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TWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH: he appar-
ently gave land in Frederick County (later became
part of Washington County) to his son, William,
Jr. WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED: in May 1792 in
Washington County. PERSONAL PROPERTY: TEV,
at least £603.7.0 current money (including 5 slaves
and 23 books). LAND: 2 houses and 2 lots in
Elizabeth Town (later called Hagerstown), Wash-
ington County; at least 1,250 acres in Kentucky;
1,000 acres in Virginia, and additional land in
North Carolina.
BAKER, FRANCIS (?-?). BORN: probably in
Cecil County, of age by 1760. NATIVE: third or
fourth generation. RESIDED: in Cecil County; Tal-
bot County, 1760; Harford County, 1786 until at
least 1788; possibly in Pennsylvania, with his son
Henry. FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: Henry
Baker (ca. 1710-1768). MOTHER: Elizabeth. UN-
CLE: Nathan Baker (?-?). BROTHERS: Jeremiah Ba-
ker (ca. 1748-1813); Henry (?-1780); Jethro (?-
1777); and Samuel (?-by 1766). MARRIED by 1765
Frances, an only child, daughter of Harris Clay-
land (?-by 1740/41), of Talbot County, a planter,
and wife Elizabeth; stepdaughter of Joseph Atkin-
son, a Quaker. CHILDREN. SONS: Samuel (by 1765-
1786), died without progeny; Henry Clayland (by
1768-?), of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by 1788, a
lieutenant in the Maryland Line, married by 1790
Sarah. Possibly other children. PRIVATE CAREER.
EDUCATION: literate. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVI-
TIES: Gent., 1765. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE:
planter, 1760; merchant, 1767; farmer, 1774;
owned a schooner and seines used for trawling,
1771. PUBLIC CAREER. LEGISLATIVE SERVICE:
Conventions, Talbot County, 4th, 1775, 5th, 1775,
6th, 1775 (elected, but did not attend; discharged
on December 11, 1775, for a "breach of the conti-
nental association" ). ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: In
1775 Baker was discharged from the conventions
for violating the nonimportation agreements. He
had loaned an old fishing net for trawling to a
British captain in 1773. The captain promised to
bring Baker a new seine from England on his next
voyage. By June 1775 when the captain brought
Baker his net, there was a ban on the importation
of all British goods. Baker petitioned the Talbot
County Committee of Observation for permission
to keep the net, but the decision was unanimous
that he send it back. Baker delivered the net to the
ship, but made arrangements to reclaim it later
that night. He was caught in this act to which he
ultimately confessed, claiming he was "tempted by
Poverty, and not by Will." Though his name was
not published as an enemy, he was barred from
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holding any future office of trust. By June 1776,
however, this part of the sentence had been re-
scinded. LOCAL OFFICE: Committee of Observa-
tion, Talbot County, elected 1775. MILITARY SER-
VICE: 1st lieutenant of a company of militia in Tal-
bot County belonging to the Fourth Militia, com-
missioned May 1776, resigned August 1776; buyer
of cattle, salt, barreled beef and pork for the Con-
tinental Army, 1778; one of fifty-six persons
drafted to raise two battalions of militia to rein-
force the American Army, Talbot County, 1781.
WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. PERSONAL PROP-
ERTY: 12 slaves, 1 bay schooner, livestock, 1771
(mortgaged in 1771; released from mortgage,
1774); 9 slaves, 1776; assessed value £915.0.0, in-
cluding 16 slaves and 12 oz. plate, 1783; 21 slaves,
livestock, farm untensils, household furniture, and
other property mortgaged in 1788 and sold in
1789 for £1,000 current money. LAND AT FIRST
ELECTION: 569 acres in Talbot County (500 acres
through his first marriage, 69 acres by purchase,
all of which was mortgaged in 1771, but reclaimed
by 1774). SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BE-
TWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH gave the
500 acres in Talbot County acquired through his
marriage to his son Henry by deed of gift, 1781;
purchased 213 acres in Cecil County and patented
34 acres in Talbot County, by 1783; along with his
sons he sold the 500-acre tract plus 120 additional
acres in Talbot County, 1785; purchased 580 acres
in Harford County and 555 acres in York County,
Pennsylvania, 1785-1786; mortgaged 1,349 acres
in Cecil and Harford counties, and York County,
Pennsylvania, being most if not all his lands, 1788;
gave his son Henry power of attorney and appar-
ently defaulted on his mortgage payments, 1789;
Thomas Sim Lee (1745-1819), from whom Baker
had purchased his Harford County land on bond,
was at that time making arrangements to take pos-
session of Baker's land in York County, Pennsyl-
vania, in order to secure payment. Continuously in
and out of debt, he bought land only by mortgag-
ing that which he already owned. At his death
Baker probably had nothing left after all the mort-
gage payments were met by his son.
BAKER, HENRY (ca. 1710-1768). BORN: ca.
1710, probably in Cecil County. NATIVE at least
second generation. RESIDED, at "New Cormough"
plantation, Cecil County. FAMILY BACKGROUND.
FATHER: Nathan Baker (?-1729), of Cecil County,
merchant; son of Henry Baker (?-ca. 1700), a
Quaker, who immigrated in 1684 to Bucks
County, Pennsylvania, from Lancashire, England,
became a large landowner and was a burgess for
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