William Decatur Baker

Brief Life History of William Decatur

When William Decatur Baker was born on 3 September 1844, in Mannington, Marion, West Virginia, United States, his father, George Washington Baker, was 33 and his mother, Anna Kendall, was 33. He married Emeline Kendall on 2 October 1866, in Marion, West Virginia, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 2 daughters. He lived in District 7, Mason, Virginia, United States in 1860 and West Virginia, United States in 1870. He died on 7 May 1883, in Marion, West Virginia, United States, at the age of 38, and was buried in Marion, West Virginia, United States.

Photos and Memories (13)

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Family Time Line

William Decatur Baker
1844–1883
Emeline Kendall
1844–1913
Marriage: 2 October 1866
Rosetta May Baker
1870–1910
Ira Decatur Baker
1874–1935
Ostella Baker
1877–1955

Sources (26)

  • William D Baker in household of George Baker, "United States Census, 1860"
  • Wm D Baker, "West Virginia Marriages, 1780-1970"
  • William Decatur Baker, "Find A Grave Index"

World Events (8)

1846

U.S. acquires vast tracts of Mexican territory in wake of Mexican War including California and New Mexico.

1847 · Hollywood Cemetery Established

Hollywood Cemetery was established in 1847 in Richmond Virginia. This is where Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler are buried. During the Civil War it became the largest military interments and a large section dedicated to military burials. Jefferson Davis a well known Confederate is also buried here. Many other notable people are also buried here.

1861 · The Battle of Manassas

The Battle of Manassas is also referred to as the First Battle of Bull Run. 35,000 Union troops were headed towards Washington D.C. after 20,000 Confederate forces. The McDowell's Union troops fought with General Beauregard's Confederate troops along a little river called Bull Run. 

Name Meaning

English: occupational name, from Middle English bakere, Old English bæcere, a derivative of bacan ‘to bake’. It may have been used for someone whose special task in the kitchen of a great house or castle was the baking of bread, but since most humbler households did their own baking in the Middle Ages, it may also have referred to the owner of a communal oven used by the whole village. The right to be in charge of this and exact money or loaves in return for its use was in many parts of the country a hereditary feudal privilege. Compare Miller . Less often the surname may have been acquired by someone noted for baking particularly fine bread or by a baker of pottery or bricks.

Americanized form (translation into English) of surnames meaning ‘baker’, for example Dutch Bakker , German Becker and Beck , French Boulanger and Bélanger (see Belanger ), Czech Pekař, Slovak Pekár, and Croatian Pekar .

History: Baker was established as an early immigrant surname in Puritan New England. Among others, two men called Remember Baker (father and son) lived at Woodbury, CT, in the early 17th century, and an Alexander Baker arrived in Boston, MA, in 1635.

Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

Possible Related Names

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