Jarvis Young Baker

GEDCOM Note

Jarvis Young Baker— Jarvis Young Baker eldest son of Simon Baker and Mercy Young was born in West Winfield, Herkimer County, New York, November 13, 1830. The family was baptized into the LDS church in 1839 and knew the prophet Joseph Smith. Arriving in the Salt Lake Valley on October 2, 1847, he spent seven years in California. On October 22, 1863, his father died at Mendon, Cache County, Utah. Jarvis was put in administrator of the estate. He then went to Mendon, in an official capacity to look after the property there. Soon after, he met and married Rachel Richards, after a whirlwind courtship of three weeks. They were married on Christmas day, December 25, 1864, at the home of the bride's parents John Kenny and Agnes Hill Richards. They were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple Endowment House, October 8, 1869. He now made Mendon his home and entered wholeheartedly into the affairs of the community. Their first home was a one room log house on the lot at Mendon. The house faced the east. To the right of the door was a window with 12 glass panes. Inside, between the door and the other front corner, was a clothes chest. In the middle of the south wall stood Jarvis' trunk that he brought from California. In the spring of 1865 he joined the Mendon Militia which met once a week for practice. A short time after this there was an uprising of the Indians in the northern part of Utah and southern Idaho. He with other members of the Utah militia went there to quell the trouble. The company was fortunate, the difficulty having been settled before they arrived. On August 8, 1870, when Mendon received its charter to become a corporate city, Jarvis Young Baker was officially installed as a city councilor. Jarvis was an enthusiastic believer in the law of consecration and a valiant worker in the United Order. He was time keeper or secretary-treasures for this organization when it operated in Mendon. His account book and receipts, which throw considerable light on the early methods of operating, are still in existence. The machinery was bought by the members of the group. Each man was given credit for the work he did, for the money he paid in, and was charged for the produce he received. The Order was not entirely successful and after a few years was dissolved because of the unfairness of some of the members. After pioneering from the east to the west coast, from New York to California, then back to Salt Lake City and finally to Cache Valley, Jarvis Young Baker died at his home in Mendon, May 27, 1891, after a brief illness. He was the father of twelve children, one child having died a few years before. His wife was left with eleven living children, the youngest two years old. Jarvis was a strong vigorous man five feet and eight inches in height, his weight varying from 150 to 165 pounds. He was light-complexioned and quick in thought and act. He had keen blue eyes. [Emma Baker Sorensen, compiler & Frederick Chester Sorensen, editor, Simon Baker and His Descendants (Utah Printing Company, 1964) page 571–580]