Nicholas Baker

Of Harford County, Maryland

By Richard W. Baker

study

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This is an updated genealogy of Nicholas Baker of Harford County, Maryland, with documented events. The records from England are recent additions to the genealogy and have yet to be challenged. I continue to search for supportive evidence relating to the identity of Nicholas Baker. (Items #8 & #9)

1. Nicholas Baker was christened 2 July 1712 at Saint Mary The Virgin of Aldermanbury, London, England. His parents were Nicholas and Susannah Baker. [The registers of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, London]

2. Old Bailey Sessions records: In the index to indictments [CLRO Ref. Index to London Indictments, Dec 1714- Dec 1755] it is stated that Nicholas Baker was transported, followed by the date 26 May 1737 (the date on which the case was heard). According to the Sessions Minute Book [CLRO Ref. SM104] Nicholas Baker was found guilty of stealing goods to the value of 3 shillings and 4 pence of Benjamin Noble of Cheapside, Cordwainer. The indictment on the Sessions File [CLRO Ref. SF 747] provides the following additional information with respect to the offence. Nicholas Baker, late of London, labourer, stole a pair of 'women's stuff damask shoes' valued at 3 shillings and 1 eighth of a yard of black lace valued at 4 pence from a shop in St Peter's Cheapside (i.e. the parish of St. Peter Westcheap, the churchyard of which is situated in Wood Street, the church itself having been destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666).

3. Information from the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild: On board the Pretty Patsy (Patsie) were prisoners from Newgate to Maryland. The ship sailed 2 September 1737 to the Port of Maryland. A true list of all the prisoners taken from Newgate for the City of London County of Middlesex & ship't aboard the Pretty Patsie, Francis Lux Com'r for Maryland which were ship't by Mr. Jonathan Forward of London, merch't Sept 2, 1737. Included in the list of 128 passengers was the above-mentioned Nicholas Baker.

4. Nicholas Baker married Martha Wood, daughter of Joshua and Martha Wood, 4 January 1741 as recorded in the register of St. George’s Parish, Baltimore/Harford Co. (became Harford Co. in 1774), Maryland.

5. Nicholas Baker married Mary Gilbert abt. 1764 in Baltimore/Harford Co., Maryland. According to Jon Harlan Livezey - "Nicholas' second wife appears to have been Mary Gilbert."

6. The Descendants of Nicholas Baker

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7. Nicholas Baker died by 6 May 1774. From “Heirs and Legatees of Harford County, Maryland, 1774-1802”, by Henry C. Peden Jr., M.A.

Nicholas Baker, Estate File 12, May 6, 1774, Adm: Nicholas Baker

No distribution in file.

Nearest of kin: John Wood and Isaac Wood.

(Note that Nicholas Baker’s nearest of kin are members of his wife Martha Wood’s family rather than a Baker family)

8. It is worth noting that other individuals who were transported from Newgate Prison along with Nicholas Baker settled in the same area as Nicholas. One was Jonathan Ady (Adey) who married Rebecca York in 1743 in St. John’s Parish. Another was John Dunnick who married Mary Pasmore in 1742 in St. John’s Parish.

Other names from the Pretty Patsy ship’s passenger list that show up in the records of St. John’s or St. George’s Parish Registers, and who’s first parish record is a marriage soon after 1737 are:

John Bourn who married Barbara Burke in 1744.

John Morris who married Sarah Gilbert in 1743.

Samuel Thornhill who married Mary Clybourn in 1747.

Rebecca Pasmore who married Thomas Wodgworth in 1741.

There are other’s whose names are more common to the area but match men and women on the ship’s passenger list. They are Thomas and William Jones, Henry Hall, and John Pike (Pyke) .

9. It is quite possible that the Pretty Patsy actually docked at Joppa. Historically the whole area was called Joppa (Lower Harford during colonial times) and was a center of international trade. The Joppa port on the Gunpowder was a thriving city, based on the trade of agricultural products, particularly tobacco. It could be truthfully said that "all roads lead to Joppa." It became a booming seaport, a port of entry, where ships from Europe and the West Indies brought cargoes of manufactured goods to be distributed far and wide throughout Maryland and adjoining colonies. The ships returned to their own lands, laden with corn, tobacco, and other products.

Joppa was the county seat of Baltimore County until 1768.

Comments are welcomed.

16 September 2003