Dear Father: The Baileys of Manasquan
Front: The message home from Philadelphia
Back: Addressed to Capt. Geo. Bailey
In 1903, a student at the University of Pennsylvania scribbled a quick note to his father on a black-and-white UPenn postcard:
Dear Father,
Exams are over and certainly were some hard. Will likely come home Thursday and stay here until Monday for a short vacation. Have not heard from all exams.
J.M. Huy. Sr. F. man.
The card is addressed to Capt. Geo. Bailey — Captain George Bailey of Manasquan, New Jersey.
The Bailey family of Manasquan, New Jersey. Reconstructed from FamilySearch, U.S. Census records, and Find a Grave.
Captain George C. Bailey (1839–1916)
George C. Bailey was born in 1839, the son of William Henry Bailey (1815–1893). He grew up in a large family — his siblings included Forman Osborn Bailey (1843–1930), Henry (1845–1874), Mary (1848–1855), Lavinia (1850–1863), and William (1856–1863). The heartbreaking pattern of early deaths among his siblings — three dying as children — was common in mid-19th century America.
George settled in Manasquan, a small coastal town in Monmouth County, New Jersey, where he married Annie M. Bailey. The Bailey family had deep roots in Manasquan — one of the first buildings constructed in the area was an Inn owned and kept by Peter Bailey, built in 1808. A street in town — Captain Bailey Court — bears the family name.
The family home is now the Bailey-Reed House Museum at 105 South Street, operated by the Squan Village Historical Society. Built in the late 1700s, it is one of the oldest houses in southern Monmouth County. The house includes an 1813 barn on the rear of the property. Individual rooms are furnished to depict different eras of the home’s history. The museum is open the second Sunday of each month and every Monday and Thursday for tours and genealogy research.
This postcard was almost certainly sent to this house — a house you can still visit today.
George appears in the 1900, 1905, and 1910 censuses in Manasquan. He died on January 6, 1916, and is buried there (Find a Grave).
The Son: Forman Theophilius Bailey (1887–1964)
The postcard’s signature — “J.M. Huy. Sr. F. man.” — has puzzled me, but “F. man” almost certainly stands for Forman.
Forman Theophilius Bailey was born in 1887, the eldest of George and Annie’s four children. The name “Forman” was a family tradition — George’s brother was Forman Osborn Bailey (1843–1930), and Forman T.’s own son would later be named Forman Bailey (1920–2015), carrying the name into a third generation.
In 1903, Forman was 16 years old — young for a UPenn student, but not unheard of in that era. The remaining letters in the signature — “J.M. Huy. Sr.” — likely refer to a fraternity, club, or dormitory abbreviation common in early 1900s Penn culture.
The Other Baileys
Forman’s siblings round out the picture of a close-knit New Jersey family:
- Hannah G. Bailey (1888–1951) — just a year younger than Forman
- Mary Godfrey Bailey (1890–1973)
- Dr. George Godfrey Bailey (1897–1965) — the youngest, who went on to become a physician. A separate eBay listing for a UPenn postcard from 1909 addressed to “Capt. L. Bailey” may be connected to young George following his brother to Penn.
After the Postcard
Five months after Captain Bailey’s death in January 1916, Forman married Rebecca P. Browne on June 23, 1916. He was 29. He and Rebecca had at least two sons — Forman Bailey (1920–2015) and Wayne Davis Bailey (1926–2022) — both of whom lived into their 90s.
Forman Theophilius Bailey died in 1964 at the age of 77 (Find a Grave).
The Family’s Roots in Manasquan
The Baileys stayed in Manasquan. Forman’s son Wayne Davis Bailey (1926–2022) died in Manasquan at age 96 — nearly 120 years after his grandfather received this postcard at the same address. The family name “Forman” passed from uncle (1843) to nephew (1887) to grandson (1920), spanning three generations over 172 years.
View the postcard in my collection →