Baker, Thomas

Posted By: Brenda Kerr
Date: 17 March 2005

transcribed from A Biographical History of Darke County Ohio, Lewis Publishing Company, 1900, part II, pp 280-81

Thomas BAKER

This well-known and prosperous farmer of Harrison Township has an excellent and finely improved farm in the southwest corner of Darke county, the same being only one-half mile from his birthplace, which was in Preble county, where he was ushered into the world on the 30th of November, 1832. His father Thomas BAKER, Sr., was a native of the state of New Jersey, where he was born November 19, 1795, and died in Preble county, Ohio, in 1879, on the place where the subject of this sketch was born. The great grandfather of our subject also bore the name of Thomas and he was born in the Passaic River Valley of New Jersey in 1762, his death occuring near Winchester, Indiana, about 1841. The latter's father, Thomas BAKER of Long Island, New York, was a man of prominence in his day. The original ancestor, who bore the same Christian name, was an officer in the English army and at one time owned all of Long Island. His sword was owned by the grandfather of our subject and he had it manufactured into butcher knives while he was living in Butler county, Ohio, where he settled in 1801. He married Lydia HAND, of New Jersey, where they were married, and they reared five sons and four daughters. One daughter, Sarah, the first born, joined the organization of the Shakers before she was of legal age, so her parents brought her home, but she eventually returned to the Shakers, with whom she passed her life, attaining the great age of ninety-one years. The youngest child Abner, lived to be eighty-eight.

The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Elizabeth WESLEY and she was born in Pennsylvannia in 1806, John WESLEY, the father of Methodism, having been her granduncle. Our subject is one of twelve children, and of theis number four sons and six daughters were reared to maturity and all except one were married. Those living at the present time are: Ann, wife of Henry HUTTON, of New Paris, Preble county;Martha, wife of Michael REID, of the same locality; Thomas, the immediate subject of this review; Elizabeth, widow of David ROBERTS, resides near Hollansburg, this county; Mary Ann, widow of John BENSON, resides near New Paris, Preble county. The mother of this large family of children died at the age of about sixty-four years, and the father subsequently consumated a second marriage, his death occuring in the spring of 1879, at the age of eighty-four years. He was an extensive and opulent farmer, owning about six hundred acres of land in this section of the state and Indiana.

The subject of this sketch is the owner of two hundred and seventy acres in three farms, all of which he received from his father's estate, and other tracts are still owned by members of the family. Thomas never left theparental home, but on the 13th of December 1855, he was united in marriage to Margaret TODD, of Preble county, whobore him four children, three of whom grew to maturity: Elma E., widow of Wesley CLARK, of Spartanburg, Indiana, has three sons. Thomas O. BAKER is principal of the high school at Yonkers, New York; he is a college graduate, having taken the degree of Pedogogy, and stands high in his profession; he is married. Lennis W. BAKER, a resident of Dayton, Ohio, has one son and one daughter. Mr. BAKER of this sketch consumated a second marriage October 23, 1870, being then united to Miss Sarah C. McCLURE, of Harrison township, the daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (ROBERTS) McCLURE. Of this union seven children were born, and of the number only two are deceased. we offer the following brief record of the children: Lucy L. is the wife of Alvah HUNT, of Preble county and they have one son and one daughter. Fanny May died at the age of six years. William Wesley BAKER, who is engaged in the meat business at Hollansburg has one son. George H. BAKER is a farmer in Wayne county, Indiana, and has one daughter. Cora E. still remains at the parental home, as do also Lester E. and Naydean, who are interesting young folk, lending joy and brightness to the faminly circle.

Mr. BAKER gives his support to the Republican party and fraternally he is identifed with the Masonic order. He has served several terms as road supervisor and also as school director. He comes of a large and vigorous race, being about five feet and eveven inches in height personally and weighing two hundred ten pounds. He has given careful attention to general farming upon the most approved methods and has been successful in raising stock, in which line he has carried on quite extensive operations. He has bred many good horses, having owned twenty at one time and having foaled one hundred and ten colts. Mr BAKER's home is in the extreme southwest corner of Darke county, but he is known all over this section of the state and the adjacent portions of Indiana, being recognized as one of our representatives and influential farmers and as a man of sterling character.

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