Charles E. Bailey, a citizen of White River Township, was born in Butler County, Ohio, September 19, 1849, and is the son of Elias and Mary E. (Pierce) Bailey. The father was born in Burlington, N. J., October 24, 1813, and died in Marion County, Ind., December 25, 1882. He was one of three sons, whose father was Ephraim Bailey. Elias Bailey came to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1839, and here was married in 1841, to Mary E. Pierce, the daughter of John S. and Hannah C. (Baker) Pierce. Mary E. Pierce was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, August 22, 1826. Her marriage with Elias Bailey was blessed with eleven children: Emily, deceased, Sanford P., Richard, deceased, Charles E., Josephine M., Sarah J., Cordelia, deceased, Roswell Wells, Steward W., Oscar, and Augustus, deceased. After their marriage they settled in Butler County, Ohio, where the father followed farming. Their home was here till 1853, when they removed to Decatur County, Ind., and in 1864 they removed to Marion County, Ind., the father continuing farming till his death. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and never aspired to public life, but preferred the life of a farmer. After leading a long and useful life, he died universally respected by all who knew him. His widow still survives, and resides in Marion County, the wife of Stephen A. Tucker. The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm, and received a high school education at South Port. In youth, the carpenter’s trade was uppermost in his mind, and his father, besides farming, did more or less contracting and building, and while working on contracts for this father, he learned the carpenter’s trade. He remained under the parental roof till he reached majority, and then went to Indianapolis, where he engaged in carpentering for three years, and then two years at South Port, and in 1880, he located in Johnson County, where he was followed both carpentering and farming. October 15, 1879, he wedded Laura A., the daughter of James A. and Mary E. Fendley, whose sketch appears elsewhere. Mrs. Bailey was born in Marion County, Ind., September 26, 1862. The children that have resulted from the above marriage, are: Mary Edith, Ethel Pearl, Clarence Everett and Jossie. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a Master Mason of South Port Lodge, No. 270, and is a democrat in politics.