Edward Baker (abt. 1610 - 1687)

Born about 1610 in England

Descendants

Died 16 Mar 1687 at about age 77 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Edward Baker migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Edward Baker was born in England before 1617.^[1] Researchers commonly estimate a birth year of about 1610.^[2]

Upon arrival in New England, he settled initially in the township of Lynn in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but the date of his emigration is uncertain. According to Savage, he arrived in 1630;^[3] and other researchers have repeated this claim.^[4] However, there are no records documenting his presence in New England before 1638. In the Great Migration Directory, Anderson gives 1638 as the date of Edward’s arrival.^[5]

Edward was made a freeman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony on 14 March 1638/9,^[6] and received a grant of 40 acres in the 1638 distribution of land in the town of Lynn.^[7]

His wife was Joan (__).^[8] She is sometimes identified as “Jane.”^[9] The circumstances of their marriage are unknown.^[10]

Edward was a farmer (husbandman) in Lynn and appears occasionally in the available records for this community between 1638-1655. He served several terms of grand jury service in 1642 and 1653-5. In 1644, he was ordered to stake out a road.^[11] On 1 January 1649/50, he purchased a 200-acre tract of land and farm in Rumney Marsh from Samuel Whiting of Lynn.^[12]

A notation in the guest book of the historic Saugus Iron Works, now a National Historic Site, reportedly indicates that Edward Baker of Lynn was one of its original investors and a proprietor. The exact relationship is unclear, but in 1655 Edward Baker and Daniel Salmon were involved in a dispute with the undertakers of the ironworks at Lynn. Extensive records reflecting the judgment obtained by Salmon and Baker and transactions to satisfy their debt exist in the Suffolk County court files.^[13]

In about 1658, Edward Baker and his family migrated west to the remote Massachusetts frontier settlement of Northampton, on the western bank of the upper Connecticut River. He received a grant of 22 acres of meadow land and a home lot on what became Elm Street near the present-day location of Smith College.^[14]

After living in Northampton for several years and settling sons Timothy and Joseph on farmland there, Edward Baker returned to Lynn with his wife Joan and sons Edward and Thomas.^[15] They appear to have returned before 1667, when Edward again appears as a grand juryman in Lynn.^[16]

On 29 October 1675, during King Phillip’s War, his son Joseph and young grandson Joseph were both killed in an Indian attack while working in their field in Northampton.^[17]

Edward Baker died in March 1687, most likely in Lynn. He was buried in Lynn on March 16 or 17, 1687.^[18]

Children

Children of Edward and Joan Baker include at least:

1. Hannah, b. abt. 1638, m. 11 Nov 1659 Thomas Lewis, d. Jan 1717
2. Joseph, b. abt. 1640, m. 5 Feb 1662/3 Ruth Holton, d. 29 Oct 1675
3. Mary, b. 1 Apr 1642, m. 7 Nov 1662 George Sumner, d. 1 Apr 1719
4. John, b. abt. 1645, m. 17 Dec 1668 Abigail Fisher, d. 15 Sep 1719
5. Timothy, b. abt. 1647, m. (1) 16 Jan 1672 Grace Marsh, m. (2) Sarah (Hollister) Atherton, d. 30 Aug 1729
6. Thomas, b. 1653, m. 10 Jul 1689 Mary Lewis, d. 3 Oct 1734
7. Edward, b. abt. 1655, m. 7 Apr 1685 Mary Marshall
8. Elizabeth, b. 9 Aug 1657, m. 14 Jun 1676 John Witt

This birth order is uncertain.^[19]

Will & Last Deeds of Gift

Edward Baker made a Deed of Gift on 20 January 1684, recorded on 15 October 1710. In it, he bequeathed his property in Lynn to his sons Edward and Thomas.^[20] He is believed to have given his property in Northampton to his sons who remained there when he left and is reported to have made a will on 16 October 1685 in which he gave the remainder of his estate to his son John of Dedham.^[21][22][23]

Research Notes

Unknown parentage

• The English origins of Edward Baker are unknown. Some, without source, have claimed that he is the son of John Baker and his wife Sarah. No evidence has been found to support this assertion and those parents have been disconnected from this profile.

• Recently a birth record was added showing Edward to be the son of Thomas Baker: ^[24] No evidence has been provided showing that this birth record is for the immigrant.

Lynn Early Records

The Lynn town records prior to 1691 have not survived, complicating efforts to reconstruct the early history of this town.^[25] This may explain the absence of any known record of Edward’s presence in New England prior to 1638; however, absent the discovery of new evidence, the claims of his arrival with Winthrop’s fleet in 1630 appear to be speculative.

DNA

According to a prior contributor to this profile, his Y-DNA haplogroup may be R1b1b2a1b5. This is based on the following:

BAKER YDNA PROJECT & the Genealogy of Edward Baker of Lynn, MA

A Baker surnamed descendant of Edward Baker joined the Baker Ydna project in January 2010, as a representative of the Edward Baker (abt 1610-1689), his son Lt. Timothy Baker (1645- 1727) and grandson Capt. Thomas Baker of the Lynn & Northampton, MA line. He is a 37 marker match with 7 descendants of Timothy Baker (1675- 1747) of Maidenhead, NJ, meaning with 90-plus% certainty that these men share a common Baker ancestor within 12 or fewer generations. With his first wife Grace Marsh, (born Hartford, CT, daughter of Gov. John Marsh of Connecticut, a founder of Hartford and Anne Webster, later of Hadley, Hampshire, MA) our Lt. Timothy Baker of Northampton, MA had a son named Timothy b. abt 1675 Their first child, Grace Baker, b. late 1672 or early 1673 d. February, 1673. Grace Marsh Baker died May 1676. Their deaths are a matter of Northampton town record. It had long been thought young Timothy must have died early as well, despite the fact that no town record is found. Ydna evidence shows that in fact that Timothy, Jr. must have survived and was probably raised by someone from his mother's family. Furthermore we know Timothy Baker, Jr. was alive at age 12-13 when he is mentioned as an heir in his maternal grandfather John Marsh's will written October 1688. This is an exciting revelation for anyone interested in the Edward Baker line. We are hoping to find other descendants of Edward Baker willing to join the project as well.

As of March 2011 a direct patrilineal descendant of John Baker of Dedham is a 12/12 marker match, and 33-36/37 marker match to the known descendant of Edward's son Timothy through his son Thomas and the 7 presumptive of descendants of Timothy through his son Timothy, Jr.

Sources

1. ↑ Based on the date of his admission as a freeman in 1638.
2. ↑ See, e.g., Mary Walton Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines: A Memorial Volume Containing the American Ancestry of Rufus R. Dawes, 2 vols. (n.p., 1943), 1:67; “The Lynn Descendants of Edward Baker,” The Essex Genealogist 18 (2018): 147-53, at 147; James Russell Trumbull, History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its Settlement in 1654, 2 vols. (Northampton, Mass.: Press of Gazette Printing Co., 1898-1902), 1:580.
3. ↑ James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, 4 vols. (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1860-2), 1:95.
4. ↑ See, e.g., Nelson M. Baker, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Edward Baker of Lynn, Mass, 1630 (Syracuse: N.M. Baker, 1867), 7; Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, 1:67; TEG 18:147; Lewis, Alonzo & James Newhall, History of Lynn, Essex County Massachusetts: Including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscott, and Nahant 1629-1864 (Lynn, Mass.: George C. Herbert, 1890), 114-116.
5. ↑ Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1640, A Concise Compendium, Kindle Edition (New England Historic & Genealogical Society, 2015), loc. 1312 (Baker, Edward).
6. ↑ Nathaniel Shurtleff, ed., Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 5 vols. (Boston: William White, 1853-54), 1:375.
7. ↑ Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, 1636-1686, 9 vols. (Salem, Mass: The Essex Institute, 1911-1975), 2:270.
8. ↑ E.g., Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, 1:68; Baker, Descendants of Edward Baker, 7. She is identified as “Joan” by the records of the births of their children and of her death in the Lynn Vital Records. See Vital Records of Lynn Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols. (Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute, 1905-6), 1:37-8 (births of Edward, John, Joseph, Thomas, & Timothy, all “s. Edward and Joan”); 2:421 (death of “Joan, w. Edward, sr., Apr. 9, 1693”).
9. ↑ E.g., Savage, Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, 1:95; Lewis & Newhall, History of Lynn, 116.
10. ↑ Baker, Descendants of Edward Baker, 7 (“All that is known of his wife is, that her name was JOAN, (Jane) and that she died April 9, 1693.”).
11. ↑ TEG 18:147; citing Essex Quarterly Courts, 1:44, 270, 283, 403, & 408.
12. ↑ TEG 18:147; citing Essex County Deeds, 34:46-48; image, ‘’FamilySearch’’ (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89Z8-MNS3 : accessed 24 May 2021), FHL microfilm 866,029; DGS 7,463,272.
13. ↑ Suffolk Deeds, 14 vols. (Boston: Rockwell & Churchill, 1880-1906), 2:265-272.
14. ↑ Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, 1:67 & 618; citing Trumbull, History of Northampton, 1:38, 145, 271, & 580.
15. ↑ Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, 1:67.
16. ↑ Essex Quarterly Courts, 3:454.
17. ↑ Trumbull, History of Northampton, 1:270-71.
18. ↑ Lynn Vital Records, 2:421; Lewis & Newhall, History of Lynn, 116.
19. ↑ TEG: 18:148-49. See also Lynn Vital Records 1:37-38, 2:31-32 & 421; Baker, Descendants of Edward Baker, 8; and George Harlan Lewis, Edmund Lewis of Lynn, Massachusetts and Some of his Descendants (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1908), 13 (for Hannah).
20. ↑ TEG 18:147-8; citing Essex County Deeds, 35:48; image, ‘’FamilySearch’’ (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99Z8-MF58 : accessed 24 May 2021), FHL microfilm 866,029; DGS 7,463,272.
21. ↑ TEG 18:147-8; Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, 1:68; Lewis & Newhall, History of Lynn, 116
22. ↑ Baker, Nelson M. A Genealogy of the Descendants of Edward Baker of Lynn, Mass., 1630, Syracuse, NY, 1867. https://archive.org/details/genealogyofdesce00bake_0/page/8/mode/1up
23. ↑ The Lynn Descendants of Edward Baker, The Essex Genealogist (periodical of The Essex Society of Genealogists - Lynnfield, Massachusetts), Volume 18, February 1996, pp. 147-153. https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/essex-genealogist-the/image?pageName=147&volumeId=12955
24. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J99J-62C: 4 February 2023), Edward Baker, 1606.
25. ↑ For a detailed discussion of this issue, see “Focus on Lynn,” Great Migration Newsletter 1 (1990): 19-22.

See also:

• Family Tree DNA Baker Surname Project, multiple descendant matches
• Essex Institute Historical Collections, "Record of Marriages, Births and Deaths, in the Town of Lynn. Vol. II." (Salem, Massachusetts, 1863) Vol. 5, Page 238