Cyrus Baker,James Baker,William Baker,George Baker, George Baker [?], William Baker, John Baker, Hugh Baker, John Baker

Cyrus Goldsboro Baker

Cyrus Goldsboro Baker (1841-1921)

On February 13, 1854, uncle Thomas S. Baker, elder brother of the deceased James Baker, gave permission to Lemuel Truitt and William P. Hammond to indenture "Silas G. Baker" to Charles Collins to learn the "trade and mystery of house carpenter" until January 4, 1862 when he would be 21 years of age. Therefore, his birth date was January 4, 1841. Lemuel Truitt was a Justice of Peace and an uncle via his mother, a member of the Truitt family. In this indenture we learn that "Silas will be 14 years of age on January 4, 1855", and "his father James Baker died in Delaware". Edward Whaley also signed this indenture. We suspect the surname Goldsboro was taken from family neighbor, Goldsboro Blades, county constable and Justice of the Peace during the time of his grandfather. Cyrus is well remembered by family members, lived a very Christian life, was known as a healer, and told "yarns" to his grandchildren.

We know that Cyrus ran away from the home to which he had been sent when he was twelve. This was 1853 and coincides with the death of his father James. We also know that Seaford, Delaware was the first town in which he went to live and he worked shining shoes, and this is where he contracted small pox that scarred his face.

Apparently Cyrus lived the life of an Oliver Twist for seven years until his older brother, Josiah Baker, became his legal guardian in 1860 and took him back to Virginia. Cyrus learned the trade of Ship's Carpenter and soon found his way to sea.

While at sea, Cyrus was caught in a blizzard off of New Jersey, which froze the rigging and blew the ship to sea for three days until they finally drifted near shore in North Carolina. Cyrus and another seaman flipped a coin to see who would bring a line ashore for the remainder of the crew to use to climb to shore. Cyrus won the toss, and the other seaman lost his life when he froze to death on those Carolina beaches that winter.

We also know that Cyrus enlisted into the union army while his ship was in port in Trenton, New Jersey. He enlisted in Company 1, Second Regiment as a foot soldier at the age of twenty on April 16, 1861. When Cyrus enlisted, he was 5'9", of average build, had light hair and blue eyes. He grew a beard in his golden years. The above is a photo of a portrait painted on the day after Cyrus and Fanny were married.

He remained in the army for only three months and his tour of duty brought him back to Salisbury, Maryland. While camped in Salisbury across from the Giant Food store where the Giant Drug store is located (1999), he and several more soldiers were ordered to take a condemned fellow soldier down to the lower Eastern Shore to see his family one last time before the execution date. They had to walk the entire distance and they started to feel sorry for this fellow so told him to walk down the lane to the farm house in the distance and get them some food, fully expecting him to escape. They tried this on several occasions but the young man always dutifully returned with the food. They figured he was so dumb that he deserved whatever he got. At least that's the story that Cyrus told. I know that my father loved to hear his grandfather's tales, especially about his military experience at Gettysburg. It wasn't until we later compared dates did we realize that Cyrus was in the military several years AFTER the battle of Gettysburg. The one believable story that he told was about the rude treatment at a bar in New York City. The proprietor gave Cyrus and his friend a terrible time. Afterwards, as they sailed to new ports, they would find heavy rocks or sand and package it very nicely so they could send it "collect" back to that New York bar.

Cyrus was enlisted under the name of "Silas C. Baker". This may have been a clerical error, or it may have been a strong "Eastern Shore" accent, which created this confusion. For whatever the reason, this mistake would later cause Cyrus a great deal of grief and bureaucratic paperwork when he later tried to get a government pension. In fact, his civil war tombstone in the Parsonburg Cemetery has "Silas C. Baker" inscribed on it! On June 27, 1861, he was released from the army. Although Cyrus liked to tell his grandchildren in exact detail about the battle of Gettysburg, that battle was not fought for another two years after Cyrus was released. [To be fair to Cyrus, we do not know if he again joined the military and was at Gettysburg, but found no record of it, other than the fact that Cyrus was able to claim more years for his government pension than we can account for as well as two full years in the military.] Perhaps he could read the future, but I think he had learned to "spin yarns" from his early years at sea.

Sometime after his release from the military, Cyrus found his way to New York City and may have actually worked in a small store. While in New York, Cyrus met Fanny Henry Smith (1839-1926) who was born very near Whaleyville, Maryland. Fanny was working in a hat shop in New York. They had not known one another in Maryland, perhaps because Cyrus ran away from home at such an early age. Fanny and Cyrus were married on January 5, 1865 in New York City in the home of Fanny's sister on 122 "C" Street. Her sister had married James Knox. The Rev. Loomis of the 2nd Street Methodist Church married Cyrus and Fanny. Later, Cyrus lost his marriage documents and discovered that the church in New York and been converted to a Jewish Temple. Without his official documents, and with several letters from the officials in New York, Cyrus had to write the government to attempt to prove his marriage. In his letter, he listed the following people as witnesses to his marriage to Fanny Smith. They were: Mrs. J.S. Truitt, Mrs. Everett Truitt, Mrs. Jones, Martha Hancock, and sister in law Mrs. George Scott. This is a copy of a note that Cyrus had to write to his local church about his New York wedding.

Cyrus gave up New York City life quickly and began to work on a three masted coal schooner that traveled from the Carolinas to New York. In 1866, Cyrus was also doing some oystering work as we found an invoice for $32 from Cyrus to A.M. Whealton for oystering during the winter of 1866. In the census of 1870, Cyrus and Fanny were residing in Puncoteaque, Virginia with two children, George Baker (B1866) and Emory Baker (B1869). Cyrus owned land worth $200, and had personal assets of $100 according to this census.

We have a copy of military orders, which indicate that Cyrus was First Mate of the Winter Quarter Light Ship. These orders were dated December 1, 1875. Therefore, it would seem that Cyrus had stopped working on the coal ship by this time. A son, William Thomas Baker was born to Cyrus and Fanny Baker on Wallops Island Beach in 1879. From September 1, 1880 through May 1, 1882, Cyrus was employed at the Green Run Life Saving Station on Green Run Beach on Assateaque Beach. According to the records, Cyrus gave his post office box as Chincoteaque, Virginia, his experience was listed as a boatman and fisherman, he was age 40 at the time of the report, and he indicated he had been in the army for two years, and that he was employed on September 1, 1880 at Green Run, and was dismissed on May 1, 1882 because he was "troublesome". In fact, the family claims that Cyrus was employed at Green Run on Assateaque Island for twelve years but no record can be found of this. George Baker, Cyrus's oldest son served with him for eight years, yet the government has no records of either man. According to family legend, the station keeper destroyed all the records because he was upset with the government. Perhaps his time at Winter Quarter Light Ship accounts for part of the time.

Cyrus Goldsboro Baker has a very large dossier in the National Archives. A few papers refer to his service in the Union Army, and the remainder are to do with Cyrus and his lawyers attempting to get a federal pension. In 1890, he was living in Spence, Maryland with his son George Baker. He first applied on June 27, 1891, and finally received a pension in 1895 for eight dollars a month, and it was based on his getting heart disease and rheumatism in the service. At the turn of the century, Cyrus sold flour for the Wyoming Flour Mills of Wyoming, Delaware. His pension was increased to $12 per month in 1920 just before he died.

Cyrus and Fanny had six male children, and three of them had red hair. Perhaps this is an indication that James or Julia Baker had red hair. Although he ran away from home when he was twelve and without much education, in a period when it was common for people not to read and write, Cyrus wrote very well, and he read a newspaper every day. He was very religious, and quite robust until his later years. Cyrus became one of my favorite ancestors as we discovered information on him and slowly realized all the hardships that this man overcame in his life. "Gold" died in 1921, and is buried in Parsonsburg, Maryland.

His obituary was as follows, and of course, they also got his name wrong! The Wicomico News, Salisbury, Md. Thursday, February 10, 1921. C. G. Baker. "The death of Curtis Goldsborough Baker occurred at his home near Salisbury last week of the infirmities of old age. Internment was made in Parsonsburg Cemetery Tuesday. Mr. Baker was 80 years and 27 days old, and had been a member of the M. E. Church for 53 years. He was a Civil War Veteran. His early life was spent as a sailor. He leaves a widow and two sons, George H. Baker of Salisbury, and Thomas W. Baker of Portsmouth, Va."

Fanny Henry Smith

Fanny Henry Smith was the daughter of Henry Smith and Fanny Lane. Henry descended from Henry Smith who was asked to survey Maryland for the Lord proprietor of Maryland. She was also reported to be a nice person, and her grandchildren remember that she was always light hearted and filled with fun. A six-year-old slave girl was assigned to Fanny when she was just a baby. She must have been a strong person to be able to live on Assateaque Island for so many years without doctors and very limited transportation to the mainland.

Her father, Henry A. Smith (B1806), was a lawyer, schoolteacher, a slaveholder, and gentleman farmer. At this writing, we do not know what the middle initial A. would represent. He had inherited quite a bit of land from his father, who descends from Captain Henry Smith, the gentleman asked by Lord Calvert to first survey Worcester County in 1680. He freed his slaves upon his death (See Smith saga.)

In the last year's of her life, Fanny (Smith) Baker was asked to appear in court by some lawyers. Apparently, they had discovered some 99-year leases that had been initiated by her ancestors for property extending from Main Street in the center of Salisbury, Maryland and extending out to Deershead Hospital. Fanny was the legal heir of this property, but she felt that the lawyers would receive the lion's share of this land and refused to cooperate. You must remember that she and Cyrus had close to thirty years of hassle with the federal government and lawyers just to get Cyrus's pension.

The following appeared in the March 20, 1926 edition of the Salisbury Advertiser:

Mrs. Fanny H. Baker, widow of the late Cyrus Baker, a well known and highly respected resident of this city, died at the home of her son, George H. Baker, Olive Street, Tuesday of last week. Death was due to the infirmities of old age, Mrs. Baker having neared her 87th birthday. Mrs. Baker was active until a few years before her death. Funeral services conducted by the Rev. O. N. Marshall of Division Street Baptist Church were held from the late home Thursday morning at 10 o'clock. Interment was at Parsonsburg. She is survived by two sons: George H. and W.T. Baker, a brother Joseph Smith of Powellville, and a sister Mrs. George Scott, Berlin.

Her mother, Fanny Lane, was the daughter of John Lane and Sally Gray, and granddaughter of Francis Lane. Her uncle was Doctor Sidney Lane who became quite famous in the Newark, Maryland area. Grandfather Francis Lane lived next to George Lane, John Lane, Esaw Lane, and Richard Lane who were all neighbors in the census of 1830. They descend from Walter Lane who game to the colonies from Ireland in 1649, was one of Worcester's earliest settlers, and was the commissioner that signed the documents which separated Worcester from Somerset County. (See Lane saga.)

Cyrus and Fanny are buried in Parsonsburg, Maryland. Cyrus has "Silas C. Baker" on his gravestone!

On December 1, 1875 Cyrus G. Baker, Mate of Winter Quarter Lt. Ship, Chincoteaque Island, Virginia received the following memo from L. B. White, Lighthouse Inspector, Forth District, Philadelphia, Pa.

"Sir,
Your letter of the 22 nd ultimo delative to men for the Winter Quarter Shoal Light Ship is received. I will send two men down to Chincoteaque at an early day with orders to report to you.
Being Respectfully,
Lighthouse Inspector
Forth District"

The second set of information is a photo copy from the Register of Officers and Employees of the 5th District Life Saving Service (page 217). It was sent to me by the National Archives.