Looe Baker and Eliza Wardell Baker family papers, 1700-1933, bulk 1790-1901

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Summary

Creators:
Baker, Looe
Abstract:
An archive of the Baker family of New Jersey; consisting of family letters, manuscripts, legal documents, genealogical material, photographs, letter book, two volumes, and ephemera.
Extent:
498 pieces in 10 boxes (9.3 linear feet)
Language:
The records are primarily in English

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of correspondonce, manuscripts, volumes, family material and ephemera. The correspondence falls predominately into two sections. The first section includes the letters between Looe and Eliza Wardell Baker, beginning with their friendship in 1799, through their courtship and after their 1805 marriage when Looe was absent from home on long business trips. Their loving correspondence covers family and domestic concerns, the cotton industry, and current events. The letters describe life in Natchez, local and national politics, the New Madrid earthquakes, and the War of 1812. The second section, and the bulk of the correspondence, concern William Chapman Baker; these letters include those dealing with his business interests, his many children, siblings, cousins and other extended family members, and his genealogical research both in the United States and England. The manuscripts include memoirs and diaries, poems, political and personal essays, a commonplace book and Eliza Wardell Baker’s “Jersey Girl” columns. A large amount of the early letters and manuscripts have some damage, with loss of text, but otherwise the material is in excellent condition.

The three volumes include: Discourse’s on the Death of Robert Stuart, Esquire (1848-1849) ; William Chapman Baker’s letter book (1855-1868) ; Letters of Looe and Eliza Baker…Reminiscences and Sketch of the Family…(1924, March), this third volume is a very rare and was compiled by Kate Stuart Lowry using the letters and other material in this collection. The three volumes are somewhat fragile, with damaged spines.

The family material and ephemera include financial and legal documents, genealogical material for the Baker, Ferry, Stuart, and White families, photographs and ephemera. The ephemera includes envelopes, printed material, newspaper clippings and early New Jersey newspapers from 1821 and 1825.

The collection is arranged in the following series:

• Series 1: Correspondence and manuscripts (1799-1901)

• Series 2: Volumes (1848-1924)

• Series 3: Family material (1700-1933)

The material is arranged in chronological and alphabetical order within each series; more information can be found in the series level notes.

Biographical / historical:

Looe Baker (1780-1854) was born into a New Jersey Quaker family; in 1801 he obtained a job as a commercial cotton trader in Natchez, Mississippi Territory. In 1805 he married Eliza Baker nee Wardell (1781-1821), also from a New Jersey Quaker family; together they had seven children though only two survived to adulthood. Eliza Wardell Baker was precocious and talented, a voracious reader and published writer; she contributed essays to New Jersey newspapers, mostly under the pseudonym of “Jersey Girl.” After Eliza Wardell Baker’s death from consumption in 1821, Looe Baker married Sarah Morris Kean (widow of Colonel Peter Kean), and adopted her three children. Looe Baker died in 1854 and was buried in Morristown, New Jersey. William Chapman Baker (1809-1901) was the son of Looe and Eliza Wardell Baker; during his lifetime he lived throughout the United States, including Morristown, New Jersey, New Orleans, Louisiana, St. Paul, Minnesota, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. W.C. Baker was a banker, a buyer of wholesale silk and a real estate investor. In 1842, he married Kate Stuart (1820-1853) and together they had five children; after Kate Baker’s death, W.C. Baker married her sister Mary E. Turner (1814-1878), and they had one child. During a trip to England W.C. Baker became interested in family history and thereafter collected a large amount of genealogical material for the Baker and Stuart families. W.C. Baker died in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the age of 92.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from William Reese Company by the Library Collector's Council, January 19, 2008.
Rules or conventions:
Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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