Bryant W. Bailey

Bryant William Bailey was a businessman, politician, and journalist who became a leading figure during the 1890s in the shortlived Populist Party in the U.S. state of Louisiana.

Bailey was born and briefly educated in Winn Parish to immigrants from Georgia. In October 1890, he moved from his family property to the parish seat of Winnfield to become the manager of a branch store of the local Farmers Union Cooperative Association. By 1894, he was owner of the Bailey Hotel in Winnfield. In 1902, Bailey drilled the first oil well in Winn Parish, a year after the first such structure had been undertaken in the state in 1901 near Jennings in Jeff Davis Parish in southwestern Louisiana.

Source: Wikipedia