Lois Marie Baker Smith was born 1925 in Tampa, Florida and died 1971 in Northampton, Massachusetts. She married Marshall Kitchener Smith in 1947 and had five children; Dereka, Brian, Tamar, Sybil and Katherine Margaret. She was the daughter of Clarence and Madge (Clark) Baker and had one sibling, Charles Orville Baker (1929 - 2007).
The depth of my knowledge about the Baker line is not a match for its length. Four of the first five generations of Baker men in colonial America had wives whose maiden names are unknown and there are blanks in later generations as well.
Baker is a common name in America and there were many Baker families who came here in the early days. Our line is descended from Thomas Baker (1638 - 1710) who emigrated to Dedham but was in Newport, Rhode Island by 1653. By trade he was a tailor but he was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1655. It may safely be assumed that he left Massachusetts because his religious beliefs came in conflict with the Puritan theocracy in that state. In 1656 he and others left the First Baptist Church of Newport and formed a second congregation. In 1664 he left Newport for Kingston and formed a new church there. he was pastor of the Kingston church until his death in 1710, a period of some forty years.
The next three Baker men in the line were all named Thomas and the maiden names of their wives are not known. The third Thomas, grandson of the immigrant, moved with his family from Rhode Island to the part of present day New York known as The Beekman Patent. In 1741 he leased a farm of 218 acres in lot 9 of the Poughquag Purchase. This farm was located where the Green Haven Prison now stands, immediately adjacent to Route 84, a major highway in New York State. On my several trips past the prison I have thought of Thomas Baker and his family and how inconceivable they would find the changes. Perhaps there is some remote corner of the prison land where an old stream still runs, where the remnants of a wall may be found or where a line of hills in the horizon would be recognizable to them. Let it be so.
The fourth Thomas, son of the man who moved to New York, died in 1802 "somewhat stricken in years" and didn't leave much record but the same is not true of one of his sons, our ancestor Gideon Baker. I will leave Gideon for the next installment.
1 comment:
lovely blog!
I would love to know more about the first Thomas Baker. Other sources seem to indicate he was born in Dedham, England, rather than emigrated to Dedham, MA .... do you have any further details about him?
I suspect my Elizabeth Baker, b.c. 1743, is a descendant of his but cannot make the connection. She was supposedly born in North Kingstown, RI, which surely connects her somehow to the Baker family, as Thomas established the Six Principle Baptist Church there, of which Elizabeth and her husband, Peter Wright, were members.
Other potential connections: The Wrights moved north to Shaftsbury, VT, when the British occupied Rhode Island during the Revolution, but one branch of the family later spent time in Dutchess County, in or near the Beekman Patent. My experience is that family connections are often the reason a new home site is chosen.
And a personal connection: my 13 year old son played Ashoken Farewell on his cello at my mother's funeral - glad to see another devotee of a beautiful piece of music.
dresj@comcast.net
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