Chronicles of the Family by Lee C.Baker i ii Table of Contents 1 THE MEDIEVAL BAKERS........................................................................................1 2 THE BAKERS OF SISSINGHURST.........................................................................20 3 THE BAKERS OF LONDON AND OXFORD ............................................................49 4 THE BAKERS AT HOTHFIELD ..............................................................................58 5 COMING OUT OF ENGLAND.................................................................................70 6 THE DAYS AT MILFORD .......................................................................................85 7 EAST HAMPTON, L. I. ...........................................................................................96 8 AMAGANSETT BY THE SEA ................................................................................114 9 STATEN ISLAND AND NEW AMSTERDAM ..........................................................127 10 THE ELIZABETH TOWN PIONEERS ....................................................................138 11 THE BAKERS OF ELIZABETH TOWN AND WESTFIELD ......................................171 12 THE NEIGHBORS AT NEWARK...........................................................................198 13 THE NEIGHBORS AT RAHWAY ...........................................................................208 14 WHO IS JONATHAN BAKER?..............................................................................219 15 THE JONATHAN I. BAKER CONFUSION .............................................................250 16 THE RETREAT TO THE CATSKILLS ....................................................................260 17 LIFE IN THE CATSKILLS.....................................................................................270 18 THE ANTI-RENT WAR 1839-1845 .......................................................................286 19 UPPER MOHAWK VALLEY AND FORT HERKIMER..............................................319 20 THE GODDING HISTORY....................................................................................330 21 RUBICON AND NEOSHO WISCONSIN IN 1850'S.................................................343 22 KILBOURN CITY AND LYNDON STATION............................................................372 23 SHEBOYGAN AND ON TO MINNESOTA ..............................................................385 24 FREEBORN COUNTY ..........................................................................................402 EPILOG .....................................................................................................................410 iii Preface The work that follows was written by Lee C. Baker. Lee passed away before he was able to complete it for publication. His notes include two, additional chapters which he had not committed to readable text. Since the book is in chronological order these unfinished, omitted chapters deal with the family's most recent history and their omission is not as serious a loss as it would have been had they covered the family history of earlier times. We, Lee's immediate family, all feel very strongly that this work must be published. It contains a great deal of hard-earned, Baker family information which must be preserved. iv 1 THE MEDIEVAL BAKERS We turn to a period of time in County Kent, England in search of the history of the Family Baker. This era was much different than today. Periods of time were recorded by the reigns of their kings. We find Edward I the king from 1272 to 1307. His victories did much to strengthen the unity of England, but with the cost of heavy taxation. The later part of his reign brought about a baronial opposition to the burden of this taxation.1 Edward's death in 1307 brought his son, Edward II, to the throne. The victories of the father were replaced with the defeats of the son. His ineptitude as a soldier was demonstrated at Bannockburn in 1314 when Robert Bruce destroyed the English army with humiliating completeness. This battle assured Scottish independence for the next three centuries and condemned northern England to be a barren borderland ruled by warlords. The reign of Edward II ended when he was deposed and murdered at Berkeley Castle in 1327.2 Edward III, who became king, gave his people the triumphs they desired and he was much loved and honored as had been his grandfather, Edward I. The second half of his reign was a sadder story. The plague of Black Death struck England in 1348-9 killing roughly one-third of the population within ten years and radically 1. Parker, Michael St. John Britain's Kings & Queens. Pitkin Pictorials Ltd. 1988, p.13. ISBN 0 85372 450 4 2. Ibid p.14 1 altering society. He died a sad and degrading death at the age of sixty-five, old by medieval standards.3 It is during this time we find our first Thomas Baker. Villages and estates were built within walled enclosures for security and safety. There was a poor system of establishing property boundaries so people of means built huge walls of stone and brick to establish property lines and to aid in defense of their property. Many estates were established in obscure and difficult- to-reach locations to avoid raiders and reduce the danger of being seized or overthrown. Our first, recorded fact was found in the KENT FINES during the reign of Edward III. It states: "Thomas Baker of Elham, plt., and Robert Venysoun and Johanna his wife defts., of 10 acr. land. 3 acr. pasture, and a moiety4 of 1 mess5, and of 1 rood6 of wood, with appurts., in Elham. Robert and Johanna admit it to be the Right of Thomas; and, for themselves and the heirs of Johanna, grant to him and to his heirs, and receive 100 marks7 for the concession."{sic}8 3. Ibid p. 14 4 Small or 1/2 portion. 5. abreviation for messuage in Law; a dwelliong house, out house, gardens, etc. 6. equals 1/4 acre. 7. silver coin Circa 1350 13s.4d. [s]=shilling, [d]=pence 8 KENT FINES, TEMP. EDWARD III, Her Majesties Library, Canterbury, England p. 340 2 While Mavis, my wife, and I were in Canterbury we made the short journey down to Elham to visit the place where our ancestors had lived over 600 years before. As we drove to the center of Elham we entered the town square, the heart of the village, by a little, one-way street. We found ourselves completely surrounded by buildings on four sides. There was a small, one-way street to exit the square. The entire square was cobblestone and paved surface for automobile parking. You could feel the security that the medieval residents must have had as they closed the gates that, no doubt, blocked the Figure 1-1 St. Mary The Virgin Church, Elham, two entrances. About County Kent one-half of the south- side of the square contained the large church. We parked our car and went straightway to the north tower entrance to the church. It was an exhilarating experience to enter through the doorway that Thomas Baker had entered through in the reign of Edward III. Immediately inside, to the left of the door in the north isle, was a huge treasury chest that had been hewn from a giant tree and equipped with a massive hinge and lock. It had been there since time immemorial. 3 Following is a reproduction of the will9 of Thomas Baker of Elham. The fact that it is written in Latin in the scribe of an Old English writer makes it difficult to read. Copies of it were reviewed by Latin professors up and down the East Coast who were able to provide hardly more information than you and I can probably glean from its text. I think you will make out sons Thomas and John in several locations, but not much more. The will was sent to a professor in Florida who also had a Ph.D. in Medieval English. He responded with the following statement: "Even an excellent Latinist could not make head nor tales of this will without a sure command of Poleography and also a knowledge of the local history of the period, as the Bishop of Oxford appears to be named in the second and third last lines." He does, however, close his remarks with the following statement: "Quare (wherefore)____ ____ ___ ego Aedwinus {?} filius Richardi I Edwin, son of Richard ___ ______ ___ Oxford dedi (I have given) concessi, (conceded), et hac__cifra mea (with my cipher?) consignatum sigillo meo (confirmed with my seal). Thomae (to Thomas), ____, Johanni (to John)..... ." In closing, he states the will is not dated in the year 1370, in the Reign of Edward III! The County Record Office at Maidstone and the Library at Seven Oaks, in England, both show it dated in 1370. I believe we should accept that date as the proper date. 9. Will Thomas Baker Of Elham - Call# T.108-U1007 Seven Oaks Library, County Kent, United Kingdom. 4 Figure 1-2 The 1370 Will of Thomas Baker of Elham 5 The next information of that time frame is for a John Baker. He is the John Baker to whom King Edward III granted our heraldic coat of arms during his reign from 1327-1377. John had taken as his bride Mary Engham who was a descendant of the family of Allen Engham of the Parish of Woodchurch, County Kent, under King John, 1204-1216. These last two paragraphs, which are the beginning of the Baker lineage, establish the fact that they were more than of the yoeman class, with the children selecting mates from the privileged class of that time period. Edward III also created "The Knight of the Garter" in 1348 in recognition of people of distinction in England.10 With nothing more to verify the line of descent of these Figure 1-3 Canterbury Cathedral today, formerly Medieval Bakers, we Christ