Butte County
Biographies
MRS. MARY A. BAYLES
MRS. MARY A. BAYLES--The interesting career of a gifted and noble-minded woman, Mrs. Mary A. Bayles, recalls the equally interesting and by no means unsuccessful career of her enterprising and public-spirited husband, the late Aaron Bayles, at one time an extensive wheat-grower in the state, who died at Biggs, on September 10, 1904. He was born in Cayuga County, N. Y., near Weedsport, July 24, 1840, and grew up in the Empire State. With his parents, Robert and Maria (Delamater) Bayles, he came to Winnebago County, Ill., and settled on a farm at Winnebago Station, and there he rounded out his years to young manhood. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted in Company D, Eleventh Illinois Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, and went as a private but came back as a lieutenant. He served throughout the war and had two honorable discharges. On throwing aside his rifle, he returned to Winnebago and married his fiancée, Miss Mary Keenan, the subject of our sketch. The ceremony took place at Rockford, Ill., on June 21, 1870. Mr. Bayles was then a farmer, and in October of the same year he and his young wife set out for California. They left Chicago on October 27, and arrived at Sacramento on November 3. For a while they stayed in Davis, and in August, 1871, first came to Butte County.
In the beginning Mr. Bayles took up a homestead of a hundred sixty acres, but not content with this small holding he decided to engage in farming on a larger scale. He therefore planted three thousand acres to wheat, and in partnership with his brothers became one of the largest wheat farmers in Glenn County. At one time, Isaac Bayles farmed twenty thousand acres to wheat. In 1882, Mr. and Mrs. Bayles and family moved to Biggs, and in 1884 began to occupy their present house, which they later bought and entirely remodeled. Financial reverses attending such extensive operations in agriculture overtook this ambitious and worthy pioneer, and to add to his misfortune, he was paralyzed on September 10, 1901, and after an illness of three years he died. During his sickness Mrs. Bayles was constancy itself, and not only did much to ameliorate his suffering but materially strengthened her own forceful character. Twelve children had been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bayles, two of whom had died in infancy, while one, Daisy Margaret, passed away in her eighth year, and another Isaac, died when eighteen years of age; and to all the children then living, so sorely in need of guidance and stimulus, Mrs. Bayles proved a guardian angel.
The eight children still living are as follows: William R., a contractor residing in Biggs, was formerly salesman for the Holt Manufacturing Company, with which he was connected for twelve years, and also the Best Manufacturing Company, and who married Meta Best, of San Leandro, in 1896, and she died and left no children. Charles A. is the head of the family and a farmer. Mary Helen is the wife of Leroy Hopkins La Shells, they reside in Biggs and have one child, Marian Alice. Robert is also engaged as a farmer. Daniel, who is a contractor, married Miss Evelyn Worth, by whom he has had three children, namely, Evelyn H., Worth Bayles, and Daniel, Jr.; the family resides one mile east of Biggs, on a quarter section owned by Daniel and his brother, Charles A. California is the wife of H. G. Kennedy, the electrician in the service of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, who reside at Woodland; they have three children, Harry J., Eleanor L. and Bayles R. Minnie M. is the wife of William B. Flynn, the Southern Pacific agent at Newcastle, and is the mother of a daughter, Cecilia Thelma. Cecilia A. resides with her mother.
Mary A. Bayles is the daughter of John Keenan and Margaret (Seery) Keenan, both of whom were natives of Ireland, although they were married at Lockport, N. Y., after which they came west to Rockford, Ill. The father was a moulder and died at Janesville, Wis., and there the mother still lives in her eighty-seventh year.
Too much cannot be said in praise of the wifely and motherly devotion of Mrs. Bayles who, when her husband for three years was a helpless invalid, kept her children together preserved her home and encouraged her sons and daughters in their struggle to obtain honorable places in the world, in doing all of which she but evidenced the virtues of her faith as a devout and consistent Catholic. Today enjoying a fair degree of prosperity herself, and happy in the consciousness of her children’s success, she may well believe that every cloud has a silver lining.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1024-1025, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Joyce Rugeroni.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies