Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/199

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

William Hodges Baker. This branch of the Baker family, founded in \'irginia by Henry Baker, born 1647, "Jied 1712, and represented in the present by William Hodges Baker, of Portsmouth, removed from Isle of Wight county, Virginia, to North Carolina, where Lawrence Baker, the revolutionary ancestor, lived and died and which state General Lawrence S. Baker rep- resented in the United States regular army and in the later Confederate States army. Nine generations of Bakers have lived in \'irginia and North Carolina. William Hodges Baker being of the eighth.

Henry Baker and wife, Mary, lived in Isle of \\'ight county, as did their son, Henry (2) Baker, who was born there and died in 1739. He married Angelina Bray, of Williamsburg, Virginia, but their son, Henry (3) Baker, born in Isle of Wight county, died in Bucklands, North Carolina, in 1770, the first of this direct line to settle in that state. Henry (3) Baker married Catherine Booth, a Virginia lady, born in Southampton.

Major Lawrence Baker, son of Henry (3) and Catherine (Booth) Baker, was born in Bucklands, North Carolina, in 1745, died at Coles Hill, North Carolina, in Septem- ber, 1805. He took prominent part in the events preceding the actual beginning of hostilities between the American colonies and the mother country and then took the field as major, commanding North Carolina troops. He was a member of the North Carolina provincial congress that met in Hillsboro, August 21, 1775, and was ap- pointed a member of the committee of safety from Edenton. He was also a mem- ber of the Congress of 1776 and on April 15, of that year, took the test oath and was formally seated as a member. On April 18, he signed the resolution passed by the Congress enjoining absolute secrecv con- cerning all proceedings of the Congress, and on April 19 was appointed a member of the committee on claims and military accounts. On April 22, 1776. he was named by the North Carolina provincial Congress as major and took the field in that capacity. He was twice married, his second wife. .Anna Maria (Burgess) Baker, surviving until February, 1808.

Dr. John Burgess Baker, son of Major Lawrence and .Anna Maria (Burgess) Baker, was born in North Carolina, in 1802,

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died June, 1837. He was a practicing phy- sician of Gatesville, North Carolina, a man of learning and high character. He mar- ried Mary Wynns Gregory. With the chil- dren of Dr. Baker the family residence was returned to Virginia, although the military service of his distinguished son, Brigadier- General Lawrence S. Baker, is properly credited to North Carolina, as he enlisted from that state and commanded North Caro- lina troops, under North Carolina commis- sions.

Brigadier-General Lawrence S. Baker, son of Dr. John Burgess and Mary Wynns ( Gregory) Baker, was born at Coles Hill, Gatesville, North Carolina, May 15, 1830, died at Sufifolk, Virginia, August 10, 1907. He was appointed cadet from North Caro- lina at L^nited States Military Academy, \\'est Point, and entered July i, 1847, g''"<id- uated July i, 185 1, and was promoted to the army as brevet second lieutenant mounted rifleman, served at Cavalry School, for prac- tice, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 185 1 to 1852, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, 1852, frontier duty at Fort Laramie, Dakota, 1852, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1852, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1852-53, Fort Leavenworth, 1853, expedition to the plains, 1853, ^"d commis- sioned second lieutenant motinted rifleman, March 31, 1853. From 1853 "ntil 1830 he was on duty in the west and southwest, scouting, convoying trains and fighting In- dians. On November 22, 1859, he was com- missioned first lieutenant mounted rifleman and until May. i8fii. he was on duty in New Mexico. On May 10. 1861. he resigned his commission in the United States army, re- turned to North Carolina, at once enlisted in the Confederate army and was commis- sioned colonel of the First Regiment North Carolina Cavalry, May 20, 1861 ; August i,

1863, he was commissioned brigadier-gen- eral and at the battle of Brandy Station the same day was severely wounded, his right arm being struck and shattered. From June,

1864, until the close of the war he was in command of the Eastern Department of North Carolina. After the war he culti- vated a farm near .Suffolk, Virginia, until 1878, then was appointed agent at Suffolk for the Seaboard & Roanoke Railroad, also for the Southern Express Company and manager for the W^estern Union Telegraph Company, holding these positions from 1878 until his retirement several years prior to