Thomas BAILEY is identified as the father of Joseph BAILEY on Joseph's wedding certificate of 1838, at which time he was described as a labourer. At his children's marriages he was described as a farmer and when he died, perhaps after his sons had taken over the land, as a grazier.
Thomas Bailey STANTON married Elizabeth GREWCOCK in Hinckley in November 1808. The marriage by banns, so likely this was their first marriage. Neither could sign their names.
Shortly afterwards, in October 1809, Thomas Stanton and Elizabeth BAILEY christened a Joseph BAILEY, which fits nicely with Joseph's age of 41 years on the 1851 Census. Another child Elizabeth BAILEY followed in 1811, William BAILEY in 1813, Sarah STANTON in 1815, Ann STANTON in 1818 and Thomas BAILEY in 1820.
Where given, Thomas' profession was recorded as labourer, except for his youngest child, Thomas, when he was a framework knitter. Like his older brother William, Thomas later married one of the daughters of a local farmer, Jervis LEA. On that marriage document Thomas senior's occupation is farmer.
The use of two alternative surnames is uncommon, however is sometimes seen in Leicestershire, where it was usually recorded as an alias e.g. "BAILEY als STANTON" or similar. In this case his name was recorded variously as Thomas BAILEY, Thomas Bailey STANTON, Thomas Stanton BAILEY and Thomas STANTON.
Further circumstantial evidence of this being the correct parents of Joseph BAILEY is provided by the 1841 census which has Ann GREWCOCK, 14, working in a domestic capacity for Joseph and Esther BAILEY.
Thomas died of a fever in Hinckley on 1/2 Nov 1839 aged 56 and is buried in St Mary's Barwell churchyard alongside his wife and other members of the GREWCOCK family. (The headstone gives his date of death as 2 November 1839 while his death certificate gives 1 November.) At his death, Thomas was described as a grazier which fits with Joseph's later career as a dairyman.
