| Notes |
- "John Baker Sr., Edgemont, Shropshire, England died February 25, 1672 as recorded by Friends Meeting there. It is thought some of his children and brothers and sisters came to Pennsylvania in 1684. One of these, John Baker, Jr., who had married in England and lost his wife probably before coming to America, became ill on the voyage, or soon after; he made his will leaving his property to his four daughters: Rebeka, Mary, Dorothy and Sarah. Dorothy later married February 20th, 1694 to Phillip Yarnall, brother of Francis. Joseph Baker was a brother of John Baker Jr., and Hannah Baker was a sister of John Baker Jr., and daughter of John Baker Sr., of Edgemont, England. Hannah Baker married August 4, 1686 to Francis Yarnall."
496 BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
THOMAS BAKER, a retired farmer and surveyor of Colerain township, Lancaster county, was born at Chatham, Chester Co., Pa.. July 13, 1822, son of Lewis and Diana (Jackson) Baker, both of whom were born in Chester county, he in_ 1790, she a few years later.
Mr. Baker traces his ancestry back definitely to Sir Richard Baker. who was born in the county of Kent, England, in 1568, and died in February, 1644. He was the author of the “Chronicles of the Kings of England." His son, John Baker, born in 1598, died about 1672. They are first found in the North of England, where they were property owners in the fifteenth century, and in the seventeenth century were strong supporters of George Fox, and suffered imprisonment under Cromwell. About 1650 representatives of the family were at or near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. The first of the family to come to this country was
(I) Joseph Baker, born in 1630, son of John. before mentioned. He was of Shropshire, England. With his wife, Mary, he settled in Edgemont township, Delaware Co., Pa., in 1685, upon a large tract of land. He was a representative from Chester county in the Provincial Assembly in the years, 1701, 1703, 1706, 1710, 1711 and 1713. He was a member of the Society of Friends. He died in 1716, and his will, dated Dec. 19, 1714, is in the register’s office at Westchester, Pa. His children, all born in England, were: John, Sarah, wife of Thomas Smedley; Robert, and Joseph.
(II) Joseph Baker (2) son of Joseph, born in 1667, died in 1735. He married Martha Wood ward, and ‘they had children as follows: Richard, Aaron, Ann, Susanna, Jane, Jesse, Sarah, Joseph, Rachel, Nehemiah and John.
(III) Aaron Baker, son of Joseph (2), was born in 1701, and died in 1783. He married Mary Edwards, and they had six children: John married Hannah Pennock in 1747. Mary married Thomas Carrington in 1752. Martha married John Clay ton in 1753. Esther married William Chalfant. Aaron is mentioned below. Samuel lived in West Marlboro township, Chester Co., Pa., where he founded a branch of the family.
(IV) Aaron Baker (2), the great-grandfather of Thomas, was born in 1729, in Chester county, where, in 1759, he married Sarah Hayes. They reared the following family: James (who settled near Coatesville, Chester county, where his descendants still live), Nathan, Elisha, Levi, Joshua, Aaron, John, Hannah, Mary, Rachel and Sarah.
(V) Aaron Baker (3), grandfather of Thomas, was born in Chester county in 1767, and died there in 1853. He married Hannah Harland, also a native of Chester county, and their children were as follows: Lewis, the father of Thomas; Reuben, who married Mary Davis; Susanna, William M. Davis: George, who never married; Jacob, who married Lydia Lamborn ; Thomas, who married Ann Rakestraw; Samuel, who married Mary Rakestraw; Aaron, who married M. Ottey; Harland, who married Hannah .Eastburn: and Hannah, unmarried.
(VI) Lewis Baker, father of Thomas, was born in 1790, in Chester county, and in 1820 married Diana Jackson. They settled near Chatham, Chester county, and were farming people all their lives, becoming quite prosperous, and adhering strictly to the Quaker faith. Mr. Baker died in 1835, leaving his widow and three sons. The sons bought a tract of land in Colerain township, on which Thomas Baker was located, the mother remaining in Chester county, where she died in 1853. Thomas was the eldest child: Lewis, the second son, married Mary Greenfield, and located on a farm near the old homestead in Chester county, where he died in 1846, leaving a widow, who still lives on the old home; Robert A. died when a young man.
Thomas Baker was well educated in the public schools of Chester county, and for twenty years was a teacher in the public schools of Lancaster and Chester counties, pursuing that profession long
wife of BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY 497
after his marriage. In 1840 he commenced to study surveying, preparing for that work under Jonathan Goss, at Unionville Academy, Chester county, and it has been his main occupation during most of his active life. He has surveyed over 650 farms in Lancaster and Chester counties, as well as land in Virginia, and made his best survey in 1902, when almost eighty years of age.
Thomas Baker was married in June, 1855, to Miss Eliza, daughter of James and Abigail Jackson, prominent residents of Lancaster county. Mrs. Baker was born in Chester county, in May, 1834, and was for a number of years a teacher in Lan caster county. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Baker began married life on a farm in Colerain township, where he erected a brick house and a frame barn.- There they remained until 1879, when the present hand some brick house on one quarter of the farm was built, in which they have since resided. He is leading a quiet and retired life,‘ doing, however, some little tasks in surveying. His son Lewis has charge of the farm. Mrs. Baker, while on a visit to her son in Philadelphia, in 1893, took cold, and died in that city, her husband and four children, out’ of a family of seven born to them, surviving: (1) Abbie, born in 1856, married Howard Brinton, a farmer of Colerain township,-and died leaving two sons, Thomas B. and Lewis B. (2) Allison, born in 1858, married Miss Anna Maule, of Colerain township, a daughter of J. Comly and S. Emma Maule, and is living on his farm in Sadsbury township. (3) James E., born in 1859, was gradu ated from the State Normal School at Millersville, and is now principal of the Friends Central School, Philadelphia; for some twelve years he has followed teaching very successfully. He married Miss Emma Maclntyre, of Philadelphia, and they have had six children: Walter, born in 1886; Ralph, 1888; Jean etta, 1889 (deceased); Marian, 1891; Edna, 1895; and Eugene, Jr., 1897. (4) Xanthus, born in 1863, married Della Girvin, of Colerain township, and resides on his farm near Union, in that township; they have three children: Arthur, born in 1893; Eliza, 1894; and Victoria, 1896. (5) Lewis, born in 1864, died in childhood. (6) Lydia, born in 1872, died in childhood. (_ 7) Lewis, born in 1870, was a student at the Millersville State Normal, married Miss Kate Girvin, of this county, and they reside at the family homestead, he being manager of his father's farm. He has one son, Richard Veryl, who was born in April, 1897.
Thomas Baker has always been a Republican. He has never aspired to political station, though he was once elected school director in Colerain town ship, when it was strongly Democratic. He and his family are devout adherents to the Quaker faith, to which their ancestors have been committed. Mr. Baker and his wife took a trip to Europe, visiting England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and all of the German states, spending much time in many places of interest. Thomas Baker is a man esteemed y his neighbors for his many good qualities and excellent character, and in disposition he is a man of warm heart and kindly feeling. He is a man of con siderable learning, and is a Latin and French scholar. While in England he purchased a book published in 1548, a commentary on the wars of Europe (in Latin), which he prizes very highly.
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1621 - 1672 (51 years)
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