Alfred Bayliss

Orphaned shortly after his family emigrated to the United States, Bayliss worked his way into Hillsdale College in Michigan.

After a two-year break to fight in the Civil War, Bayliss graduated in 1870 and first oversaw schools in Indiana.

Bayliss assumed the editorship of the Streator Standard, then served in the role of first assistant clerk of the 39th Illinois General Assembly.

In Streator, he served on the city council, commanded the Grand Army of the Republic chapter, and was once the chairman of the LaSalle County Republican Party.

On August 26, 1911, Bayliss died from injuries he sustained eleven days earlier after falling from a horse in Woodbine, Iowa.