The Baker Family of Lincoln, Massachusetts

James Lewellyn Wilder was a descendant of the Baker family of Lincoln, Massachusetts. Below are links to this ancestry.

The Baker Farm was a favorite haunt of Henry David Thoreau at the time he lived at Walden Pond, which is about 1/2 mile from the Baker Farm. Chapter 10 of Thoreau's "On Walden Pond" is titled "The Baker Farm". The farm in the 1990's was bought by Glen Frey, of the rock band The Eagles, and is preserved as a monument to the birth of the ecology movement in America. The farmhouse and farm exist today (2012).

Preservation Document for the Jacob Baker Farm, Lincoln, Massachusetts

Preservation Document for the Red Rail Farm Across from the Baker Farmhouse, and Originally Part of the Billings Farm

The Billings and Baker Family Farmhouse, c. 1740-'49, Lincoln, Massachusetts

The Jacob Baker Farm in Snow

Henry David Thoreau writes about the Jacob Baker Farm in his book, "Walden" (Go to Page 267)

Nathaniel Baker, the son of Jacob Baker, and the brother in law of Daniel Hosmer, Jr, had a role to play in Paul Revere's Ride. The link below is to the book "Paul Revere's Ride", by David Hacket Fisher. Samuel Prescott, one of the two men who also rode with Revere to spread the alarm, was by coincidence, also a family relative. His ancestor was John Prescott of Lancaster, Massachusetts. John Prescott was the grandfather of Nathaniel Wilder. The link to Baker's role in spreading the alarm about the British is here:

Nathaniel Baker's Role in Paul Revere's Ride

Amos Baker was the great uncle of James M. Wilder. His sister Hannah married Daniel Hosmer, Junior. Amos gained a level of fame as an old man, as the last living survivor of the Battle of Concord Bridge. The link below is to an affadavit that he gave in 1850, of his memories of the battle. He mentions his father, (our ancestor), his brothers and his brother in law, Daniel Hosmer, Jr.

The Last Survivor--The Affadavit of Amos Baker of Lincoln, MA, recorded in 1850

Anecdote about Amos Baker as an Old Man