Questions arise over the exact location of Dailey's Well

Where exactly was Dailey’s Well?

This is the question that ran through my mind recently when a friend showed me a copy of a book called the “Dailey’s Well Cookbook.” My friend, who has deep family roots in the Fatama and Chestnut communities, said he remembered seeing this old well site when he was a boy, but he couldn’t remember if it was in southern Wilcox County or just across the line in northern Monroe County.

This cookbook contained a “Dedication” page written by Gladys Mason. Her remarks were as follows: We dedicate this book to the David and Abigail Dailey Family of Dailey’s Well. To Dailey’s Well, I owe much for the many fond memories I have. During Spring planting time, I would make the trip from my house on my Big Wheel across Browns’ Bridge to Dailey’s Well to be there when Uncle Bob Dailey and Uncle Johnnie Dailey brought the mules in from the fields to get water. The water trough for the mules was a hollowed out pine rail.

While the mules were cooling off, Uncle Bob and Uncle Johnnie cracked pecans for me to eat. The pecans from Uncle Bob’s trees hung in a croaker sack from the top of the well. May Dailey’s Well always stand as “The Tie That Binds” all Dailey cousins together.

A close examination of the book’s cover also provides a clue to the well’s possible location. The cover features a drawing of the well, including the wooden shelter built over it. Beneath the well, in neat script, you’ll see the words “Dailey’s Well, Grampion Hills.”

Many readers will know that the Grampion - often spelled “Grampian” - Hills is a region of hills that runs between Camden and Beatrice. Sources say that the hills were named by early Scottish settlers, who were reminded of the foothills of the Grampian Mountains in Scotland.

While I found no mention of “Browns’ Bridge” in back issues of The Wilcox Progressive Era, I did find one mention of “Dailey’s Well” in the archives. The only mention of this location that I was able to find was in the Feb. 22, 1934 edition of The Progressive Era. That day’s paper included the following short item, under the headline “Thanks For Road Improvement.”

“The citizens of Mim’s Beat take this means of expressing our appreciation to Mr. L.Y. Sadler, CWA officials, and road overseer, Mr. L.J. Hays, for the improvement of our roads, especially the connecting roads from Dailey’s Well with Monroe County.”

From there, I turned to my collection of historical maps of Wilcox County. While I found no reference to Dailey’s Well, I did find a reference to a Dailey community that was located almost due south of Fatama. Sources say that the Dailey community had a post office that opened in 1913 but closed in 1914. Was this the site of Dailey’s Well?

In the end, where exactly was Dailey’s Well located? Do any old remnants of this well remain today? If anyone in the reading audience knows, please let me hear from you, so that we can answer this somewhat unusual local mystery.