GRANDPA AND GRANDMA BAKER
Grandma Baker's Mother, Elizabeth Simpson Lawson, 1937
Grandpa Baker
GRANDMA MARY AND GRANDPA BOB BAKER
What do we know about Grandma and Grandpa Baker? We pieced together information from Richard's Geneology Book and from her namesake, Mary Ellen, who spent a winter with Grandma in Lexington when she lived at Ann's house when she was in poor health and needed someone to look after her.
Grandpa was born Sept. 1, 1878 the 7th child of 9 children. His mother's name was Sarah McKinney (born in North Carolina) and his father's was Robert (born in Virginia). They were married in 1859. Apparently they moved to Kentucky as some of their children were born in Powell County and Lee County. Grandpa Bob and his younger brother, David, married sisters, Mary and Annie Lawson.
Grandma Mary Ellen Lawson Baker was born July 30, 1882 and although some birth dates are missing, it looks like she was the oldest of 9 children. Her father, Joseph, was born in Tennessee and her mother, Elizabeth Simpson, was born in North Carolina. They married in 1881 in Hawkins County, TN. Sister Annie was 6 years younger than Mary and both girls were born in Tennessee.
Somehow Grandma Mary's family moved to Pennington Gap, VA from TN as some of her siblings were born in VA and her father was buried in Pennington Gap, VA.
The story of how Grandma Mary got to Stanton from Pennington Gap is one that was passed down from her in conversations with Ann's daughter, Mary Ellen. Who knows why Grandpa Bob was in Virginia when he met his wife to be. But we know that young men traveled around a lot looking for work. When he married Grandma Mary, her parents weren't very happy. They worried about their daughter and weren't sure if he would be a good provider. Their first 2 children were born in Pennington Gap and then they came to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap area which is quite historic (the same trail that Daniel Boone used). They worked their way north by boat and lived in several places. By looking at Richard's book, children were born in Flat Lick, Zachariah, Evelyn, Stanton, and Newport, KY. That gives you an idea how many times they moved. Most of the children were born in Stanton. Then there was a move to Newport where the youngest, Lila, was born and then back to Stanton again.
The Stanton connection was through Grandpa Baker's family. Several of his siblings were born in Powell Co. (Stanton) including his younger brother, David, who married Grandma's sister Annie.
When you look at Grandpa Bob's years on this earth (1878-1960) you can imagine all the history he saw. Wars, depression, electricity, and so much more. The family did suffer through some hard times as did lots of families in the depression and war years. Grandpa was always looking for work. He traveled away from home for months at a time to work. It was said that he was always trying to invent a root beer drink. In those times lots of soft drinks were being formulated and marketed. I guess that was a dream that never came to fulfillment.
Grandma somehow always managed with what she had. It was said that when things were extremely rough and they really, really, needed money for an emergency, Grandma would have a few dollars tucked away for such a need. She was industrious. She raised a garden, had chickens, and never turned down a bushel of excess produce. She raised all those kids without the luxuries we have: air conditioning, self cleaning ovens, electric refrigerators, indoor plumbing, washers and dryers, water heaters, microwaves and more.
Due to the work of Richard Wilson, we have a wonderful geneology record. What is so interesting is that most of us just remember the Baker clan by the "Aunt somebody" or Uncle somebody" name. It was surprising to see the list of children with their full names produced by Mary Ellen and Robert Calvin Baker. For instance, did you know that Uncle Frank's full name was Joseph Franklin? Here they are below and in order of their age from oldest to youngest. More information will be available at the reunion.
Joseph Franklin
Eugene Nelson
Alice Pauline
Lawrence Murray
Ernest Washington
Woodrow Edgar
Robert Paul
Kenneth (no middle name listed)
William Royce
Virginia Ann
Lila May
GRANDMA DIDN'T WORRY ABOUT THE STORM
Grandma Baker was not one to worry. She was quiet and patient. She read her Bible every day and made a lot of notes in it. She relied on her faith and was willing to talk about it if you asked but she wasn't pushy. She didn't seem to be disturbed by much. When we walked around the side of her house close to her flowers with all the bees, she said "They won't bother you if you don't bother them." When we discovered a hornet or wasp hive in her house on the landing that led up to the upstairs that wasn't used much, she said the same thing "They won't bother you if you don't bother them." She didn't worry about the storm if you know what I mean. I get a lot of inspirational weblinks. Some I'm not so crazy about and some are pretty good. This one came today and it made me think of Grandma Baker.
- Patricia
Click here: "Grandma didn't worry about the storm."
Alice, Lila, Mother Mary, Ann
Bill Baker (in uniform) with brothers Eugene, Ernie, Larry, and Frank
6 comments:
I am amazed! I have been doing research on my husband's family history and one of the pictures we have pops up. My husband is a descendant of Frank Baker.
Nina, tell us who your husband is? Is Frank his grandfather or great grandfather and where do you live?
My husband's name is Franklin "Frank" Baker (sound familiar), his father was Paul Thomas, his dad was Joseph Franklin and, of course, his dad was Robert Calvin. We live outside of Longview, TX.
Ironically, we were at the Stanton Cemetery in Aug. of last year looking for my Frank's little brother's grave as well as ancestors.
I forgot to mention that we have the same picture of Robert and Mary Ellen. We also have some other pictures that we can't identify the people in it.
Hello,
My name is Tanya Baker Mathiews, I am Frank's little sister (Nina's husband). I look on here and recognize a couple of the names and one of the pictures. I live in Athens, TX.
Hello - I'm writing because my husband (who was adopted at birth) and his biological family are looking for information about their grandmother, Frances Gertrude Baker (they've always known her as just "Gertrude", who had their mother, Shirley) - we believe Gertrude's father's name was D. N. Baker and her mother was Annie Lawson (according to her death certificate). "D. N." may be the "Dave" in your blog who married one of the Lawson sisters (Annie). Any information you can provide about "Dave" and "Annie" would be amazing. Thank you!
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