(The
following narrative was written by Oddis J. Baker. See the Acknowledgement
section for more information on the research.)
updated 7/20/01
The
Middle Fork Bakers (1810-1962)
Joseph
Baker (1810-1895)
Joseph Baker, the 7th child
of Andrew, was my great-great grandfather. The records show that as a
young man, Joseph left the Virginia area and crossed the Cumberland River,
travelling on foot to Knox County, Kentucky. The route was probably down
the valley through southwestern Virginia and over the Appalachian Mountains
at Cumberland Gap. He most likely then traveled northwest; possibly to
meet friends or relatives located in Knox County (he would have crossed
the Cumberland River near Pineville, Kentucky). The distance from Barbourville
to Cumberland Gap is approximately 40 miles--a significant distance when
traveling by foot. The distance from the Gap to his old home in Virginia
is unknown, but could have been several hundred miles. This is the same
route over which Daniel Boone led the first settlers into Kentucky and
established Boonsboro about 55 years earlier.
Joseph settled somewhere
in Knox County around 1830. On Janurary 7, 1834, he married a young woman
named Jane Williams (from Knox County Marriages, 1800-1850), and they
were eventually blessed with six children: three sons, (Marion, John and
Green), and and three daughters, (Alaine, Margaret, and Amanda).
In 1860, Joseph acquired 30 acres of land by paying off the back taxes. This
farm was located over the hill from Knox Fork in the Middle Fork community.
The farm was typical for the area: a meadow about ½ mile long and surrounded
with mountains on three sides. With help from the older boys and possibly
friends and neighbors, he constructed several log buildings, a large 2-room
building for their home, a barn and a corn crib, and dug a large open
well for drinking water. He moved his large family into the new home.
His six children ranged in age from 23 years down to 11 years old. In
1863, he purchased an additional 45 acres.
Just seven years later, in 1870, Joseph and his older son, John E. Baker,
decided that the grass looked greener out west. Kansas was admitted to
the Union in 1861, and was being touted as a utopia, with plenty of cheap
land for the taking. Joseph transferred ownership of the farm to his youngest
son, Green, who had just gotten married.
Joseph, now 60 years old, his wife Jane, his son John (31) and his wife
Melvina and children packed all their possessions and began the long westward
trek in wagons pulled by oxen. They traveled across Kentucky into Indiana
and settled temporarily in Mechanicsburg, Indiana. In 1872, Melvina died
of typhoid fever. One verbal source (the late Leland Baker) indicates
that Joseph's wife also died of typhoid at the same time--but this has
not been verified in the available written records. In 1873, John E. married
again; this time to Louisa Graham Craig from Indiana.
In 1880, the Baker families moved again, from Mechanicsburg, Indiana to
Otterville, Missouri. The two families, consisting of approximately 11
people, traveled in a single covered wagon pulled by mules. John E. bought
a farm near Otterville, where other relatives lived. He made that area
his permanent home. John's second wife, Louisa, also passed away, and
on December 29, 1892 he married for the third time to Sarah (maiden name
not confirmed). Joseph died in 1895 at the age of 85, and John E. died
in 1903 at the age of 63.
(John E. Baker had 6 children by his first wife, Melvina; 8 children by
his second wife, Louisa; and 2 children by his last wife, Sarah.)
Ward Green Baker (1845-1906 )
Ward Green (generally referred to only as Green) was my great grandfather. Green married
Eliza Jane Berry in about 1870 (the same year his father and brother set
out for Kansas). Eliza was born in 1850, which would have made her a bride
of about 20. Green was around 25 years old at the time.
Green and his bride were living in the home place when his father and
brother left for Missouri. Green and Eliza Jane were blessed with nine
children. Five boys, (John, Joe, Bill, Green, and Sam), and four girls,
(Martha, Cordella, Ida, and Dora).They lived on that same farm for the
remainder of their lives. The farm was located in Knox County, in an area
known as Middle Fork. The county seat was a small town named Barbourville--located
about 15 miles to the southeast. Refer to the map
section of this Web site to see the exact location of the farm. The original
farm house is identified as the Green Baker home located in “Granny Holler”.
This old log home gave me a lot of good memories. Many years after Green
and Eliza Jane were gone, I would frequently visit my Aunt Rhoda and Uncle
Ben there—where they lived and operated the farm.
Like the earlier Baker women (and typical of the hardy pioneer wife),
Eliza, after bearing 9 children, managed to outlive her husband by almost
20 years. During this time, she served as midwife to the community and
was affectionately known as “Granny Baker”. The small valley where the
farmhouse was located was known by the family as “Granny Holler”. She
married a Spurlock sometime after Green passed away, and may have married
again--although I have no real information to confirm that, and everyone
who could verify it has also passed away.
John Harvey Baker (1871-1952 )
John Harvey Baker was my grandfather. He grew up on the farm with his
eight brothers and sisters. Years later he told me stories about his childhood.
One such story which I am sure was true related to his accuracy with a
hunting rifle. The son who was the best shot was privileged to provide
game for breakfast. He would go squirrel hunting early in the morning
and would get at least two squirrels with each shot fired, therefore he
was usually selected as the provider. Incidentally, the gun used was not
a 12 gauge shotgun but instead a Kentucky Long Rifle weighing about 25
pounds and loaded with a lead ball and black powder.
In 1894 John met and
married a young lady in the community named Melissa Israel (she was a
student in his class when they first met). Over the next 17 years they
were blessed with 8 children.
In 1899 a family argument
occurred between John and his brother-in-law George Israel who was drunk
and being a nuisance. The story was (as it was passed down) that after
much provocation, resulting in a fight, Grandpa shot George. It was believed at first that George died, but that
proved to be a false rumor. He completely recovered and lived for many
years. Because of this incident and other considerations, John and Melissa
decided to move to Missouri and join his uncle and cousins who had located
there earlier. So they packed everything and with three small children,
traveled by train to Ottersville, Missouri. Grandpa rented a farm and
lived there for the next four years. Another son, Walter Sherman, was
born in 1903. Because of malaria and other factors such as just being
homesick, they decided to return to Kentucky in 1904.
Photograph
1
This
is a photograph of Grandma and Grandpa (John Harvey and Melissa Israel
Baker) and the oldest children, Chester, Rhoda, and Ed. The time of the
picture was approximately 1900--about the time they moved to Missouri.
Sometime
after they returned, Grandpa bought the farm adjoining his father’s. This
place was located in an adjacent valley with mountains surrounding three
sides of an existing farm house. Instead of using hewn logs with clay
filling the cracks (like his fathers place), the building was constructed
of vertical planks for all exterior walls (no framing). The roof was covered
with wood shingles, and one stone chimney with two fireplaces provided
the means to heat the house during the winter weather. A porch extended
across the front of the building, and an L-shaped back porch ran around
the side and rear of the building. A well for drinking water was located
at the end of the back porch, so that you could get fresh drinking water
without going out in the elements. An underground cellar (refrigerator)
was located at the end of the back porch. About 25 years later, I moved
into this old farmhouse with my mother, father, and brother, and grew
up there. This was the same house my father lived when he was a boy (see
Photograph 2 below).
Photograph 2
Here is John
Harvey Baker’s (my grandfather) family in front of the old farmhouse.
This is where my dad and his brothers and sisters grew up, and it’s the
same farmhouse we moved into when I was about 6 year old. We lived there
until I was in high school. Back row, left to right: Willie, Walter, Chester,
Ed, Rhoda, Clifton (and her child), Iva, Grandma, and Grandpa. Front row:
Johnny and Roscoe.
Grandpa
took special tests and became qualified to teach grammar school. He taught
school, farmed, and raised his family which had increased to 8 children
by 1912. The older boys plowed and planted the fields, and did much of
the farm work as they became old enough. Later, sometime around 1918 to
1922, Grandpa purchased about 100 acres of farmland (with timber) located
on the main road, and more in the center of the community. He moved a
sawmill to his new property, cut trees, and sawed lumber for a new house,
barn, and outbuildings. In addition to his own needs, he sold enough sawed
lumber to pay for the land. Not many of us today pay off our mortgages
in a couple of years. He built a modern, two-story frame farm house with
brick chimneys and drop-siding on the exterior walls. He located the house
on a small hill overlooking the main road and the surrounding valley.
It so happened that the grammar school was located only one quarter mile
away. Like the other old farm place, I have many fond memories of the
experiences that happened in and around it all during my childhood.
My grandparents were like a second set of parents to me--as they were
to all their grandchildren. Grandpa's brothers, Joe and Bill, bought
or traded for adjacent farms, and Green bought a farm in Laurel County,
adjacent to Knox. His four sisters married local boys and settled on farms
in the general area. Grandpa lived on his new farm until he died in December
of 1952. He was 81 years old. Melissa lived another ten years. She passed
away in February of 1962. She was 86 years old.