Stanislaus
County
Biographies
CHARLES WESLEY BAYLEY, M. D.
When we take cognizance of the
importance of a profession or business calling we cannot but accord to the
medical fraternity a high place, for its representatives are men whose lives
are devoted to humanitarian interests and whose efforts contribute in a marked
degree to the welfare and happiness of their fellow men. There is nothing man so highly prizes as the
gift of health. It is a necessary foundation
for all accomplishment, and a man whose labors can restore this much high
prized possession is indeed a public benefactor. Dr. Bayley has attained a wide and merited
reputation as a prominent physician and surgeon at Oakdale, Stanislaus
County. He was born in New York, October
16, 1845, and is of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry. His paternal great-grandfather was a general
in the Revolutionary War.
Representatives of the family followed commercial and agricultural
pursuits and in religious belief were Presbyterians and Methodists.
Cyrus Moore Bayley, the Doctor’s
father, was a representative of the family of Thomas Moore, the Irish poet, his
mother being a cousin of Sir Thomas Moore.
He was born in Vermont, and in his native state was united in marriage
to Miss Mary Sanborn, a native of New Hampshire. They removed to St. Lawrence County, New
York, where Mr. Bayley purchased a farm, taking up his abode thereon and
spending his remaining days as an industrious and respected agriculturist of
his community. His wife died at the age
of thirty-three years, leaving six children, and the father afterward married
and had five children by the second union, of whom three are living. He attained the age of seventy-four years and
was laid to rest in St. Lawrence County, where he had so long resided, being
known as a man of sterling worth and as a man of the highest respectability.
The Doctor is one of the three
surviving children of the family. He was
educated in St. Lawrence County and after completing his literary course
obtained his medical education in Albany, New York; and in the medical college
at Burlington, Vermont, where he was graduated in 1876. He first began practice in St. Lawrence
County, New York, and there remained until 1895, when he came to Oakdale,
California, and opened an office. Here
his skill and ability soon won recognition in a constantly increasing
patronage, and he now enjoys a business such as is accorded only to those who
are well prepared to practice medicine.
He has a good office and one of the most pleasant and attractive homes
of Oakdale.
In 1880 was celebrated the Doctor’s
marriage to Miss Carrie Cooper, a native of St. Lawrence County, New York, and
a daughter of William Cooper, also of the Empire state and a cousin of J.
Fennimore Cooper, the celebrated writer of Indian tales. The Doctor and Mrs. Bayley have a daughter,
Lucretia, who is now in school. They are
valued members of the Episcopal Church and have many warm friends in the town
in which they reside. He is a member of
the Masonic fraternity and in politics a Republican. He takes a great interest and pride in his
work. Almost from the day on which he
opened his office in this flourishing California town he had a good practice,
and it has constantly grown and extended into the country surrounding Oakdale
until it has now assumed extensive proportions.
He represents that class of physicians who would practice for the love
of the profession even under less favorable environments than those with which
he is surrounded; and he recognizes the fact that the physician endowed with
superior knowledge and skill is under grave responsibility to suffering
humanity, regardless of any mere question of pecuniary gain.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 677-678. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2011
Gerald Iaquinta.