John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 2380

In the Shenandoah Valley, Robert Bailey considered many occupations which he might pursue.  Trade came first, then medicine.  He secured the cooperation of a doctor to study medicine.

When Robert was about 19 years of age, he met a widow some nine years older than he was.  She had her first husband’s tavern building.  They married, ran the tavern, and had children.  Robert’s wife was a good business woman and the tavern thrived.

Robert branched out into other activities.  He bought horses and cattle and drove them to Philadelphia where he sold them.  He bought farms and was generally successful.

Things then began to fall apart.  Robert had a weakness for gambling but not the necessary skills nor the proper attitude toward gambling.  He lost heavily.  The rest of his life was a series of complications caused by his weakness and by lawsuits against him.  He wrote his life’s story to earn some money.  Reading this story is, on the whole, sad.  For one who had an ability to work with others and a willingness to work himself, to lose almost everything is disappointing.

One can read the entire book on line through the Library of Congress.  They have put a number of books on the web.  This particular book was brought to my attention by Marilyn Hansen.

The URL, when padded out in the standard way, is rs6.loc.gov/ammem/lhbcbbibquery.html. There are no guarantees that this will work.

A Google search on “narrative washington chesapeake bay” (without the quotes) turned up several items but do a full search on “Robert Bailey” and the book should turn up.

There seems to be a series of books that the Library has posted to illustrate life in an earlier time.

In the next Note, I expect to tell a story that I wish had never happened.  It is in a completely different field from the most recent one.  It was brought to my attention by a person who was a participant in the events.
(02 Oct 06)