The first Europeans settled in the Northwest Territory in 1788. Migrants came from New York and New England. Ohio was admitted to the Union as the 17th state on March 1, 1803.
The first U.S. railroad opened in the 1830s. In 1869 the first transcontinental railway was completed.
James married Sarah Sample on February 12, 1846. Sarah was born on August 3, 1821 in Boone County, Illinois and was the daughter of John Sample and Sarah (Sally, Sallie) Pruitt. John and Sally are buried in Sample Cemetery with James' sister, Elizabeth Baker Branstiter.
Their children included:
Sarah E. Baker Boyce (1847, married William I. Boyce),
Mary Ellen Baker Boyd (1850, married Thomas Benton Boyd), Margaret Ann Baker Ledford (October 22, 1852, married William C. Ledford),
Eliza Jane Baker Allen (1854-1898, married Benjamin Franklin Allen), and
James Martin Baker (1858, married Mary Elizabeth Blair).
In February, 2013, Alan Hunt wrote
Jim Baker, my ancestor was the hustler in the family and accumulated a section of land starting with nothing, plus a lot more. Various of his Ohio family came down to check out his estate like ... Elizabeth (and family) who died in 1856 and [was] buried in thee family cemetery of Jim Baker's inlaws, John Sample, Sr. Jim and married Sarah "Sally" Sample on February 12 1846 in Morgan County, Illinois. As mentioned, Jim Baker was one of the wealthiest men in Morgan County as well as his father-in-law.
Aunt Susan had been here to visit also and celebrated her 75th birthday near Jacksonville, Illinois in 1894. Was told the Ohio Baker were all amazed at how much their brother, Jim, had accumulated and all wanted to come down here to visit and see for themselves. Several of his brothers and sisters came fro Ohio to visit he and his family...
The family appeared in the 1880 census in Jacksonville, Morgan County. The family consisted of James age 61 who was a farmer, Sarah age 47, Mary E. age 25, Liza J. age 23, and James M. age 22.
James died on October 3, 1903 and Sally died on September 14, 1914in Jacksonville, Morgan County, Illinois. They are buried together in Jacksonville East Cemetery,
Morgan County, Illinois.
Clark County, Ohio was formed March 1, 1817, from Champaign, Madison and Greene Counties. The first settlement was in 1796. The inhabitants of German Township were German Lutherans who came from Virginia.
The Public Land Survey System is used to survey and spatially identify land parcels in the United States.
Range is the distance east or west from a referenced principal meridian in units of six miles.
A Section is approximately a one-square-mile block of land. There are 36 sections in a township.
A Township is a parcel of land of 36 square miles or a measure of the distance north or south from a referenced baseline in units of six miles.
The Miami Valley is in southwest Ohio. It includes parts of Montgomery, Greene, Preble, Clark, Miami, Darke, Champaign, Shelby, Logan, Butler, and Warren counties.
Illinoisbecame a state in 1818. A large influx of American settlers came in the 1810s by the Ohio River.
