A man who thoroughly understands the technical problems of the field he set out to master is Ira D. Bailey, who has contributed to the developing of California, and who is prominent in Odd Fellow circles. He was born at Augusta, in Kennebec County, Maine, on January 25, 1877, and was educated at the local public and the Cony High School.
Leaving school, he worked in the Bodwell Granite Works at Hallowell, Maine, and at the same time played the violin in orchestral work and made himself somewhat locally famous for balls and other festal occasions. He thus prepared himself to meet with any kind of healthy, honest human nature, and in time took the move which brought him in direct contact with the varied types of western life.
In 1899 Mr. Bailey came to Pomona, and here he was soon busy installing and operating irrigating plants throughout the Valley. He entered the engineering department of the Pomona Valley Ice Company in 1908, and so well has he served them that he has been their chief engineer for about eight years.
When a young man in Augusta, Mr. Bailey joined the Odd Fellows; and, on coming to Pomona, he was transferred to the Pomona Lodge and all its branches. Now he is among the most active and influential in that widely-established and excellent fraternity. He is a past noble grand, a past chief patriot and a past commandant of the canton. He also belongs to the Woodmen of the World.
The wedding of Mr. Bailey and Miss Martina V. Hatton, a native of Missouri and the daughter of Jennie V. Huddleston of Covina, occurred at Covina, August 2, 1905, and they have one daughter, Virginia May, born September, 1908. The family attend the First Christian Church. Pomona has a future, and one that cannot fail to arouse the imagination; and much of it will depend on just such young men as Mr. Bailey, one of the most confident and enthusiastic of her citizens.
History of Pomona Valley, California, with Biographical Sketches
of The Leading Men and Women of the Valley Who Have Been
Identified With Its Growth and Development from the Early Days
to the Present
Published in Los Angeles, Cal., by the Historic Record Company
1920
Transcribed by Linda Jackson 11/20/08, Pages 704-705
Los Angeles County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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