Wilson Daily Times, 16 October 1951.

In the 1900 census of Old Fields township, Wilson County: farmer Gray Bailey, 56; wife Eliza, 44; and children Annie, 17, Bessie, 11, Thomas, 5, and Catherine, 10 months; plus daughter Polly Tabourn, 23, and her children Miley, 5, Burnis and Earnest, 2, and Liddan, 6 months.

In the 1910 census of Old Fields township, Wilson County: farmer Gray Bailey, 65; wife Eliza, 54; and children Thomas, 15, Miley, 14, Katie, 10, and Annie, 26, and grandchildren Curtis A., 4, and Sammie, 2.

In 1917, Thomas Bailey registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 9 February 1895 in Wilson County; resided near Sims, North Carolina; was a self-employed farmer; and was single.

On 24 February 1918, Thomas Bailey, 23, of Old Fields, son of Gray and Eliza Bailey, married Mena Hinnant, 18, of Old Fields, daughter of Thomas and Mollie Hinnant. Original Free Will Baptist minister B.H. Boykin performed the ceremony in the presence of Frank Beckwith, Walter Robinson and S.M. Bailey.

In the 1920 census of Old Fields township, Wilson County: farmer Thomas Bailey, 24; wife Meana, 18; daughter Bessie, 9 months; and sister Kattie, 20.

In the 1930 census of Old Fields township, Wilson County: farmer Walter T. Bailey, 35; wife Rena, 28; and children Bessie, 11, Cleo, 9, P.J., 8, and E.J., 8.

Walter Thomas Bailey died 12 December 1951 in Old Fields township of a gunshot wound ruled a homicide. Per his death certificate, he was born 9 February 1895 in Wilson County to Gray Bailey and Eliza Shaw; was married; was a farmer; was a World War I veteran; and was buried in New Vester cemetery. Bessie Mae Pope of Lagrange, North Carolina, was informant.

On behalf of the family, H.M. Fitts applied for a veteran’s headstone for Bailey, noting that he had been a private in Headquarters Company, 810th Pioneer Infantry.