As we studied the Bakers of Virginia, we
discovered a very close relationship to the Bakers of Saint Marys City in
Maryland. It was the men of Northampton and the upper James River who helped
Claiborne settled Kent Island beginning about 1628.
Governor William Stone, who was governor during
the turbulent times between Maryland’s Catholics and Virginia’s Puritans, spent
two decades on the Eastern Shore at the exact plantation where the first John
Baker had been declared a headright by Captain William Eppes in 1626, and very
near the company land where Baker spent the years 1623 to 1626. Stone was the first non-Catholic governor,
an attempt by Maryland’s proprietor to demonstrate religious toleration.
Then on June 28, 1652, William Claiborne and
Richard Bennett, with credentials from parliament in England, gave William
Stone a letter indicating that he was to step down as Governor and they were to
bring both Maryland and Virginia into Cromwell's Puritan regime. It was the
same William Claiborne that the men had helped establish Kent Island, and
Bennett was one of the organizers of the Puritan plantation in Virginia. Bennett was a partner with Thomas Eyre,
husband of Susanna Baker. In 1655, Stone and a company of men were trapped in
the Severn River by the Puritan forces and most were killed. Only a few escaped
the massacre that day and mentioned by name were William Stone, Colonel John
Price, Captain Gerrad, Captain Lewis, Captain Kendall, Captain Guither, and
Major (Job) Chandler.
Stone’s reign was very turbulent, and his power
basically ended with the Battle of Severn. Three days after the battle, ten men
were put on the scaffold, and four were hanged before cooler heads prevailed.
Stone went into battle with somewhere between 130 and 200 men, and many or all
were killed or captured but ten. (The information about this episode was
intentionally concealed so as not to draw Cromwell’s wrath.) Those not killed
had their assets taken, but history is quiet about who they were. The four
hanged were William Eltonhead and a German with him, Mr. Leggatt, and William
Lewis. Stone was spared while waiting on the scaffold, but went into retirement
shortly after. A six-year period of persecution against the Catholics and
Church of England Protestants followed.
Our first John Baker was stationed with Eppes on
the Eastern Shore but resettled early in the 1630s on the upper James River at
what we know as City Point, Turkey Island, and Shirley Hundred where he was
apparently a tobacco inspector at the end of his life.
Key Points:
1.
William Smith sat on the council and his widow
married Daniel Jennifer, and we ponder if this was the son of William
Smith of Old Plantation Creek, neighbor of Governor William Stone when he was
living there.
2.
Daniel Jennifer, who sat on the council and was
Stone’s attorney, sold his tavern in
Saint Marys, as well as some properties, to John Baker, and then settled in
Gargatha, Virginia where the grandson of the first John Baker resettled. At Gargatha, Daniel Jennifer purchased a
piece of property called BAKERS FARM.
Was the tavern and Baker’s Farm a swap of property?
3.
Robert Ridgeley died as one of the wealthiest men
in Maryland and the wife of sheriff John Baker of St. Marys City executed his
will.
4.
Daniel Jennifer also administered the 1673 will of
Devoreau Brown whose widow married Colonel John Custis of Arlington House on
Old Plantation Creek, the site where the first John Baker worked for the
Virginia Company. The widow Brown /
Custis then remarried Colonel Edward Hill of Shirley who purchased the exact
land of John Baker of Shirley whose grandson would pay a king’s ransom of
20,000 pounds to buy adjoining land on Old Plantation Creek in 1694. Jennifer
fought under Colonel Southy Littleton with the Eastern Shore soldiers to gain
back Jamestown for Governor William Berkeley.
Governor Berkeley retired to Arlington House on Old Plantation Creek and
here is where the officers gathered for their offensive. Daniel Jennifer and Isaac Foxcroft were two
who distinguished themselves.
5.
John Baker, son of Hugh Baker of Old Plantation
Creek, and grandson of the first John Baker who died at Shirley Hundred,
resettled in Gargatha. After his
father, Hugh Baker, died in 1664, his mother remarried Jacob Bishop and they
resettled in Gargatha.
6.
Across the bay at Saint Marys City, another Hugh
Baker also died that same year, and his widow, Elizabeth, remarried a Robert
Davis, and they also resettled in Gargatha.
7.
Captain Daniel Lewellin, who worked the tobacco
ports of Maryland and Virginia, married the daughter of the first John Baker,
and claimed multiple headrights for an Edward Baker who apparently worked as a
mariner with Lewellin. In 1633, Daniel Lewellin and George Baker were
headrights of Henry Perry near Shirley Hundred on the James River. Perry’s wife was the widow of Richard Pace
and mother of the wife of Richard Baker of Baker’s Plantation next to Merchants
Hope across the river from Shirley Hundred. Henry Perry was called a kinsman in
the will of Francis Potts, brother of Governor John Potts of Virginia, and
second husband of Susanna Baker Eyre.
8.
Daniel Lewellin purchased the John Baker land at
Shirley Hundred on the James River and would sell this land to Captain Edward
Hill who was the 1646 chief executive of Maryland with the provision that
Hill “keepe the housing free for the
entertainment of one Mr. Thomas Noathway for and during the term and
time of seven years.” It was Edward
Hill who married the widow Brown Custis of Old Plantation Creek.
9.
Lewellin’s son-in-law claimed headrights for
William Mumms who had been stationed with John Baker under the command of
William Eppes. Baker’s son, Hugh Baker, married the daughter of William Mumms.
Let’s move forward for a moment to the
best-recorded Baker in Maryland at that time, Sheriff John Baker of St. Marys
was the Innkeeper of St. Marys City before 1673, probably following Daniel
Jennifer who was innkeeper until 1671. Baker,
who may have had apprenticed as a Glover, arrived in Maryland indentured in
1669, and his indenture was completed by 1673. He was married by 1675 to
Elizabeth Bateman, widow of Edward Bateman who immigrated before 1673. Bateman was dead by 1674. Other records indicate that John Baker immigrated
to Maryland as early as 1665 with wife Joan and children John, Sarah, and
Margaret Baker, and that he was awarded 50 acres in 1673 for his service to the
colony. This is certainly compatible with John Baker then marrying Elizabeth
Bateman in 1674.
If Whitelaw was correct, Jennifer had ceased
operating the ordinary by 1671, and John Baker was operating as an innkeeper by
1673 in St Marys City. In 1679 John
Baker acquired a 25-year lease for house and one acre from Governor Thomas
Notley (governor 1674-1675). Note
that the Baker sale at Shirley Hundred stipulated that “keepe the housing free
for the entertainment of one Mr. Thomas Noathway for and during the term
and time of seven years.”
In 1676, JohnBaker started to acquire land and
patented more than 3,000 acres on Eastern Shore. At time of his death, he employed Thomas Beale to run the
ordinary and resided at Bakers Choice near Mill Creek. His estate had a net
positive of 300 pounds, which place him in the top 5% most wealthy at the time
of death. In 1677 he was a member of the Common Council of St. Marys City and
still a councilman in 1685. He was
appointed Sheriff from May 30, 1685 to May 4, 1686. He was county appraiser in 1675, 1676, and 1679. Elizabeth finally sold the ordinary in 1693.
According to a 1938 publication about Saint Marys
City, in 1678 sheriff John Baker leased property on Middle Street in St. Marys
City from Governor Thomas Notley across the street from Robert
Ridgeley, Nicholas Painter, Daniel Clocker and John Lewellin. There
was also the mill built previously by Governor William Stone located near
here. (A John Lewellin had been a
Virginia headright in Charles City County in 1637 adjacent to John Baker of
Shirley and Captain Henry Perry, a kinsman of Captain Francis Potts, wife of
Susanna Baker.)
Genealogy
Edward Bateman = Elizabeth (Died
1712) = (2) John Baker (Died 1687)
1. John
Bateman
2. William
Bateman
3. Elizabeth
Bateman = Thomas Bailey (M1673)
4. Mary
Bateman. In 1665 Mary Bateman involved in legal action with or against
Augustine Herman, Nicholas Spencer.
Nicholas Spencer involved with William Kendall who married Susanna
Baker. Augustine Herman is the
brother-in-law to George Hack who was a neighbor and friend of Captain Edward
Baker in Hacks Neck. Daniel Lewellin
married Edward and Susanne’s sister Anne Baker.
5. Richard
Baker (Marriages and Deaths of St. Marys by Margaret Fresco)
6. James
Baker (Died 1703) married Ann Courtney, daughter of Thomas
7. John
Baker (Colonel) (Will April 22, 1730), born between 1675 – 1679. Inherited
property in 1712, married Ann Courtney, who then married William Thompson. His
son John Baker, inherited BLISTON property in 1712
Our first John Baker’s final property was
inherited from his father-in-law at Shirley Hundred, and Colonel Edward Hill
later purchased it. Thomas Beale
and William Whittington had been October 1657 head rights of Maurice
Rose. Maurice Rose had been a 1637
headright of Walter Aston of Shirley Hundred on land near adjacent to land
Baker would inherit from his stepfather.
Captain William Whittington would reappear on Old Plantation Creek where
John Baker had started, and his son, Colonel William Whittington sold fifteen
hundred acres of the land originally patented by Captain William Eppes on Old
Plantation Creek, and married the daughter of Tabitha Scarborough Brown Smart
Custis Hill, Tabitha Smart.
Edmund Scarborough
| Tabitha Scarborough = Devereaux
Brown = John Smart = John Custis [1] = Col. Edward Hill [2]
| Tabitha Smart = Wm
Whittington
Note that John Custis purchased the
old William Eppes – William Stone land from William Whittington on Old
Plantation Creek, and then Colonel Edward Hill purchased the John Baker
property at Shirley Hundred.
Meanwhile in 1658, Thomas Beale was again
the headright, this time of Thomas House on the Potomac River with William
Bateman (son of Edward Bateman?) and James Beale, and another Thomas
Beale. Thomas Beale later worked for
John Baker at the tavern in Saint Marys, and John Baker married the widow of
Edward Bateman, father of a William Bateman, and by 1698, Beale and sheriff
John Baker’s son were both justices.
The first time we met William Goldsmith is when he
was guardian of the children of George Hack of Hacks Neck because neighbor and
friend Edward Baker had given Hack’s children each a gift of a horse, which
were still quite rare. Edward Baker was
the son of John Baker of Shirley Hundred and sailed as a mariner with Daniel
Lewellin working from ports in Charles County, Maryland.
This land extract convinced me that there was
indeed some earlier connection among the Bakers.
Thomas Beale (at Baker’s
tavern) and William Goldsmith (mutual friend of George Hack with Edward
Baker) sold the property BELLAINE originally patented by sheriff John Baker.
[Vol. 10, page 247. November 1, 1707]: Thomas
Baker and John Baker of St. Marys City, and William Goldsmith and his wife
Elizabeth, lately Elizabeth Ridgeley of Robert Ridgeley, son of Robert, of St.
Marys City left land called BELLAINE on the east side of the Choptank River
called Wicomico near Koons Bank to George Hutchins.
Sheriff John Baker’s Properties:
1. 600
acres in Caroline County called BAKERS PLAINE patented in 1682
2. 500
acres in Dorchester County called SHADWELL in 1684
3. 510
acres in Dorchester called SHEELES in 1684
4. 500
acres in Dorchester called BURFORDS HOPE in 1685
5. 500
acres in Kent called CHEAPSIDE in 1684
6. 500
acres in Kent called BAKERS CHANCE in 1685
7. 500
acres in Kent called GROVE in 1685, with Thomas Beale
8. A
lot in St Marys City called BAKERS CHOICE in 1677
9. 1.25
acres in St Marys City called The GOVERNORS FRIENDSHIP in 1681
10. 200
acres on St. Clears Creek granted Baker by George Warner in 1676
11. A
parcel on St Clears Creek granted Baker by William Holmes
12. 500
acres on St Jeromes Creek granted Baker by William Guither
13. 50
Acres on Blue Stone Creek granted Baker by Elias and Sarah Beech
14. 200
acres in St Marys City called BROAD NECK granted by Robert Mason in 1681
Shadwell was another Baker property; 500
acres settled in 1685 on the Choptank River. That property had been owned by
Daniel St. Thomas Jennifer whose father settled the land called BAKERS FARM in
Accomac around GARGATHA where we found so many of the Baker descendants. Daniel
Jennifer had settled the will of the famous Southey Littleton who had as a
guardian Daniel Baker, son of the John Baker of Shirley. Daniel Jennifer was
the attorney in St. Marys for Sheriff John Baker.
In a Somerset County record, we found Elizabeth
Baker; relict of John Baker of St. Mary tied in a bond with Thomas Harrison and
John Luffin, and this mentioned Garrett Van Swearingen, John Baker’s neighbor in
St Marys City.
We believe Elizabeth Baker may have remarried
William Goldsmith who we find in 1707 with Thomas Beale and wife Elizabeth
Baker Goldsmith handling the estate of Robert Ridgeley of St Marys City. They assigned the estate of BELLAINE on the
Choptank River, which was upriver from Issac Baker’s BAKERS FOLLEY (1684). It
was originally patented by Robert Ridgeley of St Indigoes and eventually
inhabited by sheriff John Baker. This
land was sold to George Hutchins. In Somerset in 1723, George Hutchins lived
near Captain Charles Ballard, who in 1665 entered Somerset from St. Marys with
an Elizabeth Baker, daughter of Edward Baker.
William Goldsmith's brother's name was Thomas Notley Goldsmith, and it
was John Notley who gave Baker his authorization to operate the tavern for
twenty-five years.
Elizabeth Baker was the executor of the estate of
Robert Ridgeley, one of the wealthiest men in Maryland. Her husband John Baker was in the top 5% in
assets and his 300 compared to the 900 pounds of Ridgeley.
In testimony by Elizabeth Baker on December 12,
1687, she said that Robert Guither (survivor of Battle of Severn) sold Robert
Mason BROAD NECK on April 10, 1677 in St Marys Hundred adjacent to Thomas
Griffin (Died 1665, wife Lucy). On
March 3, 1680, Mason sold it to sheriff John Baker. John Baker made the land over to Thomas Bayle who had married
Baker’s wife’s daughter, Elizabeth Bateman. There seems to be a connection to
Thomas Bayly of the Upper James and Richard Bayly of Hacks Neck who claimed head
rights for Hangate Baker, and there was also a Richard Bayly at Shirley Hundred
in 1638 adjacent to the first John Baker.
In 1649, Richard Bayly was granted
700 acres on Cradicks Creek, (Cradock Creek in lower Accomac County) on
September 15, 1649 for fourteen persons, many known Quakers, including the
eleven above. The fourteen were: Elizabeth Lacy, Edward Tripp, Phillip
Landford, John Butcher, James Wren, Henry Wood (Weed), Frauncis White, William
Wheeler, Hangatt Baker, Thomas Bournham, William Howes, Elizabeth
Wheatley, Lydia Wheatley, and Ambrose Dixon, a well known Quaker who first
settled near Hacks Neck in a grant with Stephen Horsey, but became one of the
orignial settlers of Someset County, Maryland with Stephen Horsey.
In Accomac County, we discovered that Robert Mason
married Temperance Waddilow. Her mother
had first married Garrett Anderson then wealthy landowner Nicholas
Waddilow. Garrett had worked on the development
of Kent Island and indentured to him was Hangate Baker. Garrett’s father
was Captain William Andrews. The name change may have been because he was a
Quaker. Garrett resided near Hacks Neck
with his wife Amey Waddilow as had her prior husband, Nicholas Waddilow.
Nicholas moved the entire family to Saint Marys City in 1658 but died that same
year. Her third husband was Thomas
Fowke who operated the Puncoteaque Tavern where all official meetings were
held.
Daughter Amey Waddilow married John Abbott who had
also been a taxpayer on Kent Island in 1642 with Garrett and Hangate Baker.
Sister Patience married William Nock of GARGATHA and sister Temperance married
Robert Mason, whose daughter Elizabeth married Robert Parker of GARGATHA. Our ancestor John Baker, grandson of the
first John Baker of Shirley Hundred, purchased the Robert Parker property in
Gargatha. It is possible that this John
Baker married the widow Elizabeth Mason Parker.
Nicholas Waddilow = Amey = (2)
Garrett Anderson
| Amey = John Abbott | Temperance = Robert Mason | Patience = Wm Nock | John Wallop
John Baker /Barker patented FENWICKS CHOICE by
right of Thomas Fenwick in April 1685 which he then assigned to Woodman
Stockley of Gargatha. Thomas was the
son of mariner Cuthbert Fenwick of St. Marys City. As you can see, Fenwick was not too distant from the lands
between Whaleyville and Gumboro that would be pioneered by his grandsons.
Woodman Stockley was a cousin to Elizabeth Mason and Robert Parker of Gargatha.
Nicholas Waddilow of Hack's Neck, then a major
port in Virginia, was an immediate neighbor of Dr. George Hack. Hack's children
had been mentioned in the will of mariner Edward Baker in 1664. Edward Baker
sailed with Daniel Lewellin and their names appear frequently in both Maryland
and Virginia ports. After Hack's death
in 1664, William Goldsmith was appointed guardian of Hack's children.
Time Line
In 1631, Claiborne led an expedition up the Chesapeake
In 1632 Henry Baker was an
original Adventurer in St. Marys.
In 1633 Richard Baker at Kent Island with William
Claiborne.
In 1634, Lord Baltimore granted
Maryland as a settlement for Catholics and years of struggle with William
Claiborne will continue until 1638. George Evelin resettles at Manor of
Evelington at St Marys and brings Andrew Baker and Thomas Baker. Alexander
follows the next year. Andrew Baker
died the following year mentioning James Courtney. George Evelin and Henry Fleet both had major St. Marys properties
adjacent to BAKERS CHOICE. [Indentured servants to Clobery and Company were:
Jonathan Ayscue, Edward Deering, Andrew Baker, Thomas Baker, William
Williamson, John Hatch, Philip West, John Dandy, and John Hobson]
1642. The governor's council consists of Gyles Brent,
John Leweger, Thomas Green, Thomas Gerrard, and James Neale.
1642 Hangate Baker owes taxes on
Kent Island before going to Northampton, Va.
1646. On July 30, Colonel Edward
Hill was appointed as a temporary CEO of Maryland. Hill had land patents on the
upper James River and in 1656 purchased Shirley on the upper James River from
Daniel Lewellin who had purchased it from John Baker.
1647. Governor Thomas Green
1648. Governor William Stone,
who lived 20 years on Old Plantation Creek appointed as Maryland governor.
1649. Inge raids St Marys City
1652. On June 28, 1652, William
Stone relieved as Maryland governor by a committee led by Puritans Richard
Bennett and William Claiborne. Stone attempts to hang onto power by negotiation
until Calvert returns from England, but is out of office by the next year.
Puritan leader Edward Lloyd wrote a letter on January 30, 1653 explaining the
Puritan point of view and it was published in London. (Mentioned were Edward
Lloyd, William Fuller, Richard Preston, Richard Durand, Captain John Smith,
Richard Wells, and John Lawson.) There is additional pressure and Stone is out
of office later that year. In 1655, Stone reassumed power and reorganized his
military to put down a Puritan rebellion in Ann Arundel County. John Baker sat on the Privy Council with Daniel
Jennifer, John Baker, Robert Ridgeley.
Ridgeley came over in 1635 on the same ship as Hangate Baker (Kent
Island) and became one of the wealthiest men in the colony and his estate
settled. Elizabeth Baker settled his estate. William Stone forced into
retirement, thirty plus of his supporters killed or executed. A period of
religious persecution against Catholics and other Protestants from 1655 to 1661
follows. Edward Hill buys Shirley from
John Baker’s son-in-law, Daniel Lewellin.
1658, a large patent across the
Potomac River in Virginia by Thomas Woodhouse seems to include William Bateman
and Thomas Beale.
1660s. Elizabeth Baker, daughter of Edward Baker of Hacks
Neck, is apparently married to a Thomas
Green of Maryland
1661 William Baker a witness to
Forker Fissell of St. Marys County (December 13)
In 1664, Captain Edward Baker,
associate of Captain Daniel Lewellin, died at sea from London to Virginia
In 1664, Hugh Baker of St. Marys
City died, left a widow Elizabeth, who remarried Robert Davis. They resettled
in GARGATHA.
1660s On March 3, 1665, the will of Hugh Baker
of St. Marys City was taken and appraised at 7 pounds. His wife Elizabeth
remarried a Robert Davis and they resettled in GARGATHA in Accomac,
Virginia. There were debts mentioned in
the settlement to a Hugh Baker, John Baker, and Daniel Clocker Jr. That same
year, another Hugh Baker died, and his widow and her husband resettled in
GARGATHA also. Daniel Clocker Sr. had
been in St. Marys as early as 1650, and Clocker Jr. lived in St. Marys City in
1665 and was married to a Patience Baker. In 1675, sheriff John Baker appraised
his estate. Her sister was Mary Baker,
and they were daughters of William and Mary Baker of St. Marys whose will would
be administered by sheriff John Baker in 1675. Daniel Clocker and his wife Patience
would be 1675 neighbors of sheriff John Baker in St. Marys. New husband Robert Davis claimed headrights
for a Jonathon Baker in 1665, and In 1670, a Hugh Baker was recorded across the
river in Northumberland with William Flowers witnessed the gift of a calf by
Jonathon Baker to his daughter Ann Price. In 1672 Robert Davis patented 350
acres in the Quaker area of Muddy Creek (actually GARGATHA) in Accomac.
In 1669, Baker apparently came
into Maryland as an indentured servant.
By 1673, he had finished his contract. In 1674, John Baker was a witness
to a land patent by Daniel Jennifer and Thomas Courtney. Neighbor Van
Swearingen was a co-witness. Baker’s
son married Courtney’s daughter. Va
Swearingen, and John Baker witnessed the land sale between Daniel Jennifer and
Thomas Courtney for the 100-acre COMEWAY.
1670s In 1670, Jonathan Baker was a witness to
Richard Moy of St Marys and Daniel Jennifer witnessed his will. Elizabeth Moy
mentions Elizabeth Baker. This will was resubmitted on December 9, 1675 and
this time mentioned Garret Van Swearingen and Richard Chillman.
A George Baker, Mariner,
sometimes is mentioned in bills of sale in 1670. He had been called a cousin by John Webster of Virginia.
In 1672, Daniel Jennifer
patented SHADWELL, which was granted to John Baker of St Marys City, which he
reassigned to John Pierce and his wife Elizabeth. It appears to be Baker’s first land and therefore most important.
A Robert Collier willed this property to his son in 1702, but in 1674 Collier
had assigned other land to Isaac Foxcroft of Northampton, Virginia who was
distinguished with Daniel Jennifer for their bravery during Bacon’s Rebellion
under the command of Nathaniel Littleton. Foxcroft married the granddaughter of
Francis Potts, and Nathaniel Littleton’s will was settled by Daniel Baker,
brother of mariner Edward Baker (D1664).
Daniel and his sister Susanna Baker were responsible for Nathaniel
Littleton’s orphan children.
In 1673, Daniel Jennifer
witnessed the will of a George Parker who held significant land near
GARGATHA. Jennifer settled the will of
Devoreaux Brown whose widow subsequently married Colonel Edward Hill of
Shirley, and who served as Maryland’s CEO. He also settled the estate of Southy
Littleton whose father had left Daniel and Susanna Baker as overseers of his
children. Daniel and Susanna were
children of John Baker of Shirley.
1673 Wm. Jones of Northampton
granted DONCASTER, claiming head right for Edward Baker.
1673-1675, married the widow
Elizabeth Bateman
In 1674, Jonathon Baker, glover,
assigned his rights received from John Hollingsworth to Joseph Smith and
William Colburn of Somerset.
1674; Richard Baker, gentleman,
came to the citation regarding the will of Samuel Crefsay.
In 1674, a Caleb Baker, Mariner,
is a major player in the area. He
administered Augustine Herman’s will. In this year, he executed the will of
William Hatloff, late of Bristol, who declared the goods on his ship to be
administered by friends Caleb Baker and Major Edward Fitzherbert. He lived at Indigoes Creek. Mentioned were
Robert Ridgeley, John Barnes, and Garrett Van Swearingen. . 1676 Caleb Baker
executed will of William Haft (December 19).
In 1675, Baker was county
appraiser.
1675. Maurice Baker of Charles
County was mentioned in the will of William Crouch.
In 1675, John Baker administered
the estate of William and Mary Baker, both deceased in 1675 with an estate
worth 3,500 pounds. Baker's will would request that Garrett Van Swearingen or
John Barnes take their children, Mary Baker and Patience Baker, as guardians
but they both refused. Both Barnes and Van Swearingen had been owed money by
William Baker. Thomas Courtney and John Baker as well as Richard Chillman were
mentioned as beng involved in the settlement of the estate. A Robert Smith was
paid off, and Van Swearingen finally settled the estate in 1677. John Baker,
neighbor Richard Chillman, and neighbor Thomas Courtney would administer the
sale of their estate. John Barnes came
forward to make a deposition. He had been at Isle of Wight in Virginia and his
son was involved with land around GARGATHA.
August 18, 1675, John Backer and
Jone Baker witnessed Thomas Greenfield of St Charles County who in his will
left personality to John Baker. John Baker's daughter Sarah Baker married John
Lambert in 1685.. Note that a John Baker was awarded 50 acres ten years before
with wife Joan Baker, and son John Baker. (In Virginia, just below the
community of the upper James River, a Robert Greenfield and Robert Mason were
headrights of Thomas Markam, a neighbor at Shirley Hundred of John Baker and
Daniel Lewellin. Robert’s wife married Thomas Walker.)
1675. The map shows the close
location of some important persons. Baker’s neighbor Daniel Clocker was married
to Patience Baker, daughter of William and Mary Baker, and the two daughters of
neighbor Thomas Courtney were married to the sons of John Baker. Baker Brook was the military commander who
settled here in 1658
On August 15, 1676, Captain
Roger Baker of Wapping, Middlesex, England with lands in Maryland wrote his
will, and he had a brother named John Baker.
Mentioned brother-in-law Abraham Hughes of Echington, Berkshire. Roger had land in Accomac. Thomas Courtney mentioned in an
administration of the Roger Baker will.
He left sister Mary Clark, son Roger Baker Jr., daughter Honor Baker,
and his daughter Mary Baker married Maryland Governor Thomas Johnson. Caleb Baker executed it. We think that brother John Baker may have
been sheriff John Baker because he started to acquire his lands after this
Roger Baker will.
In 1676, Robert Ridgeley was the
attorney for Sheriff John Baker
In 1676, John Baker began to
acquire a great deal of land.
In 1677, Rebecca Baker married
Jonathon Beale of St. Marys.
In 1679, John Baker Jr. of St.
Mary's County (wife Mary Courtney) patented land on the south side of the
Choptank River in Dorchester County on Hunting Creek. This John Baker had
married the sister of Nicholas Courtney and inherited the land from her and
assigned it to Nicholas Painter, all neighbors in St. Marys. Thomas Courtney and Nicholas Painter were
neighbors in St. Marys City of sheriff John Baker.
In 1679, Daniel Jennifer of St
Marys City settled the estate of Southy Littleton of Virginia. Southy had been left as an orphan and his father
provided for Daniel Baker and Susanna Baker Eyre to look after Southy. Daniel and Susanna were children of John
Baker of Shirley.
1679 Thomas Baker witnessed will
of John Casson (December 23).
1680s In 1683, Richard Hill assigned land in
Maryland to Jonathon Baker. Hill’s daughter married the son of Thomas Eyre and
Susanna Baker. Hill also involved with some land with Isaac Baker of St Marys
who patented land on the Nanticoke River 1689.
In 1684, Caleb Baker immigrated
to St Marys County. He administered the
will of Augustine Herman, brother-in-law to Edward Hack, Captain Edward Baker’s
friend. He was a witness to the will of John Barnes whose son had land in
GARGATHA. Caleb is apparently a mariner
and mentioned in many transactions.
In 1685, George Parker was an
attorney for John Baker in St Marys. Parker later purchased a significant
parcel of land from Daniel Jennifer at Gargatha, Accomac.
The will of Thomas Baker of
nearby Charles County, Maryland was presented on September 5, 1685. will to wife
Martha, witnessed by Edward Butler, Edward Nibbs, Chris Johnson, Robert Huc
(November 18) In 1650, Thomas moved to
Myrtle Bay in Prince Georges County and used this a base for his extensive
maritime operations in Maryland and Virginia.
He was a witness to the will of John Casson in 1679. His wife was Martha who we think remarried
John Harrison (D1687) and his son Thomas Baker married Martha Britt. He
mentioned unnamed children but we have identified two of them as Thomas Baker
Jr., and Elizabeth Baker Smith, wife of Anthony Smith. She was left personality by Jarvis Pearle’s
will of 1686, and John Pearle was mentioned in the will of John Baker (Ann
Arundel), Mariner of Dover, Kent in his will of 1722. That same year, John
Baker of Ann Arundel sold BAKERS DELIGHT to John Buckingham. In 1667, Thomas Baker had gotten into some
trouble for calling Job Chandler, a fried of William Stone, a “spindell shanked
dog.” Chandler had married the daughter
of Adam Thorogood of Lynnhaven, brother-in-law of John Baker of Mayfield and
Lynnhaven.
In 1684, the will of Richard
Lloyd of St Marys County left his estate to a group of people; Elizabeth, the
widow of Hugh Baker, god daughter Dorothy Taylor, John English, Henry Fipps,
Richard Forest, and Edward Williamson. Richard Lloyd was in Pitts Creek in 1675
and sold land to John Merrill whose sister married Thomas Baker of Pitts Creek,
eldest son of Hugh Baker of the other Hugh Baker of Northampton.
1685 John Woodman assigned John
Baker (Gargatha) FENWICKS CHOICE.
1687, sheriff John Baker died.
1687. In another Somerset land
record, "Elizabeth relict of John Baker of St. Mary was bonded with Thomas
Harrison and John Lufflin" and this mentioned Garret Van Swerigen, a
neighbor of the Sheriff in St. Marys
In 1683, Captain Richard Hill, a
1637 headright on Old Plantation Creek, granted Jonathon Baker of “late of Ann
Arundel” land. of William Stone’s brother-in-law. He was a mariner and reported
in several land grants; in 1637 to John Neale of Old Plantation Creek. Issac Baker of St. Marys was a witness to
the will of a Robert Hill (deceased) administered by Richard Hill of Ann
Arundel in 1686. Richard Hill married
the daughter of soldier Sir Robert Drake who died in Northampton very shorty
after his arrival. (He had the same coat of arms as Sir Robert Drake). Hill’s
daughter Mary Hill married captain John Eyre (Ayers), son of Thomas Eyre and
his wife Susanna Baker. Settlers were recruited from Thomas Eyre’s plantation
to go to Ann Arundel in 1648. Daughter
Patience Hill married John Drummond of GARGATHA who fled Accomac in 1692 as a
Quaker. Richard Hill and Joseph
Harrison were both involved in administering the estates of William Bateman in
1686, and William Barker in 1686.
1684. James Cullen of St. Marys
mentioned John Baker and Captain Thomas Allen in his 1684 will.
1684. Both sheriff John Baker
and Thomas Beale patented GROVE.
1685 John Baker of St. Mary's,
Sheriff. Daniel Jennifer is his attorney.
1686, John Baker of GARGATHA
granted 400 acres of FENWICKS CHOICE
1688 Sister Anne Acton Baker by
John Acton of Ann Arundel. (May 3)
1689, Issac Baker (D1689) now of
SUNSETTING on the Nanticioke River, previously mentioned with Thomas Purnell
(Somerset) Richard Hill and Jonathan Baker in Ann Arundel, had a son named John
Baker (B1684). Issac patented BAKERS
FOLLEY before he died that year in the Delaware River. In Ann Arundel a James Baker also patented a
BAKERS FOLLEY. In 1722, a James Baker
sold BAKERS FOLLEY to John and Thomas Huffington. See 1722.
1690s 1692, Jonathan Baker was a witness to the
will of Fobbe Roberts of St Marys on June 10, 1692 who mentioned niece Ellinor
Courtney and nephew John Johnson.
A James Baker made claim to
BAKERS FOLLEY in Dorchester.
1694, John Baker/Barker buys
land from Daniel Jennifer at GARGATHA, Accomac, Va.
1699 Joseph Baker of Calvert
County to brother William Baker in Gilford, Surrey England, John Leach Jr. to
take charge of my estate for my said brother.
On March 3 1707, Thomas Beale of St. Mary's, William
Goldsmith and his wife Elizabeth, executor of Robert Ridgeley of St. Mary's,
assigned to George Hutchins of Somerset the land tract BELLAINE on east side of
the Choptank River and the Wicomico River near Koons Bank.
On August 21, 1712, Elizabeth
Baker’s will was presented and she left her land to son John Baker and grandson
John Baker.
In 1722, Issac Baker’s son, John
Baker, sold BAKERS FOLLEY .See 1707.
In 1721, Audry Taxlaurd of St
Marys mentioned Richard Lewellin, grandson of John and Margaret Lewellin, and
Ann Baker, widow of John Baker, and her son John Baker.
In 1722, a John Baker, sold
portions of BELLAINE which was on the Rockawalking Branch and therefore near
SUNSETTING.
That same year, James Baker sold
BAKERS FOLLEY to John and Thomas Huffington, sons of James Huffington (B1648)
and his wife Elizabeth Easton (B1657) of FENWICK. FENWICK had been bought and sold by John Baker of GARGATHA in
1686.
At the death of James Baker
(BAKERS FOLLEY) in 1725, a William Baker, George Baker, and John Baker
witnessed his will.
In 1730, in the Nanticoke
Hundred records of 1730 and 1740, the names Thomas Baker and William Baker
appear adjacent to one another, and adjacent to a clan of Huffingtons including
John Sr., John Jr., Jonathan, Richard, and Thomas Huffington.