Ahira Baker (1801 - 1881)

Born 23 Dec 1801 in Shapleigh, York, ME

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 26 Jan 1881 at age 79 in Shapleigh, York, ME

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Barbara Baker [send private message]

Biography

Great great grandfather. Descendant of Edward Baker of Lynn, MA, John Hollister and Richard Treat of Wethersfield, CT, James Warren, Scottish prisoner of Berwick (New Scotland) ME and the ill-fated Richard Otis of Dover, as well as of his daughter Christine Otis Baker and her husband Cpt. Thomas Baker.

March 25, 1825 took the oath of office as one of the Surveyors of hIghways for Shapleigh. Town Book vol 4, p.70

On the 1830 census Ahira Baker, mislisted as Ira, and his father Alexander Douglass Baker are next door to each other in Shapleigh. Alexander is between 60 and 70 with wife of same age and two adult females, 20 to 30, Ahira Baker has 2 girls under 5 and a boy under 5 with female 20 to 30. This would fit with Ahira's family this year. His father, whom we have known as Douglas from old genealogies, was Alexander Douglass, named for paternal uncle and is consistently listed using his full name on every census in Shapleigh from 1800, when he moved there until 1840, the last census before his death in 1844. The full name of Douglass as Alexander Douglas Baker was confirmed in 2004 with the source Early Families of Shapleigh and Acton, ME by Frederick R. Boyle, published 2002 by Peter E. Randall, Portsmouth, NH. Also, a burial inscription was found July, 2004 for Alexander D. and Mary Baker, buried with family members in the Baker Cemetery in the woods off Ross Corner Rd. across from the Baker homestead cellar. To reach it from Shapleigh Corner one takes Owl's Nest which extends north, at the point Rt 11 bends slightly to the left. Ross Corner Rd is a left off Owl's Nest Rd. The "discontinued road" known as Baker Lane is marked (and blocked to vehicles) by two boulders on the left hand side going north from Ross Corner Rd,

In August, 2006 I was able to visit the Baker Cemetery deep in the woods, going east across the road from the Baker cellar The cemetery appeared surprisingly pristine, surrounded entirely by an intact low stone wall and cleared of most growth. The graves were for the most part still quite legible, even the oldest stones of Alex. D. Baker and Mary, wife of Alex. D. Baker. My lasting gratitude to Scott and Karen Cudworth whose land is adjacent to the wildlife conservatory in which the old Baker homestead cellar and cemetery now lie, for leading us into the woods to the cemetery, which we never would have found without a guide.

Ahira is found on the 1840 census in Shapleigh, Maine. This census does not name anyone besides head of household and gives numbers of household members by gender and age range only. Ahira and Aphia, who did not die until 1848. There are 3 boys listed between ages 5 and 10 and one who is 10 to 15 (this would be Samuel who d. in September of 1840, their firstborn; there is one male 15 to 20. There are 2 girls who are between the ages of 10 and 15. It is indicated that both adults in home are over 30 and under 40. It would seem the oldest male is not their son, perhaps a relatve or farmhand staying with them, Next door is Ahira's father, Alexander D. Baker, 80+ years old. Ahira's father, who went by his middle name, Douglass, was named for his uncle, the youngest son of Thomas and Christine Otis Baker. On the October 14, 1850 Federal census from Shapleigh, Maine, Ahira is with 2nd wife Rhoda and sons John, 18, Charles 16, and Ahira H., 14 (who must have only later gone by Horace A.). Based on the naming system still in vogue at the time, first wife Aphia's father could be John Bean, since their firstborn son was John, (this found not to be true: Aphia's parents were James and Mary Bean of Alfred, ME per Early Families of Shapleigh and Acton, ME by Frederick R. Boyle); 2nd son, Charles, appears named after his paternal great grandfather (Souce of middle name Wiley remains unknown. Not known to be a Baker family name). 3rd born son, Ahira Horace, or Horace Ahira, is named after his father. 1840 neighbors include Charles Beedle, probably a relation of Ahira's sister Theodate's husband, James Bedell, Samuel Batchelder, probably an uncle of Adoline's husband, many Abbott households, many Coffin households.

The Baker Homestead was on the road from Ross Corner to Shapleigh Corner and was sold by Rhoda Baker to Alvah Garvin and Wm Hutchins 3 Jan 1884. Rhoda also sold land the same day to Abby Baker. Adeline Batchelder and Mary Baker were named as nieces of Mary Bean of Alfred in her 1884 will. (Early Settlers of Acton-Shapleigh, Maine, by Frederick Boyle, CG.) Mary was an unmarried daughter of Aphia and Ahira, and Adeline Baker Batchelder was their other daughter.

1st marriage: Groom Name BAKER, AHIRA Groom Town SHAPLEIGH Groom State ME Bride BEAN, APHIA Bride Town ALFRED Bride State ME Month of Marriage 11 Day of Marriage 13 Year of Marriage 1825 More Information N Place SHAPLEIGH

Second Marriage: from York Co., ME Marriage Records Groom Name BAKER, AHIRA ESQ Groom Town SHAPLEIGH Groom State ME Bride ROSS, RHODA Bride Town SHAPLEIGH Bride State ME Month of Marriage 9 Day of Marriage 3 Year of Marriage 1848 More Information N Place SHAPLEIGH

1850 Census, Shapleigh, ME] Ahira Baker, 44, farmer, all b. ME Rhoda W., 23 John, 18, farmer Charles, 16 Ahira, 14

1860, Shapleigh, Maine Ahira Baker, 57, farmer Rhoda W., 32 Roscoe A. D., 4 (A.D. undoubtedly for his grandfather, Alexander Douglass)

1870. Shapleigh, ME "Ira W.", 68, farmer, ME, "Ruth W"., 41, ME where are the children? Were they away from home and the census taker wrote them in "from memory"?

1880 Shapleigh, Maine Ahira Baker, 78, farmer, all ME ME ME Rhoda W., 51 Fred R., 24, teacher Addie M., 18, teacher Temple, Wesley, 20, servant

Burial: BAKER CEMETERY. In woods, across the road, and directly East from the Baker cellar, on the discontinued road (Baker Lane) running northward from the Ross Corner Road. Baker, Samuel, s. Ahira and Aphia Baker, d. Sept. 25, 1840, aged 10 yrs. Dea. Ahira, d. Jan. 26, 1881, aged 79 yrs. 1 mo. 3 das. Aphia, w. Dea. Ahira Baker, d. Jan. 20, 1848, aged 47 yrs. Mary, d. Alex D. Baker, d. Mar. 2, 1849, aged 43 yrs. Mary, w. Alex D. Baker, d. Jan. 4, 1848, aged 77. Alex D., d. Apr. 26, 1844, aged 82 yrs. Bachelder, Adoline F., w. Joshua C. Bachelder, d. June 5, 1853, aged 26 yrs. 2 das. Pike, Mary, w. George H. Pike, d. Oct. 8, 1850, aged 21 yrs. (several stones without inscr.which are probably children of Alex D. and Mary who d. early.)

Maine was a popular spot in the early 1800s, but after that eyes turned westward to the midwest and far west. Northern and central Maine were still a "frontier" in the mid 1800's, with plenty of open land for the taking. It didn't take long for them to figure out that the Midwest and far West were more fertile and hospitable for farming and development. As did Ahira's two younger sons, Charles Wiley and Horace Ahira Baker when they left Maine for Missouri and then Iowa sometime after the 1850 census and before the 1860 census. Horace died in Iowa. Charles W. eventually followed his father in law, John Allen and the family of his wife's sister, Emma to California and settled his family in the fertile San Joaquin Valley of California in a town called Visalia in Tulare Co. not far from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada where records show him to be by 1898.

Sources

York Co., ME Birth, Death, Marriage Records, Baker Cemetery gravestone, Genealogy of the Descendants of Edward Baker, Lynn, MA 1630