Baker, Joseph Sr. Family

BAKER

Posted By: Mary H. Cochrane, Volunteer
Date: 6/27/2019 at 18:31:42

The Joseph Baker, Sr. Family
Reflections of Grand River, Iowa 1881-1981, p. 126

Joseph Baker, Sr., was born in England in 1820. His wife, Sarah (Binning) Baker, was born in 1823 near Bridgewater, England. They were married in July, 1850, in Skaneateles in the County of Conondago, New York State. In 1856 they came west and settled in Dubuque County, Iowa, where they lived until 1871, when they moved their ten children by oxcart and drove their livestock to Decatur County, Iowa. In 1872 they moved to a farm in Grand River Twp., Sec. 13, where they did general farming and ran their stock on the prairies. They lived on the farm until 1894 when they sold the farm and moved to Grand River. Joseph died in 1900; Sarah, in 1917. Both were laid to rest in Oak Hill Cemetery. Their children were Sarah Ann (Baker) Fletcher; Joseph, Jr.; Elizabeth (Baker) Hewlett; Mary (Baker) Boyce; William; Emma (Baker) Morrill; Eliza Jennie (Baker) Metts; Richard, Edward and John.

John Francis Baker was born February 14, 1871, the youngest child of Joseph, Sr. and Sarah (Binning) Baker. When John was a baby they moved to Decatur County where he grew up and helped farm. On December 14, 1892 he married Harriet Jane Street. She was born December 14, 1873, in Delaware County, Iowa, and moved to Decatur County in 1882 with her father and mother, Peter Street and Alice (Weston) Street, and six other children. In 1893 John Baker bought an 80 acre farm from his father and built a set of improvements. In 1900 he bought an additional 100 acres which was made a general livestock farm. He and Harriet had five children: Helen (Baker) Van Laar, Sherman, Ralph, Frank, and Hazel (Baker) Tuttle. In 1910 the family moved to Plain View, South Dakota, and homesteaded 160 acres, moving back to their Decatur County farm in late 1911 where they lived until 1918 when Harriet died from the Spanish flu. She was laid to rest in Oak Hill Cemetery. John stayed on the farm until 1920 and then moved to Grand River. In 1923 he married Mary (Sears) Keir who was born in 1890. She had one child, Mildred. They moved to California and lived in Culver, City, San Bernardine, and Hanford. John died there in his ninetieth year and was laid to rest in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Transcription for IAGenWeb.org, Decatur County