Early Life and Family
Bailey Willis was born March 31, 1857, the son of poet and publisher Nathaniel Parker Willis and Cornelia Grinnell Willis. At the age of thirteen he was taken to England and Germany for four years of schooling. and thus acquired fluency in German at a time when many scientific texts were only available in that language. He entered Columbia University and in five years completed his studies with the degrees of mechanical (1878) and civil (1879) engineer.
Willis married his cousin, Miss Altona Grinnell, in 1882, but she died in 1896. The couple had two children, Marion, who died in infancy, and Hope, later Mrs. Seward H. Rathbun. In 1898 he married Margaret Baker, daughter of Dr. Frank Baker of Georgetown University, who was also superintendent of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.. The children of his second marriage are Cornelius G. Willis, Robin Willis and Margaret (Mrs. Donald F.) Smith. The family lived for many years on the Stanford University campus. Mrs. Willis died in 1941
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