8. BAKER

Charlotte image

Fay Sampson’s Family History

This site is a work-in-progress. There is a massive amount to cover. I have included both male and female lines, and some go back 30 generations. Keep coming back for more.
I have numbered the generations working backwards from my own as (1)

Baker Tree

SAMUEL BAKER and MARTHA (8)

 The first of our Samuel Bakers in Deal appears to be the son of Samuel Baker of Canterbury and his wife Martha.

SAMUEL BAKER.. As yet, we have no information about Samuel’s birth. He may have come from outside Canterbury. From the date of baptism of his earliest known child, in 1745, we should expect him to have been born around 1720, or earlier. The fact that he called his eldest son John, may mean that this was his father’s name.
   Samuel junior became a pipemaker.[1] We do not know whether this was Samuel senior’s trade, or whether his son was apprenticed to someone else.

On 18 May 1741, a Samuel Baker married Elizabeth Lengham in Canterbury.[2] This could possibly be a first marriage for our Samuel.

 

MARTHA’s origins are similarly obscure. The couple were not married in St Mary Magdalene, Canterbury, where their children were baptised, so we can assume Martha’s parish was elsewhere.
They were probably married in 1744, the year before the rebellion in Scotland which unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow the house of Hanover and put the Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie, on the throne.
   There is a marriage in London, Middlesex, of Samuel Baker to Martha Curtis on 3 May 1744. The date fits well with the baptism of their first child in 1745, but with no other supporting evidence this can only be conjecture.

 

The couple had ten children in thirteen years.

Baptisms. St Mary Magdalene, Canterbury.[3]
1745  21 Jul  Dinah
1747  14 Jun  John. On 26 Aug that year, a John Baker was buried. This may be their child. Alternatively, it could be Samuel’s father.
1748  5 Jun  Ann.  Ann, daughter of Samuel and Martha Baker, was buried on 23 Sep.
1749  3 Aug  Thomas
1750  31 Jan  Ann
1752  16 Aug  Lucy
1754  21 Jul  Samuel
1755  5 Oct  Margaret
1756  27 Oct  Martha
1758  24 Dec  Hester

Large families were common, but it was unusual for children to be so closely spaced. Yet we only have information that one or two of them died. This suggests the parents were able to provide for them comfortably.

Samuel Baker was buried at St Mary Magdalene on 31 Jan 1762. He was probably only in his forties.
The following year, on 15 Dec 1763, Martha was buried.[4]

Their large family was left orphaned. Samuel junior moved to Deal, where he married twice and raised a family.[5] He died in possession of a house, a brewery and public house, and some farming land, as well as a considerable amount of money, and had the title of ‘Gentleman’.[6] It is not clear whether he had always enjoyed wealth and status, or whether this came to him from his second marriage. But it does suggest that the Bakers of Canterbury were not from the lowest social class.

 

[1] Sexton’s Records, St George’s, Deal. KFHS transcript.
[2] IGI
[3] Helen Nobbs, lenka54@aol.com
[4] Helen Nobbs
[5] Deal Parish Registers, KFHS transcript.
[6] Will of Samuel Baker, Helen Nobbs.

 

NEXT GENERATION: 7. BAKER-LILLY

PREVIOUS GENERATIONS:

Baker Tree