Francis Baylies

Who was Francis Baylies?

Francis Baylies was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts, and brother of congressman William Baylies. His great-grandfather was Thomas Baylies, an ironmaster from Coalbrookdale, England, who immigrated to Boston in 1737.

Baylies was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1783, the son of Dr. William Baylies. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1810 and commenced practice in Taunton, Massachusetts. He later served as Register of Probate for Bristol County 1812–1820. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1818 to the Sixteenth Congress.

Baylies was elected as a Federalist to the Seventeenth Congress, a Jackson Federalist to the Eighteenth Congress, and a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1827 for reelection to the Twentieth Congress. He served as member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1827 to 1832.

Jackson then appointed him to the post of United States chargé d'affaires in Buenos Aires in the Argentine Confederation following the USS Lexington raid on the Falkland Islands in 1831. The USS Peacock conveyed Mr. Baylies and family to la Plata and on the occasion, both the British line-of-battle ship Plantagenet and H. B. M. frigate Druid complimented her flag by playing Hail, Columbia. His very short term in office was due to the unsettled conditions of the time.