David Baker

[Birth month/day/place and death month/place provided by findagrave contributor Pat Griffith Brown #48260122.]

familysearch 1900 Fairview Twp Fayette IN Census (David Baker 55 IN Feb 1845 single p KY, Dora Pierce servant 37 IN Jun 1863 single p IN, Walter Grant servant 14 IN Jun 1886 p IN, Carl Heeb servant 22 IN Nov 1878 p IN).

familysearch 1920 Fairview Fayette IN Census (Jane Vanbuskirk 79 IN 1841 widowed p KY, David Baker brother 75 IN 1845 widowed p KY).

[Death day provided by findagrave contributor GiGi #48051882.]

https://genealogytrails.com/ind/fayette/bios.html (DAVID BAKER David Baker, one of Fayette County's best-known retired farmers and substantial old citizen of Fairview Township is a native son of that township, born on the farm on which he is now living, two miles east of Falmouth, and has lived there all his life. He was born on February 14, 1845, son of John and Mary (Hanna) Baker, both of whom were born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, who became pioneers of Fayette County and here spent their last days, substantial and influential pioneers of the Falmouth neighborhood. John Baker was born on a farm in the near vicinity of Paris, in Bourbon County, Kentucky, February 14, 1803, son of Abraham and Elizabeth Baker, the former of whom was born on July 7, 1764, and who were married on March 18, 1800, making their home in Bourbon County, Kentucky, where eight children we re born to them, of whom John was the second in order of birth, the others being as follow: David, born on August 11, 1801; Harrison, April 3, 1805; Mahala, March 13, 1807; Nancy, February 1, 1809; Ellen and Eliza (twins), July 2, 1811; and Daniel, June 22, 1814. In the fall of 1824 Abraham Baker, seeking land for his sons, came up into Indiana and settle in Fayette County, giving each of his sons a farm in the northeastern part of Fairview Township. He bought three eight-acre tracts, the place where David Baker now lives, and across the road from that place, where now the Fitzgerald farm is, he bought a quarter section. On this latter tract he established his home, and there his younger son, Daniel remained with him until his death, the other sons, John and David, occupying the nearby "eighties", Harrison selling out ant and moved Wabash County, where he died. The above three sons spent the rest of their lives on the farms which they opened and cleared back in the twenties. Elizabeth Baker, wife of Abraham, died October 5, 1826, about two years after settling here in the then wilderness and Abraham Baker survived until January 17, 1842. In the fall of 1826, John Baker, second son of Abraham, went back to this old home in Kentucky and there on December 12, 1826, was united in marriage to Mary Hanna, who was born in that same community in Bourbon County on October 30, 1801. The following spring he returned to Indiana with his bride and settled on the farm two miles east of Falmouth, which he had begun to clear in 1824 and where he had put up a log cabin for the reception of his bride, and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, earnest and industrious pioneers of that community. As he prospered he increase his original holdings there to one hundred and twenty acres and later bought an adjoining tract of one hundred and forty acres on the north. On that pioneer farm Mary (better known as "Polly) Baker died on December 2, 1858 and John Baker, her husband, survived her many years, his death occurring in April, 1892, he then being in the eighty-ninth year of his age. He and his ;wife were the parent of eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the last-born, the others being as follow: Elizabeth, now deceased, who was twice married, her first husband having been William Dickey and the second, Dave Weimer: Harrison and Eliza Jane (twins), the latter of whom died when eight years of age and the form of whom died in April, 1892; James, who lives in Milton: Sallie Ann, who married Guy Jackson and is now deceased: Harriet, who married John Stuckey and lives in Grant County, and Mary Jane, of Falmouth, widow of Tillman Van Buskirk. David Baker still has the spinning wheel used by his mother, "Polly" Baker, and the saddle bags which his grandfather and his father brought with them from Kentucky. He also has the old family Bible, a venerable volume bound in sheepskin and printed in New York in 1814, in which is carefully set out the record of births and deaths and marriages in the family of Abraham Baker and of John and "Polly" Baker. John Baker and his wife were earnest members of the Methodist Church, as were the formers parents, and took an active interest in church affairs in the early days of the community in which they settled, religious services frequently being held in their home in the days before the settlements had an established house of worship, and their children were reared in that faith. David Baker has always lived on the farm where he was born and has always followed farming, becoming the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and fifty-eight acres with a nice country home on it. That farm he sold two years ago, but he continues to make his home there, living with his brother-in-law, who bought the place, and is quite content to spend the rest of his life on the place on which he was born and which he has helped to develop from pioneer times. On May 8, 1901, David Baker was united in marriage to Dora Iva Pierce, who was born in the neighboring county of Franklin, a daughter of Cornelius and Isabel (Chance) Pierce, who years ago moved from Franklin County to New York Cit, where the father became a member of the metropolitan police force and where he died. After his death his widow and children returned to Franklin County and presently moved thence to the neighborhood of Morristown, in Shelby County. There the widow Pierce married again and presently moved back to New York. Her daughter, Dora Iva, remained in Shelby County until her marriage to Mr. Baker. She died at her home in Fairview Township in the fall of 1908. She was a member of the Christian Church. (SOURCE: Fayette County Library Connersville, Fayette County, Indiana Barrows History of Fayette County, 1917 Pages 995, 996, 997 Contributed by Kathy Keller)