eight children were born to Nicholas and Harriet Baylies, as follows: William C., Ripley N., Lawson W., Mary H., Charles E., Oscar S., Francis A., and George A.

When William C. Baylies was eight years old his parents returned north with their family, after having spent several years in the South, and located in Griggsville, Illinois, where they resided till 1858, going thence to Des Moines, Iowa. The common schools had to do with the education of our subject and when the Rebellion came on he enlisted in Company “K,” 10th Iowa Inf., under Col. Perczell. His regiment formed a part of the 15th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, and was in battle at Island No. 10, New Madrid, Corinth, Vicksburg, thence east to the aid of Rosecrans at Chattanooga, thence on the campaign of Atlanta and the march to the sea. Its service ended with the march up through the Confederacy from Savannah to Washington, D.C., where Mr. Baylies received orders to proceed to Little Rock, Arkansas, from which point he was ordered to Davenport, Iowa, to be mustered out, on the 15th of August, 1865. He enlisted as a private, was promoted through the grades of non-commissioned officers and commissioned a First Lieutenant, and as such, was mustered out.

In the spring of 1866, Mr. Baylies began a trip which gave him his first experience with the frontier. He went to the Territory of Montana, where he was employed in the gold diggings, and in other ways, without much profit to himself and, after three years, returned to Iowa and a month afterward started on his pioneering trip to Kansas.

February 11th, 1878, Mr. Baylies married Rachel M., widow of Dr. William E. Henry, and a daughter of H. T. and Nancy I. Butterworth. By her first marriage Mrs. Baylies has two sons, Prof. Thomas B. and William E. Henry, mention of whom is made on another page of this volume. A daughter, Caroline C., is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Baylies. She is a junior in the Kansas State University. Clara, an orphan girl, is a member of the Baylies household. She has found a welcome and comfortable home there for twelve years and is a valuable acquisition to the family.

Table Mound, on which the Baylies home is situated, is one of the highest points in Montgomery county. It rises more than two hundred feet above Elk river and contains an area of some six hundred acres, and forms a large part of the one thousand or more acres of the Henry and Baylies estate. The Baylies cottage stands on the eastern edge of the abrupt decline and overlooks, from its almost dizzy height, the entire landscape below and furnishes a magnificent “bird’s eye” view. The mound is underlaid with lola limestone and commercial shale and is, perhaps, doomed to destruction for the manufacture of portland cement.

Mr. Baylies is honorable in dealing, modest in bearing and influential as a citizen. His home is filled with good cheer and hospitality and is presided over by a genuine woman, his wife. In early life Mrs. Baylies was a teacher. She is a lady of culture and refinement and in the rearing of their children she and her husband have honored society and won distinction for themselves.