Starting Sept. 30, 2014, Genealogy.com will be making a big change. GenForum message boards, Family Tree Maker homepages, and the most popular articles will be preserved in a read-only format, while several other features will no longer be available, including member subscriptions and the Shop.
 
Learn more


Home Page |Surname List |Index of Individuals |InterneTree |Sources


View Tree for Gardiner BakerGardiner Baker (b. Dec 30, 1765, d. Jan 11, 1832)

Gardiner Baker (son of Abraham Baker and Elizabeth Gardiner) was born Dec 30, 1765 in East Hampton, NY, and died Jan 11, 1832 in Nassau, the Bahamas. He married Mary Geer in Nassau, the Bahamas.

 Includes NotesNotes for Gardiner Baker:
[East Hampton History and Genealogies] Gardiner Baker, great-grandfather of Mrs. Morton Pennypacker, once owned a large part of what is now the city of Miami, FL. As a young man he went to Nassau in search of adventure; he had been a carpenter in EH. In Nassau he met and married an English girl. In 1804 he made his will. He obtained a grant of 550 acres in Florida from Spain; it was on the shore front, just South of the River Miami. The family moved and lived there until the War of 1812; then privateers became troublesome; Mrs. Baker was frightened and persuaded her husband to return to Nassau. Meanwhile their oldest son William, then 8 years old, was put in care of the captain of a sailing vessel and sent back to EH. to live in the old homestead and carry on the line. His daughter Mary married William Hedges. As a young woman she kept a private school for young children in her home, later the Riding Club, now moved.

The late George Eldredge used to tell of going to school there as a tiny boy, and falling asleep and tumbling off one of the long benches set up in front for the smallest children. Gardiner Baker never came home. His second son, Gardiner, married Mary Jane. He died July 10, 1831 and after his widow took the children and went to live in New South Wales. Ann Sarah Buchan wrote faithfully to her brother William and the Nassau family used to send pineapples to the EH relatives. Shortly after Ann Sarah's marriage in 1834 she wrote that she and her husband were sailing on a certain vessel for a visit here. No word ever came from her after that. In 1927 Mrs. Pennypacker and her brother the late Samuel C. Hedges went to Nassau and found the old Gardiner Baker house just across the street from the Royal Victoria Hotel and part of that hotel's property. As for the Miami grant, the US took over FL; holders of Spanish grants were instructed to register in Washington. This was published in newspapers, no notices were sent to property-holders. William Baker in EH never heard of it. About 1830 some one went to Miami and made a sketch of the property which is still in existence "Bakers Haul" is still on maps near Miami. But is forever lost to the Gardiner Baker heirs.

When Mary E. Baker married William Hedges, her mother went to live with her and soon the old house in Pantigo, built about 1745, passed out of the family. [Handwritten Letter Dec 6th, 1882 -- copied as is] Lake Worth Dade Co Fla Dec. 6th, 1882 Philo Pratt Esq. Jacksonville, Fla. Dr Sir Yours of Nov 20th came to hand this eve. And I shall answer your questions with pleasure. To get to Lake Worth from Jacksonville you better take from Jacksonville one of the DeBarry Str's to Sanford. from there take the Steamer "Marron" to Lake Poinsettia and Rock Ledge. From Rock Ledge to Lake Worth you will have to come at present by small sail boat. unless the Steamer "Cinderella" should begin to ply on Indian River to carry the mail as contacted. I hear to day that she is expected soon.. From Lake Worth to Biscayne Bay there is no inside waters,, so to go there one has to go outside in a small boat,, or walk the Ocean Beach.. There are no people living on the Coast between Lake Worth and Biscayne except at the House of Refuge the keeping and their families live there. those houses are 24 miles apart.. and the mouths of two rivers to cross without boats.

Miami and Biscayne are no places at all only Post Offices of that name is 40 voters on the Bay Scattered for 25 miles.. mostly Bachelors. I have been to Miami three times and if you wish to learn about the price of land I would advise you to write to Charles Seibold at Miami P.O. I cannot tell you what the price of land is there.. In fact I cant think what - you would want of land there .. it is the jumping off place of all creation.. Soil poor and Rocky.. communications none at all.. people that have lived there are leaving.. occupation making comti-starch. To sell for two to four cents per lb. Fittles to land, very much mixed.. Is two stores there trading with the Indians.. and they charge enormous profits to all.. Mosquitoes are bad there in summer. Same as all along the coast.



More About Gardiner Baker and Mary Geer:
Marriage: Nassau, the Bahamas.

Children of Gardiner Baker and Mary Geer are:
  1. +William Baker, b. 1800, Nassau, the Bahamas, d. Aug 28, 1868, East Hampton, NY.
Created with Family Tree Maker


Search for Family - Learn About Genealogy - Helpful Web Sites - Message Boards - Guest Book - Home
© Copyright 1996-99, The Learning Company, Inc., and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.
© Copyright 1995-97 by Matthew L. Helm. All Rights Reserved.