Elizabeth (Avent) Baker (1752 - 1844)

Born 12 Sep 1752 in Surry County Virginia

Ancestors

Wife of Andrew Baker Jr. — married 1769 in Colony of Virginia, British Colonial America

Descendants

Died 1844 at about age 91 in Jonestown, Lee County, Virginia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Barbara Mead [send private message], Mark Romine [send private message], Daphne Maddox [send private message], Bob Baccus [send private message], Sherry Baker [send private message], and Raymond Baker [send private message]

Biography

Early Life
Elizabeth Avent was born in 1752,^[1][2] the daughter of Peter Avent^[1] and Amy (Massey/Massie) Avent.^[1] She was christened 8 April 1753 at Albemarle Parish, Surry, Virginia:^[1]

Elizabeth, daughter of Peter Avent & Amy his wife

born Sept^r 12 1752, christened Ap 8 1753

godfather John Avent, godmothers Mary Avent & Eliz^t Shelton

Adult Life
She married Andrew Baker, a Virginia born farmer and fiddler, about 1769 (date estimated from 13 Aug 1770 birth of oldest known child, Solomon). The location is uncertain but was probably Grayson (Formerly Augusta) County, Virginia.

Andrew later became a Baptist minister, and Elizabeth and family would move with him across North Carolina and Virginia as his work took him to various different churches. See Obituary, below.

The 1787 census of Vannoy's District, Wilkes County, North Carolina lists the eight people in Andrew Baker's household - presumably including Elizabeth - as one white male over 21 (Andrew), four under 21, and three white females.^[3] In fact, their first daughter (Nancy) was only born in January of that year so it appears their youngest two boys, James (five) and John (two or three), were mistaken for girls - commonplace at the time, when young boys wore dresses. One son was apparently elsewhere - this would likely be their eldest, seventeen year old Solomon, who was old enough to earn a living.

On Nov 24, 1789 the minute book of Brier Creek Baptist Church in Wilkes County, NC records her husband Rev. Andrew Baker being sent there by the church, with Elizabeth Baker received the same day by letter (image here):^[4]

"November the 24th at Church Meeting Received under the

Care of the Church John Shepherd, Andrew Baker

By letter Elizabeth Baker, 3 in all―"

Death & Burial
Elizabeth was widowed in 1815 and outlived Andrew by almost thirty years. She died in 1844,^[2][5] though the location is uncertain - it was probably in Lee County, Virginia but it is only actually known that she was living with "one of her sons."

Andrew and Elizabeth are buried together at the Robert Clark Cemetery in Van, Lee County, Virginia.^[5]

Family

Elizabeth Avant and Andrew Baker had nine children, all named in the family bible of their daughter Martha (see Family Bible below).

1. Solomon Sanders Baker 1770 - 1847
2. Henry, born 14 August 1774 - 1811
3. Andrew Baker 1777 - 1840
4. Joseph Baker 1779 - ?
5. James, born 27 January 1782 - 1832
6. John, born 15 August 1784 -1855
7. Nancy, born 10 January 1787 -1856
8. Elijah, born 8 May 1789 -1864
9. Martha, born 27 October 1791- 1869 ^[6]

Family Bible

Transcript of the family bible's births page:

A Register of the Ages

of the children of the Rev^d

Andrew Baker & his Wife Eliza-

beth

1 Solomon was Born August

the 13^th 1770

2 Henry was Born August

the 14^th 1774

3^rd Andrew was born Feb^r

the 8^th 1777

4 Joseph was Born April

the 8^th 1779

5 James was Born January

the 27^th 1782

6 John was Born 15 August

the 15^th 1784

7 Nancy wasBorn Jan^r

the 10^th 1787

8 Elijah was Born May

the 8^th 1789

and presumably:*

9 Martha was Born October

the 27^th 1791

* The bible's handwritten family records were transcribed in the 1930s by Grace (Witt) Brockman, a descendant.^[7] It was verified by the Daughters of the American Revolution who granted her DAR membership in February 1934. When Mrs Brockman revisited the cousins who owned the bible in 1960 she was horrified to find the last page had come loose and been lost - which prompted her to borrow the bible to personally ensure the frontispiece and family records were microfilmed for posterity at the State Library in Richmond, Virginia.^[7] Sadly, no image therefore exists of the missing last page which contained the record of their youngest child, Martha.^[7] This bible was was donated to the Lee County Historical Society in Jonesville, Virginia on 20 Aug 2016.^[7]

Obituary

Religious Herald, 21 Jan 1847

Transcription by Barbara (Baker) Mead

Note: there were a couple of minor errors in the published obituary: she was actually born 12 Sep 1752 (not 02 Sep1753) and her father's name was Peter at christening (not John).

"This truly amiable pattern of piety of the undefiled religion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for many years actual experience, was born in Brunswick County, Virginia, on the 2nd of September, AD 1753. Her father John Avent, emigrated in an early part of her life into Chatham County, NC. At some period of time after this she was married to a man named Andrew Baker, and some time after their marriage they settled in Wilkes County, NC, in the part thereof which is now called Ashe County. In the fall of 1775, she joined the Baptist church in the Osborne's Settlement on New River. In a short time after her joining the church, her husband also joined the church, and they were both baptized (as she thought) by William Hammond. As respects her husband, his life is too remarkable to be forgotten, for sometime after his admission to the church, he became one of the brightest ministers of the gospel in which he labored many years in the cordial acceptance of many precious souls into the holy church. In Wilkes Co., NC at St. Clair's Bottom Church, Washington county VA's Fox Creek Church, Grayson Co., VA where they lived 16 or 20 years; in the last which he died in the fall of AD 1815.

As an impartial testimony of the brilliant talents of this Apostle, I will relate that I heard 2 lay-elders of the Presbyterian Church say that they thought that they heard as great a sermon delivered by old Father Baker as any other minister, and had it not been that they could not have had admittance to his church upon Baptist principles, they would have been members of his church. The last year of his life he baptized 2 persons, one male and one female. The man whom he baptized was James Gilbert, who is now one of the most talented preachers laboring in the Mulberry Gap Association of the United Baptists. Thus, our old father in the gospel closed his labors, and few months after which he yielded up the ghost, and his remains now lie buried in the graveyard of Brother Robert Clarks' Sr. on Wallings Creek, Lee County, VA nearly 8 miles southwest of Jonesville.

After his death his consort, who is the principal subject of this narrative, lived in several churches, making her home most of the time with her children, who were very kind to her in every respect in administering the comforts which were necessary for her support, through the many years of her affliction of bereavement, and among the calamities that befall the human family. She had an inflammation of one of her eyes which carried away the sight of it, and very much injured the other. Indeed, so much so that in a few years after the death of her husband, she was destitute of any eyesight at all. She patiently endured all her afflictions with a devout and holy fortitude, without a murmuring word to last of her existence.

She survived her husband over 29 years; and I think that more than 20 years of this time she was deprived of all her eyesight. Notwithstanding all this, she retained her reason and recollection in an astonishing manner, for she never became the least childish or fretful in her deportment. Cleanliness and decency she retained in her mind to the last moments of her life.

About a week before her death, she and one of her sons with whom she made her home, were sitting by the fireside. In their conversation she said that if she could know that that was the last night she had to live, she would feel like praising the Lord with every breath, but professed a willingness to wait the appointed time of the Lord, and also gave at different times the most satisfactory evidence of her acceptance of the Lord."

Stories

Recorded by descendant Grace (Witt) Brockman, told by her cousins Newt Click and Ellen Click on 25 Aug 1938 near Sneedville, TN (reproduced in Frieda (Sims) Nelson's book):^[8]

"Elizabeth Avant (or Avent) was of French Huguenot descent, from an aristocratic family, and when she married our great-great grandfather, Rev. Andrew Baker, her people disinherited her and told her never to return home; she said that she never would until they sent for both of them. After many years, the Avants sent for Elizabeth and her husband to come and see them in their old age. Rev. Baker told her if she would not cry when she went home, he would send to the big seaport town (Wilmington?) and buy for her the nicest dress they could find. She promised and she got the dress, but when she came in sight of the old home of her parents she burst into tears."

Research Notes

• Parents: Peter Avent (1720 - 1779 ) & Amy (Massey) Avent (1730 - 1776)

• Siblings:
  1. Rev. Joseph Avent 1740 - 1801
  2. Isham Avent 1744 - 1782
  3. Peter Avant 1748 - 1780
  4. William Avent IV 1755 - 1811
  5. Thomas Avent IV 1760 - 1781
  6. Mourning Avent 1761 - ?
  7. Lucy Truelove (born Avent) 1762 - 1825
  8. Rebecca Senter (born Avent) 1764 - 1853
  9. John Avent III
  10. Sarah Avent

• Alternative birth date & father: History of Lee Co, VA quotes her obituary with the erroneous birth date (b. 2 Sep 1753) and father (John Avent). This simply replicates the errors in her obituary in the Religious Herald, Jan. 21, 1847.

• Information from Davis and Allied Families page 624:
  Biography of Elizabeth Avent Baker, Religious Herald, Jan. 21, 1847

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Elizabeth Avent christening record baptism register 1739-1738, Albermarle Parish, Surry & Sussex Counties, Virginia. Original repository Virginia Historical Society. FHL microfilm 30,161. FamilySearch database with images "Virginia Births and Christenings, 1853-1917," (5 December 2014) > image 117 of 212. Elizabeth Avent, 12 Sep 1752. Accessed 02 Nov 2022.
   • transcript: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VRPL-L2N
   • image: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4C-2QN

   child: Elizabeth, daughter

   parents: Peter Avent & Amy his wife

   born: Sept^r 12 1752

   christened: Ap 8 1753

   godfathers: John Avent

   godmothers: Mary Avent & Eliz^t Shelton

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Unsourced family tree handed down to Bob Baccus.
3. ↑ Andrew Baker household in the 1787 census of Vannoy's Company, Wilkes County, North Carolina. Original in the State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina. Public domain transcription by Wilkes Genealogical Society, North Wilkesboro digitized by FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/544191/?offset=0#page=10&viewer=picture&o=&n=0&q=), page 7, image 10 of 32. Accessed 02 Nov 2022.

   name, white males age 21-60, other ages, all white females, blacks 12 to 50, other ages

   Andrew Baker, 1, 4, 3, 0, 0

4. ↑ Brier Creek Baptist Church, Wilkes Co., NC church minutes 1783-1955, page 4. microfilmed by the Historical Commission, Southern Baptist Convention, Nashville, Tennessee. FHL Film 984264. FamilySearch database with images "Church minutes, 1783-1955," (https:/familysearch.org/search/catalog/354675) > Image 11 of 276 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4K-JWH6). Accessed 02 Nov 2022.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Find A Grave: Memorial #50911845 for Elizabeth (Avant) Baker (1752-1844), Robert Clark Cemetery, Van, Lee County, Virginia, (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50911845/). Memorial created and maintained by Phillip Walker. Accessed 02 Nov 2022.

   name: Elizabeth (Avant) Baker

   born: 12 Sep 1752 in Brunswick County, Virginia, USA

   died: 1844 possibly in Lee County, Virginia, USA (aged 91–92)

   spouse: Andrew Baker (1749–1815)

   Transcript in "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/QVK5-B9WP : 11 July 2016), Elizabeth Avant Baker, 1844; Burial, Van, Lee, Virginia, United States of America, Robert Clark Cemetery.

6. ↑ MyHeritage
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3} Lee County Historical Society newsletter, January 2017. Jonesville, Virginia.

   http://www.leecountyvahistoricalsociety.org/uploads/3/4/3/1/34317420/newsletter_2017_jan_rev_1.pdf

   • page 1: Article by Dolores Ramsey Ham describing the chain of custody of the bible (with a glimpse into that line of descendants). She is the sister of Wright Ramsey, whose widow Phyllis and son Michael were its last owners before donation.
   • page 2: Article by Roger Baker describing the bible's recent journey prior to donation.
8. ↑ "Andrew Baker and His Descendants" book by Frieda Sims Nelson, page 2. Self published, Colorado 1975 . Public domain digitized copy available at FamilySearch.org: see page 2 (image 8 of 314). Accessed 02 Nov 2022.

• Lee County Heritage Book, Tennessee State Library and Archives transcribed by S.L. Baker
• Andrew Baker and His Descendants by Frieda Sims Nelson, 1975
• Some Descendants of Andrew Baker http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~katy/baker/b14077.html#P14077
• https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-1-284022911-1-500007/elizabeth-baker-born-avent-in-myheritage-family-trees?s=216760841
• Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. 29 JAN 2019 Time: 08:28:43Ancestry Family Tree Ancestry Family Tree 155864392
• Ancestry.com, Public Member Trees (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 414) Database online. Note: Record for Peter Avants

See also:

• FamilySearch ID no. LCB4-84Z: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LCB4-84Z