James Montgomery Bailey (September 25, 1841 – March 4, 1894) was an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

who won an ephemeral popularity as the "''Danbury News'' Man."

Biography

He was born at Albany,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and after receiving a common school education, learned the trade of a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters t ...

. He removed to

Danbury Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

, Conn., in 1860, and worked at his trade for the two following years, but found time to write occasionally for the newspapers. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

he served in the Seventeenth Connecticut Volunteers. In 1870 he established the ''Danbury News'', for which he wrote the humorous sketches, sometimes original, often simply descriptive of commonplace happenings, which won for him a national reputation and made his paper known throughout the country. An example of his ability to humorously depict domestic situations is ‘Putting Up A Stovepipe’, in which he described the husband/wife tensions caused by an unpleasant household chore. His first book. ''Life in Danbury'', was published in 1873; it consisted of selections from his newspaper articles. His other publications were ''The Danbury News Man's Almanac'' (1873); ''They All Do It'' (1877); ''England from a Back Window'' (1878); ''Mr. Phillip's Goneness'' (1879); ''The Danbury Boom; with a Full Account of Mr. Cobleigh's Action Therein'' (1880); and ''History of Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896.''

References

External links

*
Putting Up a Stovepipe
– a humorous sketch referenced above. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, James Montgomery 1841 births 1894 deaths Writers from Albany, New York American humorists 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Union Army soldiers People of Connecticut in the American Civil War 19th-century American newspaper founders 19th-century American journalists American male journalists Military personnel from Connecticut 19th-century American male writers Journalists from New York (state)