Joseph Baker

PLEASE SEE NARRATIVE IN SON JESSIE BAKER'S PAGE.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7028208/joseph-baker

NOTE (7-14-21): http://history.rays-place.com/oh/darke-wayne.htm

"...Here a small settlement was made which became known as the "Swamp creek settlement." David Ward, who settled in section 18, in 1815, is said to have been the first actual settler...

Among the early settlers on Indian creek and Swamp creek at and neat [sic] the present site of Versailles were the Atchisons, Lewis Baker, Richard Brandon, David Ward, and William Hotel [sic]...."

Is it possible that Lewis Baker was Joseph's father?

Joseph Baker

BIRTH11 Jan 1818

Darke County, Ohio, USA

DEATH1 Oct 1894 (aged 76)BURIAL

Half Acre Cemetery

Urbana, Wabash County, Indiana,USAPLOTrow 1MEMORIAL ID7028208 ·

G.A.R. member, served as private in 47th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Company I, Civil War. (In verifying this info, two Joseph Bakers are found in the Civil War lists.  It says that the Joseph Baker "enlisted" in "I" company was discharged - disability. There is NO record in the Indiana G.A.R. records of any Joseph Baker.  http://www.suvcw.org/garrecords/garcat/garcatalog.htm )

Please see attached pdf list under media tab of Joseph's record of enlistment beginning on Dec 12, 1861. Go to page 444, under Company I. It does not say WHEN he was discharged, though.

https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleU...

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https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldierId=4...

Baker , Joseph

BATTLE UNIT NAME: 47th Regiment, Indiana Infantry

SIDE: Union

COMPANY: I

SOLDIER'S RANK IN:  Private

SOLDIER'S RANK OUT:  Corporal

ALTERNATE NAME:

FILM NUMBER: M540 ROLL 3

PLAQUE NUMBER:

NOTES: none

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Filed in the Winamac Land Office, Wabash County, Indiana land records:  Joseph Baker purchased (or was granted) on May 1, 1848, 40 acres of land located at Township 29-N, Range 6-E, Section 25.

Joseph Baker was an early settler of Wabash County, Indiana, having settled there in 1840. According to the book about the history of Wabash County, Indiana, by Clarkson W. Weesner (1914), a Jesse Way (born 1829 in Ohio) also settled in Wabash in 1840. Joseph died Oct 1, 1894, and is buried in Half Acre Cemetary in Urbana, Wabash County, Indiana.

In Lagro Township, Wabash County, Indiana, Aug 7, 1850 census, it lists 31 yr old Joseph and Elizabeth with children 10 yr old John P. and 6 yr old Clarinda. Also living on same page are 62 yr old Josep Way, born in Virginia; 60 yr old Letty Way, born in Virginia; 23 yr old Joseph Way, born in Ohio; and 17 yr old Elias Way, born in Ohio.

In July 5, 1860 census for Noble Township, Wabash County, Indiana, it lists Joseph and Elizabeth Baker (ages 41 and 40, both born in Ohio) with children John P., age 20, born in Indiana; and Cyrena, age 16, born in Indiana.

In an 1880 census, June 1, 1880, Paw Paw Township, Wabash County, Indiana, Joseph said both of his parents were born in Virginia, and Elizabeth said both of her parents were born in Ohio.

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6-28-2015:  Wow, am I glad I can read fast! I have been voraciously reading and boning up on not only how you can tell that your genealogy ends because you have hit native american blood (check and double check!), but I have been reading specific histories of the AREAS where my ancestry disappears, all during the time frames in question. 

The main areas where family and one other "legends" of indian ancestry ends (or begins, however you want to look at it) are Coshocton County, Ohio (the farthest location eastward in this branch of the family); Darke County, Ohio (on the Ohio/Indiana State line); and Wabash County, Indiana.

We previously briefly touched upon Wabash County, Indiana being inhabited by the Miami Tribe. My great-grandfather Jess Baker's childhood disappears around that area.

In the interest of brevity, Ohio was inhabited by (and was the largest tribe by far), the Delawares (pushed out of Pennsylvania). They were friends with the Shawnees and a few other smaller tribes, and all were enemies of the Iroquois. To make long complex stories short, it was the DELAWARES who saturated and inhabited and waged warfare on the invading whites in Ohio.  Not to mention the warring whites battling each other (for claims to land they never really owned in the first place) at the same time....i.e., the British, the French, and the colonies (the name "Virginia" being prominent); the colonies being east of the Appalachian mountains.

Ok.....narrowing it down, we lose track of Jess Baker in the Miami indian territory. We (and many other genealogists) lose his alleged FATHER Joseph Baker, after having traced him having been born in Darke County, Ohio in 1818.

Ok.........the bottom line in Ohio at that historic time is that Ohio and Coshocton County was inhabited by the Delaware Indians and was named by a Delaware Indian chief. No whites came in to TRY to settle Ohio until after the Revolutionary War (1783). It took many years (until the early 1800s) before white settlers attempted to live and breed there. It wasn't until the late 1800s that white men came to Darke County en mass.

Skipping on.......the Delaware Indians were getting pushed more and more (in the mid to late 1790s) but warring and resisting, farther west, to west ohio, one area being Darke County, Ohio. Long story short again, the result was that it was MANY years before white settlers start arriving in Darke County. So.....it was easy to find the names of all the white families living in Darke County in 1825. Long after Joseph Baker had been born. Trust me, before 1825, there were only a HANDFUL, less than probably 10 military men from the Revolutionary War even ATTEMPTING to live in Darke County. The Delawares were making SURE of that!  Lol And I reviewed those names, too.

Ok....so let's look at the earliest Darke County, Ohio census (1825) to see if a white Baker family or something close is even in the area. Someone who MIGHT appear to be the white family of Joseph Baker (see the end of this narrative.)

I don't find the name "Way" anywhere in the history of any of those Ohio counties, either.

Factoring in the family "claim" and the other genealogist "note" (but zero evidence) that Margaret Way (the mother of Elizabeth Baker, the wife of Joseph, who were married in Coshocton) was also alleged to be indian, it is HIGHLY probable that Joseph, and maybe Elizabeth and her mother Margaret Way WERE all native american to some extent, if not fully.

NOTE: I HAVE SINCE HAD A DNA TEST DONE. ZERO NATIVE AMERICAN SHOWED UP.

MY personal suspicions, though, are that Joseph and possibly Margaret were Delaware tribe native american (NOT SURE NOW DUE TO DNA TEST), with perhaps some Miami tribe mixed in. But....the MIAMI were already pushed to Indiana by this time. Miami Chief Little Turtle came UP to Darke County to lead a "battle" against the whites circa 1792, but he and his tribe did not live in Ohio territory:

"...Little Turtle, chief of the Miamis, a warrior of great intelligence, craft and courage, who led the attack against Harmar and who had great influence among the western tribes, together with Blue Jacket, the great chief of the Shawanese, and Buckongehelas, chief of the Delawares, formed a confederacy of the northwestern savages to drive the white settlers beyond the Ohio....

...The principal tribes engaged were the Delawares, Shawanese, Wyandots, Miamis, Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawatomies. Little Turtle, chief of the Miamis, was their leader, and was ably assisted by Blue Jacket, Bukongehelas, Black Eagle, and the renegades Simon Girty and Blackstaffe. The warriors had poured in from the Wabash and the far north; ..."

https://archive.org/stream/historyofdarkeco01hoba/historyofdarkeco0...

It was a bloody battle. Eventually, the Treaty of Greenville was signed in Darke County in 1814, but true peace didn't happen until later. The Delawares continued to live in Ohio, with the other tribes returning to their lands.

What happened to the Delawares? "...In 1829, the United States forced the Delawares to relinquish their remaining land in Ohio and move west of the Mississippi River...."

"...Under the Treaty with the Delaware, 1866, or 1866 Delaware Treaty, the Delaware Council agreed to give up their reservation in Kansas and move to a region of their choosing on lands ceded to the federal government by the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, or Seminole, “or which may be ceded by the Cherokees in the Indian Country” (Carrigan and Chambers 1994:A4). The lands to be chosen by the Delaware were to be selected in as compact a form as possible and include an area equal to 160 acres for each man, woman, and child who chose to relocate. Given that a total of 985 Delaware eventually removed to the Cherokee Nation, the land selected for removal would have had to be equivalent to 157,600 acres or roughly 250 square miles. A handful of Delaware elected to remain in Kansas, and according to the treaty such individuals could do so only if they dissolved their membership in the Delaware Tribe.  The Delaware who stayed in Kansas subsequently became American citizens, and their land was held in severalty by the secretary of the interior (Weslager 1972:423)...."

http://delawaretribe.org/services-and-programs/historic-preservatio...

So, in a nutshell, the Delaware were pushed from Pennsylvania, to Ohio, to Indiana and Kansas, and then to Oklahoma.  Fascinating..........

P.S. Elizabeth Louise Baker (VanDyne), the wife of Joseph, would have had to be half-indian, as her father was Thomas VanDyne (married to alleged native american Margaret Way), whose lineage can continued to be traced back. The VanDynes were white, apparently Dutch, and from New Jersey. Delaware original indian territory.

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" DCO Genealogical Researchers  >  Census  >  1825 Men over 21 1825 Census of Darke County Males Over 21 [Alphabetized]

From: History of Darke County Ohio, Vol. 1, by Frazier Wilson, pp. 161-163, 1997.[Note: Even though this is said to be a list of males, you will also find some females listed. Also there are some mispellings, which I have copied as printed. I have alphabetized the list for ease of finding surnames. For an unalphabetized version of this list which might give a clue regarding neighbors or other family members, click HERE]

"In the year 1909 a document was discovered in the sheriff's office in the county court house giving what it purports to be a complete enumeration of the white male inhabitants above 21 years of age, some four hundred in number, of Darke county in 1825. It was compiled by Archibald Bryson and certified to the associate judges of the county. The document is of old style parchment, yellow with age, but tough and legible. A careful perusal will reveal the fact that nearly every name is perpetuated by descendants still living here and numbered among the most prosperous families. The list is as follows:

John A. Addington, John Armstrong, Moses Arnold, John Arthur, Hankason Ashby, Lewis Aukerman, James Baird, John Baird, Edward Baldin, Ignatius Barnes, Janet Barnes, Thomas Barnes, Robert Barnet, James Barney, Linus Bascom, Thomas Beasley, John Beers, Jesse Bell, Adam Billows, Christopher Borden, Christopher Bordins, Samuel Bourk, Frederick Bowers, James Brady, John Brady, William Brady, John Brawley, David Briggs, John Briggs, John Briggs, John A. Brodrick, William Brodrick, Benjamin Brown, John Brown, Julian Brown, Philip Brown, Archibald Bryson, James Bryson, Mark Buckingham, Joseph Burdge, James Burkhannon, Elisha Byers, Isaac Byers, John Cable, Robert Cain, Robert Campbell, Thomas Campbell, William T. Carnahan, John Cassady, Simeon Chapman, William Chapman, Jacob Chenoweth, John Chenoweth, Isaac Cherry, John Clap, Ludwick Clap, John Clark, Isaac Clay, Vockel Clery, Thomas Coapstick, Eli Coble, David Cole, David Cole, David Cole, James Cole, Samuel Cole, Abraham Cox, Henry Cox, Jacob Cox, John Cox, James Craig, James Craig, Daniel Crawn, Henry Creviston, John Crumrine, Peter Crumrine, Peter Crumrine, John Culberson, John Dean, Job Decamp, William Decamp, Johnston Denniston, John Devor, John Dixon, Joseph Dixon, David Douglas, John Douglas, John Downy, Samuel Droye, Benjmain Eakens, William Eaker, Charles Eddington, Samuel Eddington, Archibald Edger, Edward Edger, Thomas Edger, William Edger, Nathaniel Edsel, Daniel Edwards, Eli Edwards, James B. Edwards, Spencer Edwards, John Ellis, Isaac Elsbury, Permelia Elsbury, Josiah Elston, Michael Emrick, Marshall Falor, John Fetters, David Fisher, Samuel Fisher, Samuel Fisher, Ephraim Flemming, William Folkerth, John M. Foster, Joseph Foster, Hezekiah Fowler, John French, George W. Fryer, Zachariah Fryon, George Gates, David Gibbs, Nathaniel Gillum, Thomas Godfrey, Jesse Gray, Jacob Guess, Joseph Guess, Josiah Guess, Samuel Guier, Josiah Hall, Daniel Halley, Charles Hapner, Henry Hardy, James Harland, Nathan Harland, Charles Harriman, Dennis Hart, Daniel Harter, Daniel Harter, David Harter, Francis Harter, Jacob Harter, John Harter, Peter Harter, Samuel Harter, James Hayes, William Hayes, William Hayes, Sr., Jacob Hensler, Cornelius Higgings, John Hildebran, William Hill, John Hiller, William Holt, Christopher Hood, Henry House, Isaac House, James Howard, Joseph Huffman, George Huntsman, John Huston, Thomas Hynes, Alexander Irwin, David Irwin, Lloyd James, Judson Jaqua, John Jett, Isaac Jones, Samuel Jones, William Jones, Isaac Joy, Isaac Joy, Henry Keck, Jacob Keller, Peter Kember, John Kendle, Michael Kenell, John Ketring, Samuel Ketring, George Knee, John Knee, Thomas Lake, S. Laurence, Hugh Laurimore, Henry Lawrence, Neal Lawrence, Christian Levingood, Peter Levingood, Aquillas Loveall, Richard Lowring, Richard Lyons, Philip Manuel, John C. Marquart, John Martin, Richard Martin, Samuel Martin, William Martin, Smith Masteson, Jeremiah Mathewson, Alexander McClure, John McClure, Nathaniel S. McClure, Samuel McClure, Harrison McConn, William McFarland, James McGinnis, Thomas McGinnis, Robert McIntire, William McKhann, John McNeil, Abner Meeks, Hugh Merten, David Michael, John Mikesel, Abraham Miller, Abraham Miller, Andrew Miller, David Miller, George Miller, Jacob Miller, John Miller, John Miller, Richard Miller, Susannah Miller, James Mills, Mark Mills, Philip Monbeek, Moses Moore, David Moriss, Jonathan Mote, Timothy Mote, Benjamin Murphy, Abraham Murray, Barbery Myers, George Naus, Jacob Neff, David Nockum, Samuel Oliver, Samuel Owens, Jonathan Parks, Lewis Passon, Daniel Patten, Andrew Perkins, Ranna Perrine, John Phillips, Thomas Phillips, Jonathan Pierson, William Polly, David Potter, Jacob Puderbaugh, John Purviance, Jacob Puterbaugh, John Puterbaugh, Ernestus Putnam, Philip Rarook, Donovan Reed, James Reed, Samuel Reed, James Reeves, Samuel Rhoades, Reed Risley, George Roberts, Samuel Roberts, John Robeson, Jeremiah Rogers, John Rool, Henry Ross, Nathaniel Ross, Jacob Rupel, John Rupel, Sr., John Rupel, Aaron Rush, Asa Rush, Christopher Rush, James Rush, John Rush, Mass Rush, Moses Rush, Cornelius I. Ryeson, William Sape, Nathaniel Scidnore, David Scott, Abraham Scribner, Jacob Sebring, Jacob Shafer, Stoffle Shafer, Eleyer Sharp, John Sheets, Daniel Shiveley, William Shoneson, Bingham Simons, Elijah Simons, James Skinner, Christian Sleighty, Abraham Smith, Alexander Smith, Amos Smith, Nancy Smith, Peter Smith, John Snell, Benjamin Snodgrass, Francis Spencer, Elijah Stackenas, Henry Steinberger, Jacob Steinberger, Cornwall Stephens, David Stephens, Obediah Stephens, John Stephenson, Thomas Stokeley, Andrew Stone, William Stone, Abraham Studebaker, Thomas Sullivan, Charles Sumption, George Sumption, Selby Sumter, Jacob Sutton, Samuel Sutton, Isaac Sweitzer, Robert Taylor, George Teaford, John Teaford, Nathan Terry, William Terry, David Thomas, John Thomas, Jonathan Thomas, Benjamin Thompson, David Thompson, Robert Thompson, William Thompson, Lyra Thorp, Gersham P. Tiesen [Tillson], Nicholas Tinkel, Leonard Titsen, Samuel Touring, William Townsend, David Ullery, Daniel Ullom, Jacob Ullom, John Ullom, Caleb Vail, Isaac Vail, William Vail, Hezekiah Veits, Hezekiah Viets, John Wade, William Wade, Daniel Waggoner, John Waggoner, David Wasson, Samuel Wasson, Abraham Weaver, John Weaver, Peter Weaver, Abraham Wells, Henry Wertz, Andrew Westfall, Ebenezer Westfall, George Westfall, Jacob Westfall, Job Westfall, Margnet Westfall, William Westfall, Philip Wiggens, John Wiley, Thomas Wiley, William Wiley, William Wiley, Henry D. Williams, Henry Williams, John Williamson, John Wilson, John Wilson, Joseph Wilson, Samuel Wilson, Samuel Wilson, William Wilson, David Wilt, George Wilt, George Wilt, John Wilt, Jacob Winegardner, Leonard Wintermote, James Wood, John Wooden, Anthony Woods, Benjmain F. Woods, Henry Woods, James Woods, Moses Woods, Mathew Young"

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6-28-2015:  HOW WE ARRIVED AT THE ABOVE via previous investigations:

Hmmmmmmm.......here is an interesting ponder....COULD great-grandfather Jess Baker have been Native American or HALF Indian and living with Indian relatives until the age of 17? (Or even of African American descent?) That would explain quite a few things.

Indian and African American ancestry is notoriously difficult, if not impossible, to trace. At age 17 in 1870, might Jess have decided to join the "white" world ? 

Could one of his biological parents have ACTUALLY been Indian or African American/black? That would explain how and/or why Jess was not "counted" or listed in 1860 as the biological child of BOTH Joseph and "Louise" (Elizabeth Louise) Baker (nee VanDyne). Also hence why Jess basically doesn't exist at all until 1870.

AND would provide some legitimacy to the family (and my grandfather Ray's) rumor/claim that there is "Indian blood" in us.

That sure would explain a LOT!

My gut says Joseph Baker IS Jess Baker's biological father, and Elizabeth Louise Vandyne had a brother named Jesse, also. The Vandynes were Dutch and originated from New Jersey. Delaware (Lenape) indian origins. The Delewares were friends with the Dutch and had a kinship with the Indiana Miami native Americans.

Joseph Baker's lineage just cannot be traced, either. All signs point to Native American blood right off the bat.

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I located which Indian tribes were "likely" to be the ones my ancestors may have intermingled with.

"Wabash County Genealogy

Wabash County, Indiana was formed from Cass and Grant counties in 1832, and named after the Wabash River which flows through it. The first settlements occured near the present city of Wabash, after a treaty with the Miami and Potawatomi Indians. New farm land and the construction of the Wabash and Erie Canal brought many people to this region in the mid 1830's."

http://www.ingenweb.org/inwabash/

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The Miami Indians in Ohio and Indiana:

"....The extent of territory occupied by this tribe a few years later compels the conclusion that the Miami in Wisconsin, when the whites first heard of them, formed but a part, of the tribe, and that other bodies were already in northeast Illinois and north Indiana. As the Miami and their allies were found later on the Wabash in Indiana and in northwest Ohio, in which latter territory they gave their name to three rivers, it would seem that they had moved southeast from the localities where first known within historic times. Little Turtle, their famous chief, said: “My fathers kindled the first fire at Detroit; thence they extended their lines to the headwaters of the Scioto; thence to its month [sic]; thence down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash, and thence to Chicago over Lake Michigan.” ...

....A considerable part of the tribe, commonly known as Meshingomesia’s band, continued to reside on a reservation in Wabash county, Ind., until 1872, when the land was divided among the survivors, then numbering about 300. ...

....The total number of Miami in 1905 in Indian Territory was 124; in Indiana, in 1900, there were 243; the latter, however, are greatly mixed with white blood. Including individuals scattered among other tribes, the whole number is probably 400. ..."

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/miami-tribe.htm

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Ok.....I think I may be onto something with regard to the family-stated Baker Indian bloodline. My alleged great-great-grandfather Joseph Baker (great-grandfather Jess Baker's father) was born in 1818 in Darke County, Ohio. That is AWFULLY early....before any major white settlement of that area had begun! Greenville, Ohio, where the Indian Treaty was signed in 1814, was in Darke County, Ohio. 

"...The Treaty of Greenville (1814) was called A treaty of peace and friendship between the United States of America and the tribes of Native Americans called the Wyandots, Delawares, Senacas and Miamies. It was concluded at Greenville, Ohio on July 22, 1814, to provide peace among the tribes, and with the U.S., as well as an alliance between these Tribes and the U.S. against Great Britain during the War of 1812. It followed the earlier Treaty of Greenville in 1795, which had ended the Northwest Indian Wars, and allowed peaceful American expansion and trade into the Northwest Territory. ..."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Greenville_(1814)

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"History & Heritage, Darke County’s Contribution to America’s History

In the 1700’s, the Western portion of the Ohio Territory was a fertile land of forests, prairies, waterways, swamps and plentiful wildlife. The area was inhabited by various tribes of Native Americans. 

As white settlers began to advance into the Ohio territory, they cleared the land and the Native Americans began to realize the threat to their hunting grounds and way of life. Thus began the clash of the two cultures and the unrest on the western frontier.

President George Washington wanted to settle the problems with the Native Americans and open the territory to white settlers. He sent General “Mad” Anthony Wayne to the Ohio territory to handle the uprisings. General Anthony Wayne constructed the second official settlement in Darke County, GreeneVille, in 1793 along Greenville Creek. This military headquarters was the largest log fortified structure ever built, encompassing 55+ acres of land enclosed by wooden stockades and surrounded by 8 blockhouses. The fort stood for six years and was partially rebuilt during the War of 1812.

In August of 1794, the Legion of the United States, under the command of General Wayne engaged the Native Americans in northern Ohio at the “Battle of Fallen Timbers.” This decisive battle brought an end to some of the hostilities, and treaty negotiations soon began.

In this monumental fort, the famous Treaty of GreeneVille (also named the Wyandot Peace and Friendship Treaty) was signed by Wayne and chiefs from the Woodland tribes on August 3, 1795.This treaty eventually opened the Northwest Territory to white settlers and was instrumental to Ohio becoming a state in 1803.

William Henry Harrison, General Wayne’s aide de camp, signed the 1795 Treaty. Harrison returned to sign another Treaty at GreeneVille in 1814, after Ohio had become the 17th state. Harrison said, “I will sign this treaty on the exact same spot of the first treaty so that generations to come will not forget where these treaties were signed.” Harrison campaigned in GreeneVille for the Presidency and was elected in 1840. ..."

http://visitdarkecounty.org/about-us/history