His Ancestry & Life
By: Gladys Elizabeth Baker, 1997
Richard
Philip Baker, second child and first son of Ellen Eley Baker and
William Baker, was born at Condover, Shropshire (Salop), England,
February 3, 1866. His mother came from Derbyshire near Derby;
his
father from Stroud across the Medway River from Rochester, Kent.
Apparently
the Baker lineage in England began with refugee Huguenots from
France. Because of continued religious persecution these
French
Protestants left France in waves, settling in the Canterbury, Kent
area. Most of them were skilled weavers. In 1543
Henry the
VIIIth, then endorsing Protestantism (Act of Supremacy) granted one
group sanctuary in England, giving them the privilege of worship in a
small crypt of Canterbury Cathedral, called St. Gabrielle's in the
Crypt. According to Frances E. Baker (R.P.B.'s daughter) who
quoted from the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed. V:211.
191l.:
"The Chapel of St. John or St. Gabrielle, beneath St. Anselm's Tower,
is still in use for service, in which the French language is
used. It was devoted to this purpose in 1561, on behalf of
French
Protestant refugees, who were also permitted to carry on their trade as
weavers in the crypt." Frances visited there in 1954 noting
this
practice persisted. Later there was a weavers house.
A
family by the name of Nye (pronounced Ney), a Huguenot weaving family,
arrived in England as immigrants in 1588. Names of the Nye
family
appear in the St. Gabrielle records. The Nyes settled in the
Canterbury area. A Madame Nye of Canterbury, for whom dates
are
unknown, was the progenitor of the Baker family.
When
Frances and Gladys were visiting Wilfred Wright, R.P.B.'s first cousin,
in 1928, he showed us a small water color of a lady he thought was
Madame Nye. The lady had dark eyes, dark hair in ringlets and
was
dressed in simple style. The fate of this portrait is
unknown. Early in W.W.II Wilfred and his wife cleared their
London home and put their goods in storage because of the bombing
raids. They then retreated to their home in Surrey.
Unfortunately the warehouse with their goods was destroyed in the
Blitz. If Wilfred removed the portrait to Surrey it probably
is
now with one of his two daughters or their descendants.
A
daughter of Madame Nye, name unknown, married a Goodwin of Maidstone,
Kent in 1790. Their son Thomas Goodwin married Mary Hall,
Maidstone, circa 1810. A daughter of this union, Mary
Goodwin,
1806-1876, and Richard Baker of Eden Bridge, Kent were united circa
1829 when they eloped to be married in St. Marylebone Parish Church,
London. They lived in Stroud, Kent across the Medway River
from
Rochester. Here they raised four children: William,
1830-1874,
R.P.B.'s father; Josiah, 1832-1850; Anne, a.k.a. Annie, 1835-1916 (?);
and Mary a.k.a. Polly, 1842-1894. In the churchyard at Stroud
there is a tombstone with the names of Josiah, William, their mother
Mary and sister Mary. Mary Goodwin Baker's name appears
twice;
once as mother of Josiah and William, and again as wife of Richard; and
Mary, sister of Josiah and William, 1842-1894. F. and G. saw
this
marker in 1928 and G. photographed it.
Mary,
a.k.a. Polly did not marry although she was engaged to a young man,
who, returning from a business trip in Paris, overslept on the Channel
ferry. He rushed off in his carpet slippers whereupon Polly
who
had gone to meet him at Dover, returned his ring on the spot she was so
offended. Uncle Will's wife remarked on hearing this story,
"What
a lucky escape he had."
Annie,
married Peter Wright, from the Isle of Aram off the coast of
Scotland. He was a wealthy brewer. The Wright
estate, "The
Chestnuts", was in Clapton, a London suburb. It overlooked
the
River Lea. Aunt Mary took Frances and Gladys there in
1928.
Now part of a public park, Springhill, she could identify a shrubbery
walk and some chestnut trees from the Wright home.
The
Wrights had one son, Wilfred, who was R.P.B.'s first cousin.
Wilfred married May Hetherington of Birmingham. They had
three
children: Dora Jean Temple; John Muir Hetherington; and Elizabeth Avril
Goodwin. Muir went to Burma to be a rubber planter.
He was
killed during the Japanese invasion of W.W.II. Avril was a silver
medalist at the London Conservatory of Music. During W.W.II
she
and others, including Dame Myra Hess, played free concerts during the
day. People could come and go giving them a respite from the
stress of the war.
Aunt
Mary L. told us a story about Muir as a small boy. A visitor
asked him what he wanted to do when he was grown up. Muir's
answer was quick and to the point: "Get married and write checks like
Papa."
Richard
Philip's grandfather, also Richard, served as Beadle in
Stroud.
For forty years or more he was secretary of the Kent County Cricket
Club. When he retired the Club presented him with a handsome
silver inkstand. Wilfred Wright, his grandson, inherited
this. Wilfred asked Frances and Gladys if R.P.B., or Dick as
he
called him, liked it. He had sent it to him by Aunt Mary L.
Baker
when she came to U.S. in 1922. Since neither one of us had
ever
heard of it we were a bit embarrassed. We believe Aunt Mary
L.
gave it to Dick Baker, R.P.B.'s nephew instead of R.P.B. Its present
whereabouts is unknown. (It was given to nephew, Richard
Goodwin
Baker, and is now in the possession of his son, John.)
R.P.B.'s
father, William Baker, 1830-1874, was born in Stroud, Kent on the
Medway River. Stroud is across the river from
Rochester.
After elementary school he was largely self taught. He became
a
professional organist. His mother was said to be an
accomplished
musician. William settled in Shrewsbury, Shropshire where he
was
organist at St. Mary's Church. In poor health he was advised
to
accept a less confining position, so he became "Relieving Officer of
the Poor" for Atcham Union, Shropshire. It involved driving
by
horse and buggy over the shire to call on recipients. This
position was probably similar to that of a modern social worker.
In
early life William had displayed some talent for painting. At
18
(1848) he produced an oil painting of a view across the Medway River
with a distant view of Rochester Cathedral and the Castle in the
foreground. At that time the Cathedral had a spire which the
Germans razed in a bombing raid in W.W.I. Later it was
replaced.
Aunt Mary L. gave this painting to Gladys when she came on a visit in
1923. In 1984 she in turn gave it to Richard Goodwin Baker,
her
first cousin and R. P. B.'s nephew. When
William resigned as organist of St. Mary's Church he moved with his
first wife and daughter, Ann Goodwin Baker, to nearby
Condover.
There his wife died of tuberculosis. She and an infant son
are
buried in St. Andrews Churchyard, Condover where there is a marker with
their names.
In
1863 William married Ellen Eley from Derbyshire who was teaching at the
Abbey School, Shrewsbury. They had four children: Mary
Louisa,
Richard Philip, Ellen Stanford, and William. William senior
died
in 1874 at his sister Anne Baker Wright's home, "The Chestnuts", in
London. The cause of death was an aortal aneurysm not angina,
a
misdiagnosis made earlier. William is buried in Abney Park
Cemetery, London.
Ellen
Baker, nee Eley, was born at the family home, "The Hurst", in Smalley
near Derby, Derbyshire, in 1827. The Eleys had been freehold
farmers there for over 300 years. R.P.B. said he could trace
the
family back that far on tombstones in the churchyard, and undoubtedly
the church records went back even farther. Derby is the
location
of porcelain potteries. The most famous began as Derby
porcelain,
then changed its name to Chelsea Derby in 1770, and finally under royal
patronage became the well known Royal Crown Derby. Ellen
Baker
had some Derby porcelain. Mary L. Baker brought over two
plates
from the Baker home in 1922. Gladys added a bowl, and cup and
saucer purchased in antique shops. These were all in a Bloor
pattern of 1820. Bloor was a famous designer for this
porcelain. When a pattern is successful the pottery continues
to
make it for some time making the age of these pieces difficult to
determine, especially as there is no hall mark on the Eley
plates. All of these belong to the John Bakers now.
When
Ellen was five years old (1832) her father held her on his shoulders to
see the first train in England; this she remembered clearly.
She
later attended Whitelands, the Government Teachers' Training School for
secondary teaching. It was a five year program with five
girls in
the first class which she ranked at graduation. Whitelands is
now
part of London University. In Shrewsbury she is remembered by
a
plaque as the first "Certificated Teacher" there, according to Mary L.
Baker. From 1851 to 1863 she taught at the Abbey
School.
The Abbey, long gone, is known today through Ellis Peters' stories of
Brother Cadfael who had detective prowess in the 12th Century.
Shrewsbury
also had potteries whose products were called Salopian. Aunt
Ellen S. Baker gave Gladys one small vase which she gave to Mary Baker
Hess in 1970. (Passed on to her son and daughter in-law, Charles and
Wilma, circa 1982.) It was a blank - plain white - to be
decorated elsewhere, a common practice among potteries. Many
blanks were sent to China.
After
her husband died Ellen Eley Baker closed the small school for farmers'
daughters she held in a room of the Condover house and moved her family
to Shrewsbury where she taught in the Darwin Elementary School from
1876-1892. In Shrewsbury the family lived in a house called
"The
Mount" which was on the Severn River. One year the directors
of
the Darwin School decided that boys as well as girls should be taught
to knit and sew, much to her dismay as R. P. B. recalled.
After
this had been in practice for some time she concluded that some boys
did well, others did not, just as girls performed. Her son
William recalled that she taught him speed reading by writing on a
window shade, then snapping it up to test his memory. After
retiring she moved to Barnwood, near Gloucester, to live with her
daughters. She is buried in Barnwood Cemetery.
Ellen
Eley's sister Alice married Sir Joseph Middleton of Derbyshire who
owned coal fields near Leeds. Alice died leaving four little
girls who were given to her sisters to raise. Mary Middleton
was
about eight when she came to live with Ellen Eley. They lived
at
the Abbey Teacherage until Ellen married in 1863, then at
Condover. In 1867 (circa age 22) she married Francis Goyne of
Shrewsbury. He was a well known insurance broker and CPA with
international connections. R.P.B. was always impressed that
his
cable address was simply "Goyne, England" because the name was so
unusual. Aunt Mary L. remembered the wedding and watching the
young couple drive away in a coach and four.
The
young Goynes set up housekeeping at 7 Dogpole Street in
Shrewsbury. Dogpole is a corruption of "ducking
pool". In
the small square opposite the house there had been a pool in which the
village shrews and others were ducked. This old house was the
first one in the parish of St. Alkmund. Its church was not
far
from the larger church of St. Mary's where William Baker had once been
the organist.
In
1928 Mary M. Goyne was still living there with her daughter May Goyne
Pryce and granddaughter Dorothy when Frances and Gladys visited
them. Dorothy, about the same age as Frances, showed us over
the
house. It had six rooms in two to a floor. The
windows were
casements with small leaded panes fastened with wrought iron
hooks. They did not fit very well! Back of the
kitchen were
three sculleries, the oldest of which had a lead sink with the date
1619. There was no electricity; we used candles or
lamps.
Aunt Mary L. told a story of visiting there when Dorothy was 10 or
11. Her mother wanted something from her bedroom to show Aunt
Mary so Dorothy was requested to take a candle and fetch it.
Dorothy grumbled "It's Dorothy, Dorothy all day long." Aunt Mary
seeking to soothe said, "in my business it's Miss Baker all day
long." Dorothy's rejoinder was "Yes, but you are coming to
the
end of it and I am just beginning."
There
was a story about Mary M. as a small child that I have always taken
"Cum grano salis". Apparently she stood too close to a
fireplace
so her pinafore caught fire. One of her ears burned, but
eventually it was replaced by new tissue.
Joseph
Middleton, Mary's father owned the Middleton Colliery near Leeds in the
Peverill of the Peak region. One of his employees, John
Blenkinsop, invented the rack railway in which a toothed rack is
engaged by a cog-wheel in 1811. An engine built according to
this
plan by Mathew Murray, also of Leeds, began to haul coal from the
Colliery to Leeds (1812) a distance of 3 1/2 miles. Fifty
years
later an American, Sylvester Marsh, employed this rack system for the
cog railway on Mt. Washington, New Hampshire. The
gradient
there was nearly 1 in 2 1/2. (See: Ency. Brit. ed 11, 22:
936.
1911).
R.P.B.
was always impressed that Joseph Middleton encouraged Blenkinsop to
patent this invention in his own name. Most owners would have
taken the credit for themselves. Besides being the basis for
the
Mt. Washington cog-wheel railway it is also the basis of the
San
Francisco cable car.
Aunt
Nellie told Frances that the traditional friendships and intermarriages
were among four Derbyshire families: Eleys, Middletons, Stevensons and
Stanfords. Aunt Nellie's middle name was Stanford.
She also
said there had always been a Joseph Middleton, I have always thought it
strange that there were no stories about these families, especially the
Eleys.
William
and Ellen Eley Baker had four children, all born in Condover two years
apart. Mary Louisa Baker, 1864-1954, was the
oldest. She
was educated in local schools of Condover and Shrewsbury with further
training under the guidance of Frank Goyne. In order to help
the
family financially she went to work in a bank when she was
fourteen. She seems to have been exceptionally gifted with
monetary work. In those days everything was guineas, pounds,
shillings and pence. Later she became a book keeper for
Denton
and Holbrook in Shrewsbury, then moved to their Gloucester store where
she was eventually head buyer for cloaks and mantles. She
lived
in nearby Barnwood. She told us she always kept a bag packed
in
case she had to leave for London on a buying trip
unexpectedly.
She had friends in London who kept her apprised of the imminent death
of Queen Victoria. She immediately went to London where she
purchased everything needed in black for the official
mourning.
This was quite a scoop for she was ahead of inflated prices and
scarcities.
Aunt
Mary L. visited United States twice: 1913 and 1922-1926. She
did
not find the Midwest climate agreeable so returned to
England. At
one time she planned to be married but her fiancee expected her to keep
on working and contribute to the household. This did not suit
her
so she broke the engagement! Thinking she was to be married
she
had purchased a copy of Mrs. Beeton's "Household Management".
It
was a first edition but far from a first printing. She gave
this
book to the Richard Philip Baker family. Later Gladys B. gave
it
to the John Bakers. When she and Frances wanted to amuse
themselves they used to read it for instructions on the duties of the
butler, footmen, valet, lady's maid and directions for polishing the
silver, brass, and kitchen stove. The recipes were of the ilk
-
"Take a dozen eggs, a pound of butter" etc. R.P.B. told us
that
Aunt Mary L. had invested heavily in Japanese bonds, as did many
British. These were a great loss after W.W.I.
In
her final years when she could no longer live alone she stayed with a
trained nurse and her family. She had her own room and
bath. The family had a little girl of about 10 who was
especially
fond of Aunt Mary, always came to see her directly when she returned
from school to visit and sometimes for help with her
homework.
Until the last she kept her financial acuity. Her last week
she
instructed her broker to buy a certain stock. At her death
its
value had increased sufficiently to pay her funeral expenses.
When Frances and Gladys took a summer tour to Europe in 1928 they left
the tour when it reached England. Aunt Mary took
over. She
was an excellent guide.
The
Baker home in Condover was a half-timbered Tudor house.
William's
mother made a wool worked representation of the house which Aunt Mary
gave to Frances. It now belongs to the John Bakers.
She
also gave us a very old pair of brass candlesticks, Georgian, from the
Eley family (now with Michael Baker)* and Ellen Eley's small, round
brass alarm clock. It wound by a key; for years it did not
work
then someone suggested the clock maker in Old Amana, Iowa. He
kept it running for years. Aunt Mary L. said this clock was
Ellen
Eley's bedside clock all the years she was teaching.
Ellen
Stanford Baker, 1868 to 1950, a.k.a. Nellie, was born in
Condover. She, too, was the product of Condover and
Shrewsbury
schools. She was primarily the home maker for her family,
moving
to Barnwood with her mother when the latter retired. They
lived
there with Mary L. Nellie was a natural nurse with some
training. When Ellen Eley died, she came to the*(This pair,
one
of two that came over with R.P.B. & William, is with the
Charles
Hess family.) United States, making her headquarters with William
Baker, rector of
the Episcopal Church in Bloomington, Illinois. From 1909 to
1929
she was a staff nurse at Waukesha Springs Sanitarium,
Wisconsin.
For years she was sole attendant for Mrs. Fanny Altheimer, nee Mandel
of the Chicago Mandels Store, who was schizophrenic. She had
a
real knack with these patients. Once when cornered in a
doctor's
office by a patient out of control brandishing a knife, she said
"Madam, did you know your petticoat was showing?" This made
just
enough distraction so Aunt Nellie and the doctor seized
control.
After retirement she joined Aunt Mary L. in Shrewsbury, England,
1929. The two Aunties had a charming modern cottage in the
country with bus service that gave them easy access to Shrewsbury for
shopping. As soon as W.W.II started, bus service was
discontinued
because of expected petrol shortages. They had to move to
Shrewsbury, already overcrowded with government people whose offices
and records had been moved there from London on the assumption it would
be free from bombing raids. Unfortunately by then little
decent
housing was available. They had only a very dreary old set of
rooms heated by fireplaces. Food was severely rationed and I
suspect coal also was. Frances and I sent as many food
parcels as
we could but I am sure that not all of them reached their destination
as the submarine warfare was so active. After the war the two
Aunties stayed in Shrewsbury where they both subsequently died.
Aunt
Nellie was the Baker relative we knew best for she often came to
visit. One year on the day before Christmas the doorbell rang
and
there stood Aunt Nellie! There was great excitement for this
was
the first (and only time) we had a relative with us at
Christmas.
It was on this visit that 929 Kirkwood (later 829) was dubbed "The old
Baker place". When Aunt Nellie gave the taxi driver the
address
that was his response, meaning it was an old house. Aunt
Nellie
was very good to her two nieces, often sending unexpected and wonderful
gifts. One Easter there were two beautiful spring hats.
William
Baker was the youngest of the four Baker siblings. Strangely
he
was the only one without a middle name. He was born in
Condover
in 1870. His early education was in Shrewsbury schools
followed
by five years at St. Denstone, a Public School, in Staffordshire
(1882-1887).
William
and R.P.B. often visited the Baker grandparents as
youngsters.
The latter related this story to us. At the end. of the main
meal
grandmother B. would ask her husband if he would have more.
His
reply never varied, "No, my dear, I have had ample and am well
fed." The two boys, between themselves, always called their
grandfather "Old ample".
The
four young Bakers were close friends and companions of their Goyne
cousins: May, Ethel, and Frank, Jr. Mr. Frank Goyne remained
a
friend and advisor. When Anne Goodwin Baker, their
half-sister
left for Australia at age 17, Mr. Goyne accompanied her to the ship she
sailed on. He brought back word that she waved good-bye
through
tears. She never returned to England, settling in Melbourne
where
she trained as a nurse. Later she owned her own nursing home
(hospital), expropriated by the government in W.W. I.
When
R.P.B. emigrated to United States in 1888 Will accompanied
him.
They spent their first winter in New Orleans living with Alfred Baker
who was always called "Uncle". If so, he must have been
descended
through a brother of Grandfather Richard. The only photograph
we
had of him showed him in a uniform of the Confederate army.
When
R.P.B. sent him a wedding announcement it was returned marked "Address
Unknown." I believe he was a banker with two
children. So
Uncle Alfred remains a mystery. Other Baker cousins do
also. R. P. B. told Frances of visiting a Baker cousin (sic)
who
was Canon Praecentor at Durham Cathedral in charge of training the
choirs. Another cousin was a fine silversmith.
|
