William BAKER, abt 1795 - Limited details, many guesses...

William BAKER, estimated birth date of 1795, is the 2nd great-grandfather in the LEWIS line to brothers Jack & Bill, 3rd great-grandfather to their children, 4th great-grandfather to their grandchildren! The original families came from the USA to Ontario (Upper Canada), then to Manitoba, finally to Vancouver, British Columbia.  

This line goes as follows:  William & wife Margaret, 2nd child Eliza Jane BAKER & first husband John Lewis AIKEN, their 2nd child Alma Jane AIKEN & her 2nd husband Isaac Charles LEWIS, their 7th child Charles William LEWIS, to their 2 sons Bill & Jack LEWIS; both married with children & grandchildren.

William BAKER, estimated birth 1785, is known only because his daughter Eliza Jane BAKER - from her 2nd marriage registration July 1, 1862 (to Clark Peter Aiken, older brother to her first husband, John Lewis/Louis AIKEN) stated her parents were William and Margaret BAKER. No maiden name for Margaret was included.  See rather messy hard to read registration record below - parents Wm & Margaret, in last 'box'.  

Clark Aikins 39 Kingston M[ale]   Robt & Martha | Eliza J. Aikins 37 Kingston female Wm & Margaret

And, that's all I've been able to find on her parents to date, with many spelling variations used along this research journey. Their origin is unknown, but it might be expected they came as early settlers from either the USA to Upper Canada or, from Great Britain. No details of her parents were on her first marriage registration - just the basics. 

The 1851/52 Census shows no William or Wm. Baker with a Margaret with children including an Eliza Jane aged about 18. To date, I have searched in umpteen different ways on four different repositories so far, with no nibbles at all: Family Search, Library & Archives Canada, Automated Genealogy, Ancestry, Ontario Ancestors...  

However, in the 1861 Census for Kingston, Frontenac County, a James R. Baker is listed in Kingston, Frontenac, Ontario (p.1), along with 3 younger females in the household: Eliza Jane BAKER aged 28, Mary Jane Baker aged 19, and Sarah Baker aged 16.  All 4 in the household are listed as single (p.2), leading one to believe realistically that this is a family group of siblings. All 4 are listed as having been born in Canada West, and religion as Wesleyan Methodist. James is listed as a "yeoman" [farmer].  

When I saw that all 4 in the household were single (p.2), I wondered if their parents had died a few years earlier, leaving the farm to James to work to support the other unmarried children. There is a gap of 5 or 6 years between James and Eliza, and a gap of 8 or 9 years between Eliza and Mary Jane. Possibly there were one or two other siblings in those age gaps, either having died or moved away for work or sisters with a new husband. Many possibilities, no clues, few records. 

And finding no record of either parent on 1851/52 or 1861 Census, I'm assuming both died before 1851. As the youngest child with James on the 1861 Census is Sarah, aged 16, born about 1837, we can assume that Margaret - and William? - were alive at Sarah's birth in 1837 in Kingston. 

My assumption, since I could find no listings of a William Baker in Frontenac County, nor a Margaret Baker on any census, is that both parents may have died of various potential causes, before 1851. I have not found death records for either of them - yet. 

One can speculate that William BAKER was very likely to have been a farmer, living in or around Kingston, Frontenac County, where his children were born and raised.  If James, born about 1818, is his eldest son and heir - an assumption based on James being the yeoman of a farm in the county where he was born - then William and Margaret may have married about 1815-1817. From that potential marriage date, we might guess that William and Margaret might have been born about 1785-1790, i.e., aged 25-30 years of age at their marriage, give or take a few years. 

There are a lot of assumptions and estimates in this very brief amily history.  I have a short list of more documents to research, including looking for any wills or legal paperwork, land records, cemetery records and perhaps death registrations. Perhaps a detailed history of the area will provide more information - I have hopes!!  

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If any of these people are also your ancestors, I am happy to share what I have about their families and ancestors as well. You can best contact me at calewisATtelusDOTnet - as Blogger is not allowing me to reply to any comments on my posts.  

#52Ancestors: John Lewis AIKEN, 1823-1861, Kingston ON

Another in the year-long challenge, #52Ancestors by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow. I am a little behind, but every post is another post! Today I am writing about John Lewis AIKEN, in the LEWIS-RICE lines. And no, John's middle name does not make him a Lewis-line relative... 

John Lewis AIKEN was the 3rd of 11 children of Robert AIKEN & Martha PURDY - Martha being the granddaughter of the United Empire Loyalist, Gilbert PURDY, sr.  The link to my blog on Gilbert may be found here.  Note that the surname is often spelled AKIN or AKINS, but in this particular line, by the late 1800s it seems to have settled into AIKEN. The Aiken line goes back to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with the first settler, Edward AIKEN sr & wife Barbara EDWARDS arriving before 1722. The families settled in Londonderry, New Hampshire, moving to Kingston Ontario, before 1818. 

On the 1842 Census of Canada West, ON, his father Robert Akins is shown as a Farmer. This census did not list family members, nor how many people were in the household. Thank heavens for the 1851/52 Census which listed everyone, including a married daughter, visiting from her home in Loughborough, a nearby township. 

On March 2, 1853, John Lewis AIKEN married Eliza Jane BAKER in Kingston ON. Unfortunately I have not found a marriage online - Ronald Makin Family Records [UEL} has a copy of their Kingston ON marriage certificate. Note Ontario began civil registration in 1869.

Children of John & Eliza are the following four, born in the region around Kingston ON: 

    1.  Robert Edwin, b. 23 Dec 1853; m. 9 Nov 1881 to Frances E. Ely;
              6 children

    2.  Alma Jane [ancestor], b. 28 May 1858, d. 11 Dec 1954 Vancouver
              BC; m.1st to Melancton Odell Andrews, 1 dau; m.2nd to 3 Dec 1885
              in Winnipeg MB to Isaac Charles LEWIS; 7 children

    3.  Charles C., b. abt 1860

    4.  Minnie C., b. abt 1861; m. Archie Thompson

    

John died unexpectedly, aged only 38 years, on Feb 16, 1861, leaving his wife with 4 very young children. I have not found his cause of death. Nor have I found his burial place, but it is likely in Kingston ON.

His widow, Eliza Jane, married John's older brother, Peter Clark Aiken, aka Clark, on July 1st, 1862, in Kingston. They had 2 girls:

    1.  Annie E., b. 1865, Kingston
    2.  Mary C., b. 1867, Kingston. 

It is clear that I need to dig deeper for more details of John Lewis AIKEN, perhaps in local newspapers in Kingston, directories, land records. I would like to have more information on his wife Eliza as well. I have a to-do list. Also I was surprised to see Eliza married her deceased husband's older brother. I have seen that type of intermarriage only once before. 

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If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these ancestors. And if there are errors, please do let me know, via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below and I will get back to you either by email or in the Comments. I appreciate the opportunity to correct any issues in these family trees.

Blogger - or my computer - is still not letting me "reply" to your comments, for some unknown reason. If I don't reply to your Comment, please know that I'm totally thrilled you came to read my post and commented!  You truly make my day!!