Baker Monroe DeGraffenried

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=59336175

Baker  DEGRAFFENREID and Sarah VASS were married about  1762.  Sarah VASS was  born in 1744  in Richmond, Virginia,  British  America. She  died  in  1807  at  the  age  of  63  in  Cumberland, Kentucky, United  States. 

Baker  DEGRAFFENREID and Sarah VASS had the following  children: 

i. Sarah DEGRAFFENREID (born 1768, in/of Halifax Co., VA- [death date not listed] & M. John WELCH, 10 Aug 1790, Halifax Co., VA) 

ii. Francis  DEGRAFFENREID (born 1776, Halifax Co., VA- died 1819, Cumberland Co., KY & M. Tabitha KING, 28 Nov 1803, Henry Co., VA) 

iii. Vincent  Monroe  DEGRAFFENREID, born 1 Jan 1763, Halifax, Virginia, British  America; married  Martha  Green THAXTON, 20 Apr 1789, Halifax, Virginia,  United  States; died  13  May 1834,  Christian,  Missouri,  United  States.

iv. Mary  Baker DEGRAFFENREID, born 3 Sep 1764, Lunenburg, Virginia, British America; married  Gideon  JOHNSTON Jr, 18 Nov  1779; died  7 Jan 1823, Davidson (or Williamson) County, Tennessee, United States. 

v. Nancy  Needham DEGRAFFENREID, (born 1769, Lunenburg Co., VA- died 1820, Halifax Co., VA & M. John CHAPPELL, 27 April 1789, Halifax Co., VA) 

vi. John C DEGRAFFENREID, born 24  Feb 1773, Guilford, North Carolina, British America; married  Elizabeth  KING, 15  Dec  1797, Halifax, Virginia,  United  States; died  9  Mar  1858, Miller, Missouri,  United  States. 

vii. William  Baker DEGRAFFENREID, (born 1776, Lunenburg Co. (now Charlotte Co.), VA- [death date not listed - we have 1850 in Christian, KY, which should be good] & 1st M. Martha KING, 26 Dec 1799, Halifax Co., VA & 2nd M. Rebecca DAWSON, 16 July 1828, Trigg Co., KY)

"Descendants of Baker and Sarah (Vass) deGraffenreid, compiled by Katherine Reynolds. History of deGraffenreid Family by Thomas P. deGraffenreid k1925"

• ********************

"Baker DeGraffenried, was a close direct descendant of the DeGraffenrieds, a LONG famous noble line leading WAY back into Switzerland! Baker's mother (our Baker, i.e. Mary Baker born 1723) married Tscharner DeGraffenried. Tscharner was the first DeGraffenreid born in America. His GRANDFATHER, was (Swiss) Baron Christopher deGraffenried V, born 1661....who founded and was the Landgrave of New Bern, North Carolina. (Good heavens!) His VERY prestigious and famous/distinguished line goes all the way back to 1191 in Switzerland, with books (plural) written about this whole ancestry! In MUCH detail. Much of the Landgrave's life and story is written in his own hand! Fascinating! And it goes on and on....massive......ONE example: 

http://archive.org/stream/historyofdegraff00graf/historyofdegraff00...

Anyway, the Landgrave's son, Christopher deGraffenried VI came from Switzerland to North Carolina with his father and on Feb 22, 1714 married Barbara Tempest (nee Needham), the daughter of Sir Arthur Needham of Wymondsley, Hertfordshire, England. They only had ONE child.....Tscharner DeGraffenried, the first deGraffenried born in America - The Tscharner who married our ancestor Mary Baker born 1723 (whose grandfather was Henry Baker I.) Tscharner ended up with a bunch of property in Virginia. Tscharner had a total of four wives and 16 children, with 14 children living to adulthood! Mary Baker b 1723 was his first wife, with my direct ancestor Baker DeGraffenried being one of THEIR children. They had 9 kids.

ANYWAY.........when I hit THIS motherload of ancestry.....from BOTH parents of Baker DeGraffenried (perfect name for him), I thought "are you kidding me?!" Two ancestry titans came together when Mary Baker b 1723 married Tscharner DeGraffenried! Unbelievable!

Anyway, it goes on in similar fashion (leading WAY back to the 1100-1200s in other countries) with other ancestors of mine in the line I come from. I was SHOCKED!  I didn't expect to explode ancestrally so suddenly. I can pinpoint, also, right where and with who that this hundreds of years long "gentry" ends in my line. 

This "prestige" and fame (for lack of a better word) goes on and on in Tennessee and the Nashville area from my line, even to this day! Who knew?  And we ended up here in Tennessee by pure happenstance! 

All this leads to....ME?! Little old unwanted adopted-out "only" child, raised with no siblings of any type, .......ME? Now that's hilarious! Hah!

The "break" from family status quo (from every family side) was when Eliza Ann Mildred Phillips (Chadwell) born 1818, married Thomas Crow Phillips, born 1810-1811. They left it all (prestige, influence, lineage, money, fame, government, military, politics.....you name it) behind and started all over from scratch in Illinois. I don't know why. Maybe for "love"?

GEDCOM Note

Census 1765, Rental Roll, Richmond Co., VA Census 1792, Deceased Tax List, VA

Copy of Lineage to Laura Bush, Fist Lady, from Baker Degraffenreid to her. see for some more details.

Baker not in father's will, had received land from him. Baker died much before his father.

Earlier information in file was death before 1796. Film #: 183540, Page #: 326, Ordinance #: 10872 !BIRTH-SPOUSE-CHILDREN-DEATH: From Descendants of Baker & Sarah Vass Degraffenried, Virginia & North Carolina, compiled by Katherine Reynolds,Vol I, Samuel Sorrell Chapter, NS D.A.R., Houston, Texas. Microfilm#0860977, LDS Family History Center, Independence, MO. Baker received 1025 acres of land from his father Tscharner on March 14,1765 (Deed Book 10, p. 108, Lunenburg Co.,Va). On 11/3/1770 bought 300 acresof land in Rowan Co., what later became Guilford Co. & still laterRockingham Co., North Carolina (Deed Book 7, p. 272, Rowan Co., NC). He sold this landto Robert Donald, July 9, 19775 so was living in 1775. Had died by 1779because Sarah, his widow, received a grant of land Nov. 13, 1779 from NorthCarolina (Deed Book 2, pp. 21 & 94,Guilford Co., NC.)

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Apr 29 2021, 20:36:27 UTC