Robert Baker

- 1728

• Name	Robert Baker  [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Death	1728	Lancaster County, Pennsylvania   [3]
  Person ID	I26416	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of PNH
  Last Modified	10 Oct 2020

  
  

  Children	+ 1. Caleb Baker   d. Between 6 Feb 1754 and 29 Apr 1754
  Family ID	F15801	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	6 Sep 2019

  
  

• Notes

  From England (or perhaps northern Ireland), he settled in Lancaster County by about 1719. He was a gunsmith at the confluence of Pequa Creek and the Susquehanna River. Died in 1728, date said to have been 19 September. Said to have been married to a Susanna Packer. This is almost certainly a mistaken reference to the Susanna Packer who married a Robert Baker of Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1709, herself often said to be a daughter of TNH 7XG-grandparents Philip Packer and Hannah Sessions. The Robert Baker who married this Susanna Packer appears to have lived from 1686 to 1760. From Arms Makers of Colonial America, citation details below: Robert Baker acquired 250 acres on Pequa Creek, Mayhill Township, Lancaster County. Robert died intestate. On 17 February 1738, John Cunningham was appointed by the Lancaster County Orphan's Court to administer Robert's estate. On 23 October 1739, he granted the land to Caleb Baker. From Herbert C. Bradshaw, "The Settlement of Prince Edward County." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 62:448, 1954: The second major stream of migration consisted of Scotch-Irish settlers from Pennsylvania. These people, who were Scotch in nationality, had the Irish hyphenated as a result of a sojourn of approximately a century in Northern Ireland. They had been settled there by James I to repopulate a land desolated by the armies of Queen Elizabeth I. There they had prospered until economic discrimination by the English government cut off the market for their goods, and severe depression followed. Many migrated to Pennsylvania, where they settled on the frontier. Indian troubles made life precarious there, so many took again to the weary road and sought a haven in the "back parts" of Virginia. About 1735 two Scotch-Irish settlements, both under the leadership of John Caldwell, were made in Southside Virginia, one on Cub Creek in Brunswick (now Charlotte) County, the other on Buffalo River in Amelia (now Prince Edward) County. The Scotch-Irish for the most part moved in companies and made their homes in a settlement, for the threefold purpose of mutual protection against the rigors of the wilderness, of maintaining social contacts, and of convenience for religious worship.

  
  

• Sources

  [S3494] Arms Makers of Colonial America by James B. Whisker. Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania: Susquehanna University Press, 1993. [S3493] Christian County, KY: Family History Book, Volume 2 by the Genealogical Society of Christian County. Turner Publishing, 1991. [S3491] Joseph D. Eggleston, "The Buffaloe Settlement and Its Makers." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 49:311, Oct 1941.