The firm of Billingsley & Bailey was formed November 4, 1885, by S. A. Billingsley & T. G. Bailey. The senior member of firm is a native of Bledsoe County, Tenn., born October 31, 1856, and was reared in his native county. His father was a farmer.
Our subject engaged in merchandising for two years at Spencer, Tennesse, before coming here. February 1884, he went to Mulberry and there engaged in teaching, being principal of the schools at that place until June 4, 1886, when he resigned. December 16, 1885, he married Jennie Sugg, of Cyruston, Lincoln Co., Tennessee. The father of Mr. Billingsley was a minister, and his grandfather was a member of the first Tennessee Legislature. The father of our subject died in 1878, and his mother is still living.
Mr. Bailey, junior member of the firm, was born in the present limits of Moore County, and is a son of Thomas R. and Nancy M. (Edwards) Bailey, natives of North Carolina and Alabama respectively. The father was a farmer, and died April 4, 1884; the mother still survives. Mr. Bailey engaged as clerk in a store in Lynchburg, for two years, and then formed a partnership with T. H. Parks & Co., continuing with that firm until December, 1882. He held an interest in R. B. Parks & Co. store until March 10, 1884, when he retired and attended school five months. In November 1885, he joined the present firm, which is doing a general merchandising trade with a stock of $2,500. Both are democrats, and are young and enterprising business men.