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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Portrait and Biographical Record of
Auglaize, Logan and Shelby Counties, Ohio
Publ.
Chicago: Chapman Bros.
1892.
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JACOB H. BABCOCK
Source: Portrait and Biographical Record of
Auglaize, Logan and Shelby Counties, Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Chapman Bros. 1892. - Page 473 |
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DANIEL
BAKER. In presenting a sketch of this
gentleman to our readers, we record the life work of one
of the most enterprising and successful farmers of
Shelby County. He is at present residing on
section 18, Franklin Township, where he owns a
quarter-section of valuable land on which he lives, and
a fifty-acre farm joining on the south, under a high
state of cultivation. Its improvements, which are
many, are most useful and ornamental and the dwelling,
which is a conveniently arranged frame structure, is
pleasantly situated and is replete with comfort.
John C. Baker, Jr., the father of our
subject, was born in Germany in 1784, where also his
father who likewise bore the name of John C., was
born and engaged in the European wars. The family
of the latter emigrated to America in 1797, and when
landing on the shores of the New World, the children
were sold to the highest bidder in order to pay for
their passage across the ocean. The father of our
subject served for five years, and after obtaining his
freedom helped to ransom his sister. The parents
located in Virginia, where they remained until 1814 and
then coming to Ohio, located in Greene County, which was
their home for many years, and in 1830 came to this
county, taking up their abode with the father of our
subject.
The lady to whom John C. Baker, Jr., was married
bore the maiden name of Margaret Bush, and
was born in Kentucky in 1787. They were married in
Virginia. and coming to Ohio in 1815, settled in Greene
County, walking the entire distance. As they were
very poor, they located on a leased wild farm, which was
their home until 1830, the date of their coming to this
county. They remained for two years on a rented
farm in Orange Township, when Mr. Baker purchased
eighty acres of wild land on section 4, Salem Township.
There he erected a log shanty without a floor, in which
the family moved and made their home until he could
erect a more comfortable abiding-place. The father
was a hard-working man, and in addition to improving his
own property, cleared land for other parties, amounting
to about three hundred acres of solid woods, and was
always closely connected with the upbuilding of his
community. He died Aug. 26, 1855, being followed
to the better land by his wife, who departed this life
Mar. 19, 1869, aged eighty years eight months and
twenty-nine days. He was a patriot in the War of
1812, and of a family of thirteen children, reared
eleven to mature years. Six of his sons are still
living namely: George C, Jacob, John, Jr.,
Isaac, our subject, and Squire, their average
ages being seventy-two years.
The original of this sketch was born Jan. 21, 1827, in
Greene County, this State and as his parents were too
poor to send him to the subscription schools, his
opportunities for gaining an education were very
limited. The temple of learning in that early day
was built of logs, had greased paper for windows, and
the seats were made of split logs. He was very
useful in aiding his father to operate the farm and
remained at home until reaching his majority, when he
was married, Mar. 15, 1849, to Jemimah Ann,
daughter of George and Hannah (Carter) Michael.
Her parents removed from Montgomery to this county in an
early day, her birth occurring in the former place Apr.
26, 1826. After his marriage Mr. Baker
lived on rented property for two years and then moving
to Port Jefferson, worked at the carpenter's trade for
nine years. At the expiration of that time, he
became the owner of eighty acres on section 17, Salem
Township, where the wife died July 5, 1860, having
become the mother of four children, of whom the three
living are: Harvey W., who married
Sarah H. Falder; George M., who married
Ella Griffiths, and Jacob H.,
the husband of Belle Ward. The
deceased child, Lewis M., died when seven months
old, in July, 1852.
The lady whom our subject chose as his second wife
Sept. 13, 1856, was Miss Sarah, daughter
of David and Lydia (Ketchner) Swanders, natives
respectively of Fairfield County, this State, and
Pennsylvania. The father came here in 1833 and
made settlement at what is now Swanders' Corners,
Franklin Township, this county, where he was residing at
the time of his death in 1853. His good wife, who
reared a family of eleven children, is still living at
the advanced age of eighty-five years. Mrs.
Baker, who is the eldest of the family now
living, was born October 30, 1832, in Fairfield County,
and after her marriage located with our subject upon
their present farm.
The two hundred and ten acres which are included in the
estate of Mr. Baker are almost all under
the best methods of improvement. He erected on his
place a comfortable residence in 1875, two years
previous to which time, however, he had built a large
barn. His place is thoroughly tiled and his fields
well tilled. The two children of which he is the
father are David M., who was born Dec. 4, 1868,
married Eugenia Fink and resides in Nebraska, while
James M., who was born July 24, 1870, married
Alice Taylor and makes his home in this
township.
Our subject and his estimable wife are Christian
people, he having been a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church for well nigh a half-century, and his
wife has been connected with the German Reformed Church
for over forty years. Mr. Baker is
one of the famous "Squirrel Hunters" and holds an
honorable discharge from the same. During the late war,
he captured one of the rebels and, taking him to
Cincinnati, exchanged him for a Union soldier. He
had a brother Isaac who served for a period of four
years in the Civil War, in which conflict Mrs.
Baker had two brothers.
After his marriage Mr. Baker was in very
limited circumstances and after carrying on the home
farm for two years, as before stated, went to Port
Jefferson and worked for sixty cents a day at the
carpenter's trade. He went in debt $1,250 for his
first purchase of land, which property he improved and
later sold for $3,250, and on the outbreak of the Civil
War loaned that amount to the Government; when he
purchased his present farm it was paid back to him with
good interest. He is a Republican in politics and
is greatly esteemed in his community for his personal
worth.
Source: Portrait and Biographical Record of
Auglaize, Logan and Shelby Counties, Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Chapman Bros. 1892. - Page 166 |
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EDWARD C. BAUMGARTEN
Source: Portrait and Biographical
Record of Auglaize, Logan and Shelby Counties, Ohio -
Publ. Chicago: Chapman Bros. 1892. - Page 259 |
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HENRY E. BEEBE
Source: Portrait and Biographical Record of
Auglaize, Logan and Shelby Counties, Ohio - Publ.
Chicago: Chapman Bros. 1892. - Page 351 |
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ISAAC BETTS Source:
Portrait and Biographical Record of Auglaize, Logan and
Shelby Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Chapman Bros.
1892. - Page 470 |
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