Washington Bailey

Born in Adams County, Ohio, in October 1831, he moved with his family to Fountain County, Indiana, and later became closely associated with central Illinois. In 1853, while still a young man, he joined the wave of fortune seekers heading to California, making the long trip by ox train across the plains and mountains.

That journey became the heart of his best-known book, A Trip to California in 1853, published in 1915. Written from memory many years later, it preserves the details of trail travel, camp life, hardship, and the everyday decisions that shaped an overland expedition.

Bailey returned from California in the mid-1850s and spent much of his later life in Illinois. He lived long enough to see his recollections turned into a lasting historical record, and he died in January 1922.