| Notes |
- !NOTES:Marty Grant's 5th Great Grand Parent.;
!NOTES:Mary Margaret Baker was born ca 1789/1790 (per 1850 census) in Rowan Co., NC (per 1850 census). Her maiden name is unproven, but is based on family tradition. No source document has been located proving she was a Baker.
Her tombstone gives her birth as 1769, which is way off. The stone appears to be rather new, so it was probably placed in the late 20th century, at least 100 years after her death.
Her parents are also unproven. Earlier family histories listed her as a daughter of Rev. Andrew Baker (1752) of Ashe Co., NC. That is incorrect, but was probably based on the fact that Andrew Baker lived in the same area as Mary for a short time at least. Andrew's family is pretty well documented, and Mary Margaret doesn't fit in it.
I have concluded that Mary Margaret Baker must be a child of Jacob Baker (1760/65). The evidence is all circumstantial, but compelling. Consider what is known about Mary:
1. born ca 1790 in Rowan Co., NC
2. married ca 1800-1805 Ashe Co., NC
3. lived in Beaver Creek, Ashe Co., NC
Those three facts point strongly to Jacob Baker. He was in Rowan Co., NC when Mary was born there. He had an apparent daughter her age per the 1790 and 1800 census. He moved to Beaver Creek, Ashe Co., NC in 1801.
None of that proves Jacob is Mary's father, but it does fit really well. In 1815 Jacob Fouts (Mary's husband) was listed on the Ashe County tax list in "Capt. Baker's District" and of course Jacob Baker was that Captain, and the only Baker living in the district.
!CENSUS:1790;
!CENSUS:1800;
!CENSUS:1810 Ashe Co, NC pg 70 w/J. FOUTS age 16-25 (1784/1794);
!CENSUS:1820 Ashe Co, NC pg 8 w/Jacob FOUTS age 26-44 (1775/1794);
!CENSUS:1830 Ashe Co., NC pg 3 w/Jacob Fouts age 40-49 (1780/90)
2011201-1212101;
!CENSUS:1840 Macon Co, NC pg 153 w/Jacob FOUTS age 50-59 (1780/90);
!CENSUS:1850 Macon Co., NC Tennessee Valley # 348/356
Jacob Foutes 64 Farmer $1000 Rowan
Mary M. 60
Jacob 21 Laborer Ashe
John 18 Laborer
David Yontz 28 Laborer
Susan 23;
!NAMED:-- --- 1854 Macon Co, NC Loose Estates. Jacob FOUTS Sr, decd. George ROWLAND, Adm. Settlement of Estate. ... to Widow. ... by judgment to H.G. WOODFIN. .. to Clerk HALL fees. ... to N.G. ALMAN. .. to James FOUTS ... to John SILER ... to James FOUTS ... to Thomas SHPEHERD ... to George CLAMPET ... to Thompson ALMAN ... to Jacob SHOPE ... to David ROPER ... (to David YOUNCE marked out) ... to J. SIMON ... to Richard CLAMPET ... to David YOUNCE ... to Eli McKEE -- Mar 1854 Petition of Mary M. FOUTS lay off dower, motion to heirs at law of Jacob FOUTS, decd: James FOUTS, William FOUTS, Jacob FOUTS and John FOUTS. Petition of Mary M. FOUTS vs James FOUTS, William FOUTS, Jacob FOUTS, John FOUTS, George ROWLAND and wife Polly, Samuel P. WATERS and wife Elaner, Richard CLAMPET and wife Elizabeth, George CLAMPETT and wife Charlottte, William ROWLAND and wife Jane, Reubin EVANS and wife Rebecca, David YOUNCE and wife Susan. -- Jun 1854 Dower of 63a to widow Margaret FOUTS (Plat included);
!ESTATE:-- --- 1858 Macon Co, NC Loose Estates. Margaret FOUTS, decd; 14 Sep 1858 James FOUTS, John FOUTS, adm;
!TOMBSTONE:Fouts Cem, Macon Co, NC "Jacob Fouts 1770 - Jul 13 1853" shared marker with "Mary Fouts 1769 - Jan 3 1858". This is a new marker placed sometime in the mid to late 20th century. The birth years are way off for both Jacob and wife Mary;
!NOTES:(from my old web page for this family) -
I didn't know I had Baker ancestry until I'd already been researching my family a number of years. I was researching my Fouts ancestors in Macon Co, NC. Somehow I came into contact with Thelma Welch Swanson (now deceased) who had written a book on the Fouts family. I ordered a copy of her book (which is very nice by the way), Jacob and Mary Margaret Baker Fouts and their Descendants, Thelma Welch Swanson, 1990. In it, she states that our ancestor Mary Margaret, wife of Jacob Fouts (1786-1852) was a Baker. Though she offers no proof that this is Mary's maiden name, it seems to be widely accepted as fact among the Fouts descendants, and I see no reason to disagree. However, after many years of research on this family, I've not seen any evidence at all that her maiden name was Baker. For now, I'm just accepting it that it was common family knowledge at some time in the past, and that first hand evidence may not exist, or just hasn't been found yet.
In her book, on page 3 she mentions that Dr. John Scott Davenport (a noted Fouts researcher) had corresponded with her about the Rev. Andrew Baker, who was father of our Mary.
For years I worked on the assumption that Rev. Andrew Baker was indeed Mary Margaret Baker's father. I found his name on several documents (deeds, etc) in Wilkes and Ashe Co, NC and found several other researchers who were descended from him via different children. Researchers showed him born ca 1749 in VA (counties varied), and that he was married to Elizabeth Avent (1752-1844) daughter of Peter Avent of Sussex Co, VA and Northampton Co, NC.
None of the researchers knew about a daughter named "Mary Margaret." One day I found a book in the NC Genealogy Library in Raleigh on various Baker families: Bakers and Related Families of England and Virginia, William Thomson Baker Sr, 1974. In it, on page 35, there was data, apparently from a family bible, pertaining to the Andrew Baker family. It listed 9 children of Rev. Andrew Baker with their birth dates. There was no Mary Margaret Baker among them, and based on the birth dates of the children, no room for her to be in his family at all, unless our birth date for her (ca 1789/90) is way off. The first child (Solomon) listed for Andrew was born 1770, then the last (Martha) was born 1791, with one just before her (Elijah) born 1789. This doesn't leave much (or any) room for another child born ca 1789/90. This was disappointing, but it didn't completely discourage me.
However, a little more research on Andrew Baker did discourage me a great deal. Seems he wasn't even in Ashe Co, NC when Mary Margaret Baker was supposed to have married Jacob Fouts (ca 1807), but living in Lee Co, VA. Of course it is possible he came back to "visit" family or friends in Ashe County. However, based on all of this I had developed serious doubts about him being Mary Margaret's father. None of the "sources" I had seen for him being her father offered any real proof. I don't know who first drew the conclusion that he was her father, or if it was based on valid evidence or on family tradition.
More recently, I think I've discovered the "source" for someone assuming Andrew was Mary's father. As we know, Mary Margaret Baker married Jacob Fouts, a son of Leonard Fouts. Apparently Rev. Andrew Baker "gave" land to Leonard Fouts in the 1780's. As far as I know, this is the only connection between them. In the Pfautz-Fouts-Foutz Newsletter, No. 7, July 1982, this is stated:
July 7, 1809 - Heirs of Peter Eller, Decd., to Leonard Fouts, all of Ashe Co., N.C., in fulfillment of covenant made, 77 acres, being part of a tract of 200 acres belonging to Peter Eller, Decd., and where Andrew Baker gave to John Fouts the tract where Luke White now lives ... /s/ Peter Eller, Jacob Eller, George Koons, William Pennington, Wit; Thomas Calloway. (Ashe Co., N.C., Deeds, B:255)
Leonard Fouts, Jr., was an illiterate and married Sarah Younce, daughter of John Younce. He died in Murray Co., Georgia, in 1850. His brother Joseph, in Ashe County records in 1805, witnessing a deed of John Younce's to Frederick Black (the Dunker minister) died in Ashe County in the late 1850s. Jacob Fouts, another brother, married Mary M. Baker, daughter of the Andrew Baker, a Baptist minister, who had given John Leonard Fouts the land in the late 1780s.
This is probably the source of Andrew Baker being Mary Margaret Baker's father. No evidence is provided for the statement that he was her father.
Others accept this, but I cannot, at least not without some form of proof. So on that note, I began looking for a more likely set of parents for our Mary Margaret Baker. I concentrated on what we know for a fact. Based on the 1850 census (Macon Co, NC), Mary was born ca 1789/90 (based on her age of "60"), and was born in Rowan County, NC. The 1850 and 1860 Macon County census taker blessed us with recording the county of birth for each person instead of just the state of birth, which was a great service for researchers. He listed both Jacob Fouts and his wife Mary M. as being born in Rowan. So fact one is that Mary Margaret was born ca 1789/90. Fact two is that she was born in Rowan Co, NC. The third fact was that she married Jacob Fouts. We don't know when they married, but if she was his only wife, they married sometime prior to 1807 (when their first child was born in Ashe Co, NC), and they probably married in Ashe Co, NC or Wilkes County where Jacob Fouts lived at that time. That meant that I needed to find a Baker family that had been in Rowan Co, NC in the 1790 timeframe, but came to Wilkes or Ashe Co, NC before ca 1807. The fourth "fact", was that the Baker family she belonged to had to live somewhere near Beaver Creek, which is where the Fouts family resided in Ashe County, NC.
Checking the 1790 census of Rowan Co, NC, there were only three Baker families: George Baker (no apparent children), Harate (Horatio) Baker and Jacob Baker. The last two both had apparent daughters. These seemed to be my prime suspects. By 1800, George had moved away (or died), but he wasn't a prime suspect anyway, due to having no apparent children with him in 1790. Horatio was also gone by 1800. This only left Jacob Baker in Rowan Co, NC, and several other Baker families who weren't there in 1790. This made Jacob Baker the prime suspect.
Looking at the 1800 census of Ashe Co, NC, there were several Baker households, all of which had at least one apparent daughter born ca 1790. This didn't help much. This included James Baker (son of Morris); Jonathan Baker (son of Morris); Morris Baker; Zachariah Baker (son of Morris); Solomon Baker; Thomas Baker and Samuel Baker. Unfortunately, the 1800 Ashe census was alphabetical, so I couldn't determine if any of these families were near the Fouts family.
We know that Mary M. Baker married Jacob Fouts before 1807, and they were listed in Ashe Co, NC on the 1810 census. Fortunately, this census wasn't alphabetical, but instead, the census taker only listed given names by initial. "J. Fouts" was on page 7 (handwritten page 70). There were no Bakers within a few households, but on the next page were several, including "J. Baker", "S. Baker" and "J. Baker". This last "J. Baker" was listed next door to "L. Fouts" (Leonard Fouts Jr). I THINK I've properly identified each of these Baker households. The first "J. Baker" was probably Jonathan Baker (son of Morris). The "S. Baker" was Solomon Baker, and the last "J. Baker" could have been John Baker (c1784). This suggest that one of those Baker's could be Mary Margaret's father or at least somehow related.
However, the 1815 tax list gives us a much better clue. The 1815 tax list for Ashe Co, NC was divided up into Captain's Districts. Each district had a Captain who made of list of his taxables. The district that the Fouts family was listed in was called "Captain Baker's District", and only one Baker was listed in that district: Jacob Baker, and he was taxed for land on Beaver Creek. This made me recall the Jacob Baker in 1790 and 1800 Rowan Co, NC whom I thought could be Mary's father. I found this Jacob Baker on the 1810 census in Wilkes County, NC (next to Ashe County). It should be noted that where Beaver Creek flows into the South Fork of the New River, it is only two miles to the Wilkes County line. The 1820 census shows Jacob Baker in Ashe Co, NC, but unfortunately, once again, the census was alphabetical. However, the 1830 census shows him still in Ashe County, and just 30 houses (one page) from Jacob Fouts.
Based on my analysis, I'm sure this is the same Jacob Baker who was in Rowan Co, NC for the 1790 and 1800 census, then in Wilkes Co, NC for 1810, and finally in Ashe Co, NC for 1815 tax list, and 1820 and 1830 census. For now, based on all this circumstantial evidence, he is my prime candidate to be Mary Margaret's father. Of course, I'd love some more solid evidence, so I'll keep looking. He may be somehow related to the other Baker families in Ashe County, but so far, I don't know how.
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1790 - 1858 (68 years)
