The book, "A Biographical Record of Boone County, Iowa" by EJ Turner was published in 1902. Page 354 begins a sketch about Moses Baker, son of William John Baker. It is only slightly incorrect in describing William John Baker, his father and grandparents.

William J[ohn] Baker, Moses' father, was described in the sketch as coming from Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. He was actually born in 1811 in Irwin Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania, where his father, William Baker Jr and grandfather, William Baker Sr had arrived in 1800 as can be seen on the 1800 Irwin Township census. The Baker family had originally come from Germany on the ship "City of Baltimore" and landed there in 1754. One of the immigrant Baker sons, named Ernst, settled in what later became Bedford County, PA. It is from this branch our William Baker Sr descends.

William Baker Sr was born in Bedford County, PA - the part that later became Westmoreland County, PA. He married and raised a family there until moving to Venango County in 1800 as western Pennsylvania began to open up for settlement. William Baker Jr, father of William John Baker, was born in Bedford and migrated with his parents to Venango County where he met and married Mary Polly Walter on 25 Dec 1810. Mary [her baptismal record shows her name as Anna Marie] was the daughter of John Peter Walter Sr and Anna Marie Huffman. who had also migrated from Westmoreland to Venango County about 1800. William Baker Jr served in the War of 1812 in Captain MacMonagle's Company of the Pennsylvania Militia, applying for his pension in 1857.

William Baker Jr and Anna Marie Huffman had many children and William John was the first. While it is customary, even expected, that the first son inherit the father's farm, his parents were still living there and having children for decades after William John came of age. This apparently caused him to try his luck in the coal mines back east in Schuylkill County, PA, where he met and married Diana Christine Bensinger. Diana and William John were living with one of their children in Lodi, Medina County, Ohio when they passed away.

William John and Diana raised their family in Schuylkill until moving to Ohio. Perhaps weary of the coal mines, William chose to become a farmer sometime in the 1830s. The 1840 Congress Township, Wayne County Ohio census shows them living there with their children who had been born in Schuylkill and several more were born in Wayne County after their arrival there (15 in total). Their children include:

Moses - m. 1) Rebecca Freazel; 2) Lorinda Dunmire; 3) Sarah Ann Shields

William - m. Anna Freazel

Annetta - m. Daniel Rupp

Barbara - died young

Joshua - m. Caroline Huffman

Catherine - m. Benjamin Witherstine

John - m. Clara Mosier

Susan - m. Daniel Clinker

Daniel - m. Eliza Mosier

Sarah Jane - m. Henry Collins

Elijah - m. Elizabeth Wear

Abigail - m. Elias Horner

Lucinda - m. Moses Repp

Joseph - m. 1) Ada Snow; 2) Patience Taylor