Dr. Baker and his wife Mary Turner (Smith) Baker are my great-great-great-grandparents. I wrote about them in my blog post Armistead Family History #14. Their daughter, Mary Eliza E. (Baker) Armistead married William Jordan Armistead. They are my two times great-grandparents. Since the Bakers are so closely associated with the Armisteads in North Carolina and Florida, I decided I would use this post to give you more information about Dr. Simmons Jones Baker.
.Dr. Simmons Jones Baker (February 15, 1775-August 18, 1853).
Description: Portrait of Dr. Simmons Jones Baker (February 15, 1775 – August 18, 1853) Original hangs in the Masonic Lodge in Halifax, North Carolina.
Source: Digital reproduction or scan of original portrait.Under US laws mechanical reproduction of a work does not create an additional copyright to that of the original.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simmons_Jones_Baker#/media/File:SimmonsJonesBaker.jpg
I found a very good article on NCpedia.com, written by Claiborne T. Smith about Dr. Baker. Most of the information will be from his article. Smith describes Baker as a "physician and legislator", but as it turns out, I think he was much more than that. He was born in Hertford County, NC, 15 Feb 1775. His parents were Lawrence and Anne (Jones) Baker. After attending school in southeastern Virginia, he went to England in 1793 and attended lectures at the medical school in Edinburg. At the time this medical school was "the most celebrated in the world". (1)
Certificate Given to Dr. Simmons J. Baker by St. Thomas Hospital.
Oversize Paper 1: Certificate in Latin, signed by Andreas Dalzel(?), 1795: Scan 1
Filename: 00042-z_OP0001_0001.jp2
https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/00042/#opaper_1#1
After Dr. Baker moved back to the US, he married Poly Smith on 24 Oct 1795. Their marriage started out in comfort due to Poly having received a plantation from her grandfather. They built a house on the plantation and called it Greenwood. By 1820 Baker had sold Greenwood and moved to Martin County. (2)
Dr. Simmons J. Baker in the House of Commons and Senate in North Carolina.
Historical Sketches of North Carolina from 1584 to 1851, Vol. II [database on-line].
Description Section: Madison and Martin Counties
Source Information:
http://interactive.ancestry.com/48630/SketchesNCII-000626-251?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.com%2fsearch%2fdb.aspx%3fdbid%3d48630%26path%3d&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnBrowsing#?imageId=SketchesNCII-000628-253
While living in Martin County, Dr. Simmons Jones Baker was selected as the representative of the county to the House of Commons and later he served in the Senate. (3)
Dr. Simmons Jones Baker as Trustee of University of North Carolina
Catalogue of the trustees, faculty, and students of the University of North Carolina, for 1834-35.
Source: Ancestry.com. U.S., College Student Lists, 1763-1924 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Original data: College Student Lists. Worcester, Massachusetts: American Antiquarian Society.
The Digitized Content is licensed from the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) and may not be reproduced, transferred or commercially or otherwise exploited, in whole or in part, outside the terms and conditions of this service without the express written consent of AAS. All rights reserved.
He was appointed as a trustee of the University of North Carolina in 1812 and served there the rest of his life. (4) Dr. Baker was always interested in education. He served as a trustee of the Vine Hill Academy in Scotland Neck, NC, when it was chartered in 1809 and when the North Carolina Institute of Education was organized, 22 June 1831, he was unanimously elected as president.
Dr. S.J. Baker was "An active layman of the Episcopal Church." He, along with other churchmen, organized Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, NC, in Feb of 1833. Five years later, in 1838, he helped organize St Luke's Episcopal Church of Marianna, Florida. He served as the first Senior Warden for the church.
If all this was not enough Baker was active in the Masons and was the Grand Master in 1832 and again in 1840 and "in that capacity laid the cornerstone of the present capitol building in Raleigh, NC 4 July 1833."
You may recall that I told of how William Jordan Armistead and his family and Simmons Jones Baker and some of his family moved to Florida in the late 1820s. Smith put it this way. "In 1828 Baker moved to Jackson County, Florida, where he remained for several years, acquiring large tracts of land near the present town of Marianna and around St. Andrews Bay. His plantation in Florida was Buckland. For the next decade he lived in Florida intermittently, ..."
Along with their father, James Laurence George Baker, and Simmons Jones Baker, Jr., owned large plantations in Jackson County, Florida. The town of Greenwood is said to have been named after the old home in NC. Greenwood, Florida is located a few miles north of Marianna. Baker and his two son's plantations were located around this area. (5)
The Red Hills of Florida, 1528-1865, by Clifton Paisley, copyright 1989, The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487. pg 121.
Dr. Baker had large land holdings in Florida as well as large land holdings in North Carolina. It is apparent that he made a lot of trips back and forth between Florida and North Carolina, but the interesting part is the census records only recorded him as living in North Carolina. He never showed up in the Florida census but obviously was very involved in the state. His two sons, James Lawrence George Baker and Simmons Jones Baker, Jr. had plantations in Florida as well. S.J. Jr., shows up in Florida census records starting in 1840 and did every 10 years until his death. For James L.G. Baker, he didn't show up in Florida census' until 1850 and after. You can see in the map above from Clifton Paisley's book "The Red Hills of Florida, 1528-1865" where the Baker's plantations were located. (6) I am sure that the boys were in charge of overseeing their fathers plantation.
Dr Baker's first wife, Mary (Polly) Turner (Smith) Baker, died in 1812, his second wife, Ann C. (Seawell) Baker, died in 1843. In the 1850 North Carolina census Dr. Simmons J. Baker was listed as being 75 years old and living alone. He died in 1853, age 78.
Dr. S.J. Baker Sr.'s obituary in the "Raleigh Register" dated 7 Sep 1853, is shown below.
Dr. Simmons Jones Baker, notice of his death. 07 Sep 1853, Wed
Source Information Title: Newspapers.com - The Raleigh Register - 07 Sep 1853, Wed
Publisher: The Raleigh Register
Publisher Date: 07 Sep 1853, Wed
Publisher Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Repository Information Name: www.newspapers.com
Dr. Simmons Jones Baker Will, 1853.
Source Citation: Halifax County, North Carolina, wills and estate papers; Author: North Carolina. Division of Archives and History; Probate Place: Halifax, North Carolina
Source Information: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Original data: North Carolina County, District and Probate Courts.
Dr. Baker left behind four children, two sons and two daughters, James L.G. Baker, Simmons Jones Baker, Jr., Mary Elizabeth E. (Baker) Armistead, and Laura Lucinda (Baker) Saunders. Four children and two wives preceded him in death. It looks like his children were well provided for with land and slaves either loaned or given during his lifetime and in his will.
Widowed Laura Saunders was living in North Carolina and the other three were living in Florida around the Marianna area. I will have more to say about these three in Florida as I continue with the Armistead history.
Dr. Simmons Jones Baker is a very interesting ancestor. He and my other Baker ancestors would be a great topic for future posts. For now you can go to:
http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/b/Baker,Simmons_J.html . or
https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/baker-simmons-jones
The first url will take you to UNC University Libraries, The Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collection Library. You will find a good amount of information to research on Dr. Baker at that site. The second will take you to NCpedia, another good site for research on Dr. Baker and North Carolina.
In my next post I will get back to the Armistead history starting in 1850.
References:
1)Smith, Claiborne T., Jr., Article reprinted from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 Vols., edited by William S. Powell, Copyright 1979-1996, University of North Carolina Press. https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/baker-simmons-jones
2)Smith, Claiborne T., Jr., Article reprinted from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 Vols., edited by William S. Powell, Copyright 1979-1996, University of North Carolina Press. https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/baker-simmons-jones
3) Historical Sketches of North Carolina from 1584 to 1851, Vol. II [database on-line], pg. 253.
Description Section: Madison and Martin Counties
Source Information: http://interactive.ancestry.com/48630/SketchesNCII-000626-251?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.com%2fsearch%2fdb.aspx%3fdbid%3d48630%26path%3d&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnBrowsing#?imageId=SketchesNCII-000628-253
4) Source Information: Ancestry.com. U.S., College Student Lists, 1763-1924 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: College Student Lists. Worcester, Massachusetts: American Antiquarian Society. The Digitized Content is licensed from the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) and may not be reproduced, transferred or commercially or otherwise exploited, in whole or in part, outside the terms and conditions of this service without the express written consent of AAS. All rights reserved.
5)Smith, Claiborne T., Jr., Article reprinted from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 Vols., edited by William S. Powell, Copyright 1979-1996, University of North Carolina Press. https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/baker-simmons-jones
6) Paisley, Clifton, "The Red Hills of Florida, 1528-1865", The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, 1989, pg 121.
