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https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L2X6-1P1
As best I can tell there are two men named Richard Baker being conflated here and I'd like to keep their profiles separate.
Sir Thomas Baker Knight of Willingham Hall, Suffolk left a will in dated 3 June 1622 probated 11 Apr 1625 (PCC 1625 PROB 11/145/767) naming eldest son Thomas Baker with "wardship of my son and heir" (who was under the age of 21), daughter Elizabeth unmarried, if she dies her portion to her brothers and a younger son Richard Baker. He also names his wife wife the Ladie Constance who he married in 1601. Lady Constance was his sole executrix. We know all three of these children were living in 1625 because they had a dispute about the estate and the eldest son Thomas prevailed.
Therefore we know for fact that in 1622 Sir Thomas Baker Knight of Willingham Hall, Suffolk had two sons both under the age of 21. One of them was named Richard Baker and would have been born say 1605-1610.
The other Richard Baker born say 1578 married say 1600 to Margaret Merry. This Richard Baker died before 7 September 1604 in Ashford, county Kent and his will names children Thomas, Joane, Joyce, and Mary Baker. Ashford, county Kent parish registers:
"1604 Sep 5 buried [Richard?} (Baker) householder."
"1604 (*most likely 1605) Jan 18 married Margaret (Baker), widow & John Harker."
"1623 Jan 22 married Joyce (Baker) & Nicholas Butler, widow."
"1625 Feb 1 married Mary (Baker) & Thomas Boulding."
This Richard who died in 1604 is not named Sir and his children were not named in the wills of Sir Thomas Baker, Knight or any of his close Baker relatives. While it is possible that Sir Thomas Baker Knight who died 1625 had two sons named Richard and seems far fetched. Furthermore it is something of a red flag that none of his children were named in the wills of Sir Thomas Baker Knight of Willingham Hall, Suffolk or any of the other close family with the surname Baker. And in the dispute over Thomas Baker's estate why were Richard Baker's children legatees. I don't think there is reason to believe that Richard Baker born say 1578 was a son of Sir Thomas Baker Knight of Willingham Hall, Suffolk who wrote his will in 1622.
Richard Baker, of Ashford, Kent, married Margaret, but not Margaret Elkes. Margaret Elkes was the wife of Richard Baker, of Hopton, Shropshire.
Last Changed: October 12, 2022
Roland Henry Baker III
Richard and Margaret Baker of Ashford, Kent
The following statement was printed in Banks' 1911 History of Martha's Vineyard and repeated in various online trees and millennium files, but cannot so far be verified with any other sources.
Nicholas Butler married "JOYCE BAKER, dau. of Richard and Margaret Baker of Ashford 22 Jan. 1623-4, who was bapt. 30 May 1602. Her father was a miller of Ashford and the family had resided in Kent for many generations."[1]
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L236-7BG
Joyce was baptised: "1602 May 30 Joyces (sic) dau of Richard Baker" at Stanford, Kent a village just 12 miles from Ashford.
Her father, Richard Baker, was a "householder" of Ashford who died in 1604. He was NOT a miller as far as I can ascertain, the miller was in fact Joyce's step father, John Harker (died 1647 Ashford), that her mother Margaret (nee Merry) married soon after her first husband Richard's death in 1605 (1604 Jan 18 old calendar).
The Administration of Richard Baker's will speaks of children: Thomas, Joane, Joyce, and Mary Baker. Thomas Baker supposedly mentioned his sister Joyce in a will 1626, to which Nicholas Butler was a witness.
Joyce migrated to America with her husband, Nicholas Butler, a widower whom she married in Ashford in 1623, and her three children (John, Henry, Lidia) and five servants from Eastwell, Kent on May 11, 1637. "Persons which have taken passage from Sandwich, Kent, England for the American plantations. Butler, Nocholas, of Eastwell, yeoman, Joyce his wief, children John, Henry, Lidia, and servants: John Pope, John Gill, Richard Jenkin, Margaret Angells, Christian Spice". [Sherwood, George. American Colonists in English Records (Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1961) Page 30]
Biographies “Butler Family of Massachusetts” Source: Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts, Cutler and Adams (1910).
Transcribed by SueAnn McKnight.
BUTLER
Nicholas Butler, immigrant ancestor, of Eastwell, England, a yeoman, according to his statement when coming to America, with his wife Joyce, three children and five servants, came from Sandwich, England, before June 9, 1637, and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He was a proprietor before September 10, 1637. Their names appear on the passenger list of the ship "Hercules," sailing June, 1637. He was admitted a freeman March 4, 1638-9, and is called "gentleman" on the records, a position one might suppose belonged to him from the number of servants. He was a town officer and leading citizen in Dorchester. He removed to Martha's Vineyard in 1651, when he gave a power of attorney to his son John for sale of lands, etc. He sold land in Roxbury in 1652. He died at Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, August 13, 1671. The will of Joyce, his widow, mentions her grandchildren John and Thomas Butler, Mary Athearn, and Hannah Chadduck and son Henry. Children: 1. Rev. Henry, schoolmaster of Dorchester in 1652, proposed for minister at Uncatie, England, 1656: settled at Seoul. Somerset, until August 24, 1662, later at Williamfray, five miles from Frome; persecuted by authorities.
2. John, mentioned below.
3. Lydia, married May 19, 1647, John Minot, of Dorchester.
Richard and Margaret Baker of Ashford, Kent
The following statement was printed in Banks' 1911 History of Martha's Vineyard and repeated in various online trees and millennium files, but cannot so far be verified with any other sources.
Nicholas Butler married "JOYCE BAKER, dau. of Richard and Margaret Baker of Ashford 22 Jan. 1623-4, who was bapt. 30 May 1602. Her father was a miller of Ashford and the family had resided in Kent for many generations."[1]
1570 |
January 7, 1570
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Ashford, Kent, England (United Kingdom)
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1600 |
1600
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Kennington, Kent, England
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1602 |
May 30, 1602
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Ashford, Kent, England
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1604 |
August 12, 1604
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Ashford, Kent, England
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September 7, 1604
Age 34
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Aylesford, Kent, England (United Kingdom)
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September 7, 1604
Age 34
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Ashford, Kent, England (United Kingdom)
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