| Notes |
- from "New Hampshire, Wills and Probate Records, 1643-1982" (ancestry.com)
Hosea S Baker of Haverhill mentions son Solon H Baker, daughter Fanny M. Runnells wife of Rev. Moses T Runnells, son Oliver H Baker, grandson Oliver R Baker son of Dr. Peyton R Baker deceased, grandson John Baker son of Oliver H Baker, grandchildren Martha N and Solon Baker daughter and son of Royal H Baker deceased, daughter-in-law Chastina B. Baker, widow of Royal H Baker. 2 Jun 1885
- from "History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire", 1918 (archive.org)
Hosea Swett Baker was less than twenty years old when he came to Haverhill, about 1817. He was born in 1797 (?) and is said to have descended on his mother's side from Capt. John Lovewell, the famous Indian warrior. He came on his mother's death to live with an uncle in Piermont. He earned money to obtain an education at the Academy and pursued teaching for several years in Rumney and Haverhill. He was always a busy man and said it was better to work for his board than to go idle. Afterwards he engaged in the lumber business on the Oliverian. He moved to the Corner in 1825, engaged in the meat business, and was with Blaisdell & Co. in general merchandise trade. The succeeding thirty years were spent in farming at East Haverhill on what is known as the Baker farm. No man was better known in town than himself, and was noted for his line of conversation and anecdote. Mr. Baker held many positions of trust and honor. He was deputy sheriff, captain of militia, postmaster, selectman, representative, trustee Haverhill Academy and for more than forty years a justice of the peace, performing marriage ceremonies without number. He was also in requisition in the settlement of estates. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, a Methodist, and was a member of the Republican party. He married Fanny Huntington of Hanover. He died May 20, 1885, at the age of 88 years, and she died Apr. 16, 1874, at the age of 72.
- from "Gazetteer of Grafton count, N.H. 1709-1886", 1886 (archive.org)
Hosea Swett Baker was born in Stoddard NH June 1, 1797, and died in East Haverhill May 20, 1885, aged eighty-five years, lacking eleven days. He was the son of Timothy and Catharine (Healy) Baker, two brothers and two sisters being older than himself. His mother died in August 1798, aged 34 years, leaving him an infant; and his father, marrying again and migrating to Western New York, there died in Pembroke December 16, 1823, aged sixty-eight years. Hosea Baker was descended from John Baker, freeman, of Charleston, Mass., 1634, through Dea. Joseph of the fourth generation, who married Hannah Lovewell, only daughter of Capt. John Lovewell, the celebrated Indian warrior, and settled in Pembroke NH. He married in 1821 Fanny Huntington, daughter of Hezekiah and Esther (Slade) Huntington, who was born in Haverhill November 15, 1801, and died in Haverhill, of apoplexy, April 16, 1874, aged seventy-two years and five months. Her family was of Connecticut origin. Of their six children, all born in Haverhill, the three oldest are deceased: Royal Huntington (Baker) born August 7, 1812 was a farmer in East Haverhill, and died August 22, 1871, aged forty-nine years, leaving two children, Martha M. and Solon H. Peyton Randolph, born September 2, 1826, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1848, was a physician in Maine, and died May 16, 1873, aged forty-seven years and eight months, leaving one son, Oliver Randolph, who is a clothing merchant in Bradford Vt. Solon Healy, born June 23, 1827, died September 19, 1828. Solon Healy born August 3, 1829 was a farmer with his father in East Haverhill, where he is still residing. Fanny Maria, born August 26, 1831, married a Congregational clergyman of Sanbornton NH in 1865, and has three daughters--one son and one daughter deceased. Oliver Harrison, born April 27, 1834 is a jeweler in Topeka, Kansas and has one son, John Huntington. During the most of his long life, Hosea S. Baker was intimately connected with Grafton county, and especially with the town of Haverhill. He was brought, soon after the death of his mother, to his uncle's in Piermont, by whom he was brought up, though "buying his time" before he was twenty-one. He then earned money to attend school in the newly established academy at Haverhill Corner, soon fitting himself to teach school, and followed that vocation for several winters at Haverhill and lastly, for a whole year continuously in the town of Rumney. Meanwhile, in 1820, he had made a long journey on foot to visit his father in Western New York, traveling upwards of 1,100 miles. After marriage he went into the lumber business, on the Oliverian brook, rafting his products down the river to Hartford, Conn. Taking up his abode at the Corner in 1825, he followed the meat business, the shoe and leather trade, and general merchandise with Bruce, Blaisdell & Co., for twenty years. In 1851 he bought a valuable farm, the old Crouch stand at East Haverhill, which with his sons, he carried on and improved until 1880. He then took up his final residence with his son Solon, at the village of East Haverhill, and there continued with an old age of remarkable vigor, geniality, and usefullness, until he was prostrated by an accident, and after three months of intense suffering, endured with a spirit of calm resignation and Christian hope, he expired as stated above. Thus, for nearly sixty seven years, Mr. Baker lived in Haverhill and always enjoyed the respect and confidence of his fellow townsmen. He was elected to almost every office in the gift of the town, and served in some of them for many years. He represented the town in the legislature one year, 1837, the opposite party coming into power the next year; was selectman for two terms, and voted in Haverhill at seventeen presidential elections, consecutively, beginning with the second term of James Monroe in 1820. He helped organized one of the earliest Sunday-schools in Haverhill in 1825, and was afterwards its superintendent, and was also one of the trustees of Haverhill academy, and secretary and treasurer of the Methodist Episcopal society at Haverhill Corner. He joined the lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in 1812, was frequently Master of the lodge, and was also a member of the Mount Lebanon Royal Arch Chapter, of Bradford VT. He was appointed deputy sheriff by Amos A. Brewster; was a captain in the state militia, postmaster for a time in East Haverhill, and a justice of the peace for the last forty-five years of his life. In this latter capacity, besides other duties, he solemnized numerous marriages and settled many estates in Haverhill and adjoining towns. He also conducted scores of funerals. His generosity and integrity in all these transactions were never questions, while in the varied relations of private life his kindness of heart and true Christian character shone conspicuously. Amid the busiest scenes, he was ever ready to extend his aid and sympathy to the sick and suffering. Being a devoted student of the Bible from his youth, Mr. Baker was remarkably familiar with its contents and served as the highly prized instructor of a Bible class in Sabbath-school of the East Haverhill Methodist church, until the last months of his life, with which church he also united by the ordinance of Baptism.
|
1797 - 1885 (87 years)
