[p. 959] who is now living in retirement at his country home one-quarter of a mile east of Mt. Jackson, was for many years extensively engaged in contracting and building throughout this part of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and the eastern part of Mahoning County, Ohio. He was born in Mt. Jackson June 10, 1849, is a son of James and Hannah Jane (McBride) Gailey, and a grandson of William
William Gailey was a native of Ireland, and upon coming to the United States became one of the early residents of Rochester, Pa. He later moved to North Beaver Township, Lawrence County, where his last days were spent. His son, James Gailey, father of our subject, was born in North Beaver Township, and at an early age learned the trade of a marble cutter. He followed this line of work throughout life, and there are many tombstones standing in the cemeteries, hereabouts, which bear silent evidence of his skill at that trade.
John W. Gailey spent his boyhood days in the village of Mt. Jackson, where he attended the public schools. At the age of nineteen years he went to Pittsburg and served two years of apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade in the establishment of Brown & Company. He then went to Salem, Ohio, and after finishing his trade returned to Mt. Jackson where he thereafter made his headquarters throughout his active business career. He embarked in contracting and building and erected many of the houses, churches, schoolbuildings and barns throughout this section of Lawrence County, as well as across the line in Mahoning County, Ohio. Among the structures built by him may be mentioned the Hillsville M. E. Church, the Hillsville Baptist Church, the Lutheran Church at New Middletown, Ohio, the Springfield Reformed Church, the Mt. Jackson U. P. Church, the Seventh Ward M. E. Church of New Castle, and the Seventh Ward School.
Mr. Gailey was first joined in marriage at Hillsville, with Miss Mary Martin, daughter of Thomas Martin, and they became parents of nine children, as follows: Ada, who died at the age of three years; Anna, wife of Norman A. Craig; Martin Lee, who is engaged in the lumber business at New Castle, and married Frances Gibson, of New Castle; J. Lewis, who married Hilda Reed and is a builder and contractor in New Castle; Sarah, wife of James McCord of Hillsville; Mary Permilla, who is single and lives at home; James Dale, who also is at home; an infant who died unnamed, and Olive J. Mrs. Mary Gailey died in 1894.
John W. Gailey formed a second marital union with Mrs. Cecelia (Gailey) Aldrich, widow of James Aldrich, by whom she had a son, J. Delbert Aldrich, who married Ella Nosker and has three children. Mrs. Gailey is a daughter of Andrew Gailey and a first cousin to her husband. Andrew Gailey was a pioneer of North Beaver Township but moved from Lawrence County at the time of the Civil War, when the wife of our subject was a child, she being raised in Eastern Ohio. He was a soldier in the Civil War and participated in many important engagements, in one of which he was shot through the head. Notwithstanding this injury he lived to reach an advanced age, dying in February, 1907, in his eighty-ninth year.
Mr. Gailey is a Republican in politics, and has held some office or other in the township ever since reaching his majority. He was overseer of the poor for twenty years, and also served as constable, among other offices. He has been a member of the M. E. Church of Mt. Jackson since November, 1866, and has helped it over some very rough spots in the road. At one time the congregation dwindled down until he was the only member left, but largely through his instrumentality it was placed on its feet, and is today in a thriving condition.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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