| George Baillie was likely employed at the TKWM Co in Salem, OR from the time he arrived out west in 1896 until his death in 1901.
George T. Baillie was born 9 Jul 1862 in Greenock, Scotland. His parents were both from Scotland, George Baillie and Margaret (Tennent) Baillie. George came to America as a young man. He boarded the S. S. Catalonia in Liverpool, England and landed in Boston, MA on 8 Sep 1890.
George worked in a woolen mill in Leicester, MA as a wool sorter. While in Leicester George met a young woman named Bessie Owen. It’s likely they met at the mill because Bessie and her sister Lizzie were both weavers. On 10 Sep 1895, George T. Baillie and Bessie Owen were married in Leicester, MA.
George and Bessie moved west shortly after they were married. George was in poor health so they might have thought the climate would help. No other family has been found to have drawn them to Oregon, but the couple made the long journey and so did Bessie’s sister Lizzie Owen.
On 30 Nov 1896, George T. Baillie filed his Declaration of Intention to become a US Citizen with the Clerk of Court in Salem, Marion County, Oregon. With his background in a woolen mill, it is likely George went to work at the TKWM shortly after he arrived in Salem in 1896.
Census records from 1900 list him as a wool sorter and Bessie as a weaver at Thomas Kay Woolen Mill. Bessie’s sister Lizzie is a weaver there as well. George and Bessie purchased a house on the corner of 19th and Lee streets, at 2092 Lee St.
Unfortunately, George passed away from stomach cancer at their home on 22 Jul 1901. George was only 39 years old when he died. No children came from this marriage. It was good Bessie had her sister Lizzie to help her through that loss.
George was a member of the order of the Salem Camp No. 118 Woodmen of the World. The organization “showed up in a body” at his funeral. The funeral was held at St. Paul’s Episcopal church. Interment at City View cemetery in the Mount Crest Abbey Mausoleum.
George’s wife Bessie and her sister Lizzie continued to work as weavers at the woolen mill until Bessie sold their home in 1920. They had a big auction with very high-end items and moved to Long Beach, CA. The sisters lived together in their home in Long Beach until their deaths many years later. |
