Jacob Bailey (16 April 1731 – 26 July 1808) was an author and clergyman of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

, active in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...

and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

Biography

Bailey was born in

Rowley, Massachusetts Rowley is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,161 at the 2020 census. Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Rowley. History The area was inhabited by the Agawam people under sachem Ma ...

, and was educated at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

, ranked at the bottom (by social order) of the class of 1755, which notably also included

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

. He started his career in the ministry as a

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs it ...

preacher in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

but converted and became an Anglican clergyman in 1760, through his connection with Dr.

Silvester Gardiner Dr. Silvester Gardiner (June 29, 1708 – August 8, 1786) was a physician, pharmaceutical merchant and land developer of Maine. He is known for founding the city of Gardiner. Early years He was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, the son o ...

, a prominent Massachusetts physician, businessman, and landowner. Gardiner, also Anglican, sought a minister to serve the rural parish of Frankfort or Pownalborough (now

Dresden, Maine Dresden is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States, that was incorporated in 1794. The population was 1,725 at the 2020 census. History The town was originally settled in 1752 under the name Frankfort by French and German Huguenots, who ...

, but then part of Massachusetts), which was part of the lands his business partnership, the Kennebec Proprietors, oversaw. Bailey's congregation was a mix of mainly German Lutheran and French Huguenot immigrants, who were often at odds on matters of religion with the area's Yankee Congregationalists. Despite continuing friction with the local Congregationalists, Bailey was able to build a church and parsonage in 1770-71. Hostilities towards Bailey continued, especially when he continued to profess

Loyalty Loyalty, in general use, is a devotion and faithfulness to a nation, cause, philosophy, country, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only anothe ...

to the British Crown, and he moved with his family to

in 1779, after

American Patriots Patriots, also known as Revolutionaries, Continentals, Rebels, or American Whigs, were the colonists of the Thirteen Colonies who rejected British rule during the American Revolution, and declared the United States of America an independent na ...

twice made attempts on his life. He served in the parish of

Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United ...

for a period and then moved to

Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal, formerly known as Port Royal, is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Today's Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be confused with the n ...

where he remained for the rest of his life. In 1780, Rev. Bailey was appointed the Deputy Chaplain to the 84th Regiment.

Poet

It is through his writings that Bailey's place in Canadian history was assured. His poetry was widely known and his verse satire was considered to be styled like that of the English poet, Samuel Butler.poem
/ref> He wrote a considerable amount of prose as well and much of this can contribute to historians' studies of those times. "Behold the vaunting hero," Royal Gazette and the Nova-Scotia Advertiser (Halifax), 11 Dec. 1798, and "Observations and conjectures on the antiquities of America," Mass. Hist. Soc., Coll. (Boston), 1st ser., 4 (1795): 100–5. Three of Bailey's poems are printed and discussed in ''Narrative verse satire in Maritime Canada, 1779–1814,'' ed. T. B. Vincent (Ottawa, 1978). Bailey is buried in the

Garrison Cemetery (Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia) Garrison Cemetery is a cemetery located on the grounds of Fort Anne in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located next to the old Court House, at the intersection of George St. and Nova Scotia Trunk 1. History Initially used as a bur ...

References

External links

Biography at ''the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Jacob 1731 births 1808 deaths Canadian Anglican priests Converts to Anglicanism from Congregationalism Anglican poets 18th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets Harvard College Loyalists in the American Revolution American Loyalists from Massachusetts Loyalists who settled Nova Scotia People from Rowley, Massachusetts Religious leaders from Massachusetts People from Dresden, Maine Harvard College alumni 18th-century Canadian male writers

Biography

Poet

See also

References

Further reading

External links