Goldsmith Bailey

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title: "Goldsmith Bailey" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1823-births", "1862-deaths", "republican-party-members-of-the-massachusetts-house-of-representatives", "republican-party-massachusetts-state-senators", "politicians-from-fitchburg,-massachusetts", "republican-party-united-states-representatives-from-massachusetts", "people-from-westmoreland,-new-hampshire", "19th-century-members-of-the-massachusetts-general-court", "19th-century-united-states-representatives"] description: "American politician" topic_path: "people/1820s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldsmith_Bailey" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Goldsmith Fox Bailey
image	Goldsmith Bailey.png
state	Massachusetts
district	9th
term_start	March 4, 1861
term_end	May 8, 1862
preceded	Eli Thayer
succeeded	Amasa Walker
birth_date	July 17, 1823
birth_place	East Westmoreland, New Hampshire, US
death_date
death_place	Fitchburg, Massachusetts, US
spouse	Sophia Bailey
occupation	Printer editor and publisher (up to 1848)
profession	Attorney (admitted to the bar in 1848)
order2	Member of the Fitchburg School Committee
term_start2	1849
term_end2	1854
order3	Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
term3	1857
order4	Member of the Massachusetts State Senate
term_start4	1858
term_end4	1860
::

| name =Goldsmith Fox Bailey | image =Goldsmith Bailey.png | state =Massachusetts | district =9th | term_start =March 4, 1861 | term_end =May 8, 1862 | preceded =Eli Thayer | succeeded =Amasa Walker | birth_date =July 17, 1823 | birth_place =East Westmoreland, New Hampshire, US | death_date = | death_place =Fitchburg, Massachusetts, US | nationality = | party = | spouse =Sophia Bailey | relations = | children = | occupation =Printer editor and publisher (up to 1848) | profession =Attorney (admitted to the bar in 1848) | order2 =Member of the Fitchburg School Committee | term_start2 =1849 | term_end2 =1854 | order3 =Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives | term3 =1857 | order4 =Member of the Massachusetts State Senate | term_start4 =1858 | term_end4 =1860}}

Goldsmith Fox Bailey (July 17, 1823 – May 8, 1862) was a U.S. representative from Massachusetts.

Born in East Westmoreland, New Hampshire, when he was three years old, his widowed mother moved with him to Fitchburg.

Bailey attended the public schools of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. When he was 17 Bailey started work as an apprentice for the Bellows Falls Gazette. By 1844 Bailey became editor and publisher of the newspaper.

In 1845 Bailey began to study law, first with William C. Bradley in Westminster, Vermont, and later with the firm of Torrey and Wood in Fitchburg.

Bailey was admitted to the bar in 1848 and commenced practice in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, as a partner in the law firm of N. Wood & Co.

Bailey served on the Fitchburg, Massachusetts school committee from 1849 to 1854. He was appointed postmaster of Fitchburg on May 3, 1851, and served until May 4, 1853, when his successor was appointed. Bailey served as member of the Massachusetts house of representatives in 1857. He served in the Massachusetts State Senate 1858–60. Bailey was the Republican Party candidate for congress in Massachusetts' ninth congressional district in the 1860 election.

Bailey was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh Congress and served from March 4, 1861, until his death in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, May 8, 1862. He was interred in Laurel Hill Cemetery, with a cenotaph at the Congressional Cemetery.

References

References

1. Emerson, William Andrew. (1887). "Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Past and Present". Press of Blanchard & Brown.

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